How Public Reputation Could Have Helped Baseball's Shohei Ohtani And Hurt Angel Hernandez During Their Legal Troubles
Hernandez has become the face of incompetent umpires. But is he as bad as everyone claims?
When someone is involved in a government investigation or a lawsuit, a decision is made based on the available evidence. But sometimes, a person’s public reputation can sway the fact finder’s decision. Let’s take a look at two case studies in professional baseball where reputation and public perception may have helped or hurt them at a low point in their careers.
Shohei Ohtani is a once-in-a-generation player who excels in both hitting and pitching. His numbers, multiple awards, and his performance in the World Baseball Classic made him famous worldwide and brought positive attention to Major League Baseball (MLB).
A few months ago, law enforcement investigating a gambling operation discovered multimillion-dollar transfers from his bank account to a bookmaker. It was later discovered that the transfers were connected to Ohtani’s former translator Ippei Mizuhara’s gambling debt.
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Ohtani’s representatives initially claimed that he voluntarily transferred the money to cover Mizuhara’s debt. But a few days later, Ohtani changed his story claiming that Mizuhara stole the money from him.
The MLB, the IRS and the U.S. Department of Justice investigated the matter. A short time later, Ohtani was cleared of any wrongdoing while Mizuhara was charged with bank fraud and filing a false tax return. A few weeks ago, Mizuhara pled guilty to all charges.
The media and the public for the most part have accepted this and moved on. But some continue to have suspicions, focusing on why Ohtani changed his story. Did the MLB investigate Ohtani using kid-gloves out of fear that a scandal would cause public outrage and tarnish the game? Or did Mizuhara take the fall for Ohtani?
When Ohtani left Japan to join the Angels at 23, he was bound by international signing rules which capped his signing bonus to $3.557 million. If he had waited until he was 25, he could have been an unrestricted free agent and likely commanded a $200 million contract. Most will see this as someone who cares less about money and more about playing against the best. But a few might see this as someone who is not afraid to take a chance (or a bet, if you will) in the hopes that it will result in a huge payoff later. And it did pay off for Ohtani as he signed a deferred $700 million contract with the Dodgers.
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Next, let’s look at MLB umpire Angel Hernandez. To baseball fans, he was universally hated for being the worst umpire in the league for making numerous bad calls, some in key moments which could have determined the outcome of the game.
In 2017, Hernandez filed a lawsuit against MLB claiming that because of racial discrimination, he was not selected to be a crew chief or an umpire for the World Series. Hernandez is of Cuban ancestry.
While the lawsuit was ongoing, Hernandez’s bad calls were frequently called out on social media and sometimes even on mainstream media.
Hernandez’s most egregious mishap was during Game 3 of the 2018 American League Division Series where three of his four calls were challenged and overturned.
Three-time Cy Young award winner Pedro Martinez said that “[MLB] needs to do something about Angel. It doesn’t matter how many times he sues [MLB]. He’s as bad as there is.” Martinez was raised in the Dominican Republic.
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The district court granted summary judgment in favor of MLB in March 2021. Hernandez appealed the decision.
Around the time Hernandez’s legal team filed the appeal, Hernandez was the umpire of the April 6, 2021, game between the Astros and the Angels. On that game, he blew 20 calls.
On April 24, 2022, Hernandez was the home plate umpire of the game between the Phillies and the Brewers. He made 16 bad calls, including one in the ninth inning that resulted in Kyle Schwarber getting ejected from the game for erupting at Hernandez.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision rejecting Hernandez’s racial discrimination claim.
Hernandez has become the face of incompetent umpires. But is he as bad as everyone claims? Let’s look at the April 6, 2021, game mentioned above where he blew 20 calls. According to the Twitter/X account Umpire Scorecards, his overall accuracy for the game was 86% where he called 126 of 146 pitches correctly.
According to a Boston University study on the best and worst umpires, Hernandez was not on the bottom 10 list.
And, in the infamous April 24, 2022, game, Hernandez’s overall accuracy was 88%, calling 113 of 129 pitches correctly.
Looking at Hernandez’s games, his accuracy averages in the 90% range with the occasional high 80s.
While these percentages sound high, it should be noted that the average accuracy percentage is 94%.
Also, the inclusion of the strike zone box on televised games allowed viewers to gauge balls and strikes and arguably this has been the impetus for most of the public outrage for bad calls. But umpires have claimed that the box is not always accurate. Also, one documented case shows that the strike zone for the same game can be different depending on who broadcasts it.
On Memorial Day, Hernandez announced his retirement from MLB. He leaves with a rank of 67 among the 85 umpires to call games in 2024. Other than his officiating, he will be remembered for being a nice guy.
Ohtani’s outstanding athletic performance and his unassuming personal life was a positive for him during his former translator’s gambling investigation. But what if Ohtani was a baseball “bad boy”? Or constantly flashed expensive toys on his 12 social media pages? Would the public have a different impression of him? Would investigators spend more time on the case? In the case of Hernandez, while the court opinions rejecting his claims didn’t explicitly say so, the judges presiding over the case most likely did see at least a few of Hernandez’s baseball screwups. So Hernandez could have been snubbed because of something other than racial discrimination.
Steven Chung is a tax attorney in Los Angeles, California. He helps people with basic tax planning and resolve tax disputes. He is also sympathetic to people with large student loans. He can be reached via email at [email protected]. Or you can connect with him on Twitter (@stevenchung) and connect with him on LinkedIn.
