NEW YORK –
Angel Hernandez was on course to referee the 2018 World Series before being knocked down three times at first base on video reviews in Game 3 of that year’s AL Division Series between the New York Yankees and Boston, wrote MLB in response to its latest legal filing.
Hernandez, born in Cuba, was hired as a big league referee in 1993 and sued in 2017, alleging he was discriminated against because he had not been assigned to the World Series since 2005 and had been passed over for the position of team leader.
U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken granted summary judgment to MLB in March 2021, and Hernandez asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February to overturn Oetken’s decision.
Hernandez served as interim crew chief from 2011 to 2016, at the start of the pandemic-delayed 2020 season, and for part of the 2021 season, but was not named permanent crew chief.
“Hernandez has not presented, and the filing does not contain, any evidence that MLB’s actions were based on his race or national origin,” MLB wrote in a 58-page filing Wednesday.
MLB said Hernandez had no legal basis for asserting that he did not need to show discrimination statistically due to the relatively small sample sizes involved in his case.
Kevin Murphy, Hernandez’s attorney, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
In its response Wednesday, MLB wrote that then-chief baseball officer Joe Torre selected Hernandez for the Division Series in 2018 “with the intention of giving him the opportunity to officiate in the World Series this year. -the”.
“Hernandez did not take advantage of this opportunity and did not take the opportunity,” MLB wrote. “It was the first time since the advent of extended instant replay in 2014 that a referee had three called off in a postseason game. Based on his performance in that Division Series playoff game, Torre wasn’t confident in Hernandez’s ability to perform effectively on an even more intense stage, and for that reason, he didn’t select him. for the World Series that season.
MLB also cited Hernandez’s failure to overturn a call that Oakland’s Adam Rosales doubled up and failed to get past the wall with what would have been a ninth-inning tying home run in Cleveland on May 8, 2013.
“For years, Hernandez refused to admit that the call he made was incorrect and instead tried to blame the quality of the replay equipment,” MLB said. “Hernandez’s failure to put the Cleveland incident behind him — and his continued insistence that others were responsible for his poor decision — was emblematic of why Torre viewed him as unsuitable for the assignments of the World Series and a permanent team leader role. The problem wasn’t the wrong call itself, but Hernandez’s reaction to his mistake.
Citing the 2011-2016 seasons, Hernandez’s attorneys told the appeals court in a June filing that “MLB manipulated Mr. Hernandez’s year-end evaluations in order to make his job performance appear worse than he really was. Mr. Hernandez’s year-end ratings for the 2011-2016 seasons fall far short of accurately summarizing Mr. Hernandez’s actual performance during those seasons.
MLB wrote Wednesday that “Hernandez was quick to eject managers, which inflames tensions on the field, rather than issuing warnings that could potentially defuse these situations. Hernandez also failed to communicate with the other referees on his team, which led to on-field confusion and unnecessary game delays.
MLB also claimed Torre watched Hernandez throw his helmet after a video review overruled one of his calls in 2014 and misapplied a substitution rule, resulting in a 14-minute delay and protest at a game between Boston and Tampa Bay on July 24, 2019.
“During this investigation, MLB has concluded that Hernandez intentionally and deceptively listened to a confidential conversation with another umpire on his crew in order to hear what that umpire would say regarding the incident; and when MLB asked Hernandez about it, he lied about his conduct,” MLB wrote.
MLB also repeated an allegation it made earlier in the trial that Hernandez asked Cincinnati Reds pitcher Homer Bailey to sign 11 baseballs following a game in which Bailey threw a no-hitter. safe in 2012.
