MLB '24 Regular Season Thread

Its incredible to me that someone as notorious - hell people knew his name - as Hernandez was still employed seven years after filing suit against his employer. MLB unions and police unions are one and the same.

 

I was thinking it was a purposeful play on words.

 

I was not a fan of the umpiring stylings of Angel Hernandez, and it goes without saying that a system in which it takes an employer this long to get rid of an employee everyone knows it finds to be substandard is far from ideal.

But I have to say I find it a bit offputting, in a way I can't completely articulate, how he's become history's greatest monster and the object of such all-encompassing derision on social media and elsewhere. Umpires obviously sign up for the job knowing they won't have any fans, but becoming a national punch line is a bit beyond that.

 

Source: https://umpscorecards.com/umpires/
Minimum: 7 games as home plate ump
Principal stat for ranking purposes: Accuracy Above Expected

By those figures -- and reasonable minds may differ on the go-to stat or the minimum sample size for eligibility, etc. -- there are 78 eligible umps.
The 10 worst as measured by Accuracy Above Expected:
69. Angel Hernandez
70. Marvin Hudson
71. Bill Miller
72. Lance Barrett
73. Bruce Dreckman
74. Hunter Wendelstedt
75. Alfonso Marquez
76. Manny Gonzalez
77. CB Bucknor
78. Larry Vanover

The best under these terms is Nestor Ceja.
Widely disdained Laz Diaz checks in slightly below average, ranked 46 out of 78.
Noted Trumpist Rob Drake is at 63 of 78.

 

Negro Leagues statistics to be officially integrated into MLB historical record

 

If MLB really wanted to do something special, they’d count the Negro League years as service time for the pension and give any players, if they’re alive, or the players’ descendants, an MLB pension.

But that would cost money, and not just be a symbolic gesture.

 

I cannot imagine the vile response this is going to bring from the usual disgusting corners of the internet.

 

Trumpists will not be happy. Fuck ‘em.

 

Exactly. You can’t claim the Negro Leagues are Major Leagues without according the players the same privileges given to others.

 

Can pension benefits be passed on? Or do they end with the death of the recipient?

 

I don’t know. But since they’re changing rules, why not go all the way with it?

 

Here's one factor that troubles me.

The most games Josh Gibson played in one season was 68. The most at-bats in a season, 268.

The most games Oscar Charleston played in one season was 101. The most at-bats in a season, 401.

The most games Jud Wilson played in one season was 76. The most at-bats in a season, 280.

None of those numbers come close to matching those of everyday players in MLB, now or in past times. The marathon that is the MLB season is a separating factor.

It IS apples and oranges. And before somebody asks, "How could they help that?", some things in life are just unfair.