Ángel Hernández gave the people what they wanted by retiring from Major League Baseball, but the people just can’t help themselves from piling on.
Hernández announced his retirement earlier this week, closing the book on a 33-year MLB umpiring career that was marred by decades of controversial calls. The news was met with widespread celebration and jokes, with Billy Crystal being the latest person to rib Hernández.
With the New York Yankees taking on the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim Thursday night, Crystal made a cameo alongside Michael Kay and Paul O’Neill in the YES Network booth. During Crystal’s appearance in the top of the sixth inning, Juan Soto took a borderline 3-1 fastball from Angels pitcher Patrick Sandoval. Kay thought it was ball four and so did Soto, but the umpire called it a strike.
Even Billy Crystal is mocking Ángel Hernández pic.twitter.com/FXudmRqUkY
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 31, 2024
“I thought Ángel retired,” Crystal said without hesitation, garnering a hearty chuckle from Kay and O’Neill. “Jeez!”
Perhaps Ángel Hernández was just mostly retired. There’s a big difference between mostly retired and all retired.
“I thought it was immediately too,” O’Neill added of the often-ridiculed umpire’s retirement.
Hernández may have been a bad umpire, but he was a great unifier. What are baseball fans (even those in state offices) going to do without Ángel Hernández to mock or blame? No other MLB umpire has his level of widespread name recognition and reputation, and just like that he’s gone.
Even though Hernández retired, his legacy can live on. Just like kids still yell “Kobe!” when throwing random trash into a garbage can, Billy Crystal just showed us fans can enjoy yelling “Angel!” every time a baseball umpire misses an obvious call.
