Archive for May 28th, 2024

Obit watch: May 28, 2024.

Tuesday, May 28th, 2024

I didn’t want to post an obit watch yesterday because I thought it would distract from Memorial Day. So catching up…

Bill Walton. ESPN. Boston Globe (archived).

Richard “It’s a Small World” Sherman. NYT (archived).

Don Perlin, comic artist. (“Moon Knight”)

Adele Faber, author. I’m not a parent, but I have heard a lot of raves for How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk.

FotB RoadRich sent over an obit for Al Ruddy. He produced a couple of movies, and co-created “Hogan’s Heroes” and “Walker, Texas Ranger”.

Not exactly an obit, but Lee Goldberg wrote a nice tribute to Roger Corman.

He was cheap, but he paid us on time, treated us well and was a wonderful, creative collaborator.

Posted in Books, Movies, Music, Obits, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

Ángel of the morning…

Tuesday, May 28th, 2024

Ángel Hernández has retired as a baseball umpire “effective immediately”. ESPN.

This seems more like one of those “retirefirings”:

Major League Baseball and the Hernández were negotiating a financial settlement over the past two weeks and came to an agreement during the holiday weekend, according to USA Today.

I do so love a good classical reference:

“I have decided that I want to spend more time with my family. Needless to say, there have been many positive changes in the game of baseball since I first entered the profession. This includes the expansion and promotion of minorities. I am proud that I was able to be an active participant in that goal while being a Major League umpire.”

…

Hernández has been a lightning rod for controversy and is universally viewed as the worst umpire in the game by players, managers and fans of the sport.
The poor reputation he has dates back almost two decades with player polls by Sports Illustrated in 2006 and 2011 ranking him as the third-worst umpire and an ESPN poll in 2010 putting 22 percent of the respondents as viewing Hernández as the worst in MLB.
Hernández umped just 10 games during the 2023 season because of a back injury, but he got 161 calls wrong, according to Umpire Auditor.

He sued MLB in 2017 alleging racial discrimination, but the case was thrown out of court.

And since I have the song stuck in your head now…

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed