Angel Hernandez retirement: Former Yankees ace CC Sabathia trolls departing umpire with snide post

On May 28, umpire Angel Hernandez announced that he would be retiring after 24 years of calling MLB games. The 62-year-old's time in the league has become synonymous with blown calls, and has made him a substantial number of enemies on account of that.

Among the MLB players who reacted was retired New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia. Sabathia, a six-time All-Star who played in MLB from 2001 until 2019, issued a hilarious reaction on X, in which the left-hander quoted the well-known line from Loony Tunes that reads "That's all folks!"

Although Sabathia had a number of run-ins with Hernandez, the most high profile came during Game 4 of the 2018 ALDS against the Boston Red Sox. After Hernandez made several questionnable calls on Sabathia's pitches during the fixture, the pitcher claimed that “(Hernandez) shouldn’t be anywhere near a playoff game.” The Red Sox would advance to win the World Series that year.

Drafted in the first round of the 1998 Draft by the Cleveland Indians, it did not take CC Sabathia much time to forge a reputation for himself. In his first season in MLB, 1999, the California-native went 17-5, pitching to a 4.39 ERA to finish second in that season's AL Rookie of the Year voting.

"#OTD in 2019, CC Sabathia picked up his 3,000th career strikeout, becoming only the third left handed pitcher to accomplish the feat!" - MLB

Prior to the 2009 season, Sabathia inked a seven-year, $161 million contract with the New York Yankees, which was at the time, the largest ever given to a pitcher. After winning the World Series in 2009 as a member of the pinstripes, Sabathia would go on to make three more All-Star teams before retiring after the 2019 season. In his retirement, Sabathia has served as an advisor to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

CC Sabathia has a long memory for Angel Hernandez' slights against him

In light of his retirement, Hernandez paid homage to his time around the game, claiming:

“I treasured the camaraderie of my colleagues and the friendships I have made along the way, including our locker room attendants in all the various cities.”

While that may be true for some, there is no doubt that a good proportion of MLB players share CC Sabathia's take on Hernandez' style of officiating. Few, however, were able to put in in terms as succinct as the former Yankees ace.