"Prayers were finally answered"; “Honestly this is long overdue" - MLB fans react to controversial umpire Angel Hernandez's retirement news

The veteran Cuban umpire, Angel Hernandez, is set to retire from the MLB on Tuesday, per USA Today's Bob Nightengale. Jeff Passan of ESPN and Jon Heyman of the New York Post also reported the same.

Hernandez, 62, has spent over three decades umpiring in the big leagues and has drawn backlash for his frequent controversial calls from the fans and the ballclubs alike.

Angel Hernandez umpired his last game in the big leagues on May 9, 2024, between the Cleveland Guardians and the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. Per Nightengale, Hernandez spent the last two weeks discussing and working on a financial settlement with the MLB, which finally concluded this past weekend.

Fans breathed a sigh of relief as they took to X, formerly Twitter, to share their opinion on the announcement.

"Honestly this is long overdue," one fan commented

"Prayers were finally answered tbh," another fan commented

"And just like that, everyone who is a fan or is involved with baseball rejoices," yet another fan commented

Fans didn't stop at voicing their pleasure at getting to know about Angel Hernandez's retirement but added a name or two more who they believe have made equally disastrous controversial calls while in the big leagues.

"See if he’ll take CB Buckner and Laz Diaz with him," one fan commented

"CB Buckner and Laz Diaz fighting for the number one spot now that the champ has retired," another fan commented

"This has little impact, there are a handful who are worse than him, he’s just the most well known, look at some of these scorecards not named angel Hernandez, they are horrible," yet another fan commented

Angel Hernandez drew ire from fans for his strike and ball calls on multiple occasions

Angel Hernandez started umpiring in the big leagues in 1991 and had the privilege of working in multiple division series, championship series, and World Series, along with umpiring in All-Star games. He drew criticism for his strike and ball calls from the fans while being the home plate umpire.

Hernandez was seen in a constant tussle with players and umpires over his frail calls from behind the home plate. Most recently, the three-pitch sequence against Rangers OF Wyatt Langford from April 12 comes to mind, where he struck out with all the pitches missing the strike zone.

One of his most controversial games as an umpire came in 2018 when three of his calls were overturned during Game 3 of the high-profile ALDS clash between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

“I don’t understand why he’s doing these games. He’s always bad. He’s a bad umpire," CC Sabathia said after the game.

“Ángel was horrible," Red Sox icon Pedro Martinez said. “Don’t get me going on Ángel now. Major League Baseball needs to do something about Ángel. It doesn’t matter how many times he sues Major League Baseball, he’s as bad as there is."

Angel's woes behind the plate and at third base continued throughout his tenure in the MLB, but he will be bowing out, boasting of umpiring in over 3,700 big league games over three decades.