Livan Hernandez hasn’t pitched since 2012, but he hadn’t officially retired yet. Now he will reports Bill Ladson of MLB.com. The official papers will be filed and Hernandez’s playing career will, administratively speaking, be no more.
Hernandez pitched for 17 seasons in the big leagues, compiling a record of 178-177 with an ERA of 4.44. While he made the All-Star team twice and was a playoff hero in 1997 for the Marlins, he was basically an innings-eater. You could do well if he was in the back of the rotation throwing 200+ innings a year, but if he was your top starter you were kinda screwed. There’s a lot of value in that, even if it isn’t always pretty.
Of course, despite all of that, Hernandez is probably best known for Game 5 of the 1997 NLCS in which he “struck out” 16 Atlanta Braves batters. He had a bit of an assist, of course, from home umpire Eric Gregg:
Which, to this day, had to be the worst job of home plate umpiring in baseball history. I was livid at the time, but since then I’ve just grown amused by it all. Really, good for Hernandez. Unless he paid off Gregg, he didn’t ask for that zone. He merely observed that he was getting it and pitched to the spot he was given over and over again. Sure, the spot was a foot outside or more, but the reason for that is between Eric Gregg and his god.
A god which the late Gregg is likely sitting next to right now, laughing his butt off about that 1997 NLCS, up in Umpire Heaven.
