Another major league umpire is hanging it up after nearly 25 years in the majors.
Longtime umpire Paul Emmel retired on Tuesday, according to a social media post by online retailer Ump Attire.
Emmel called balls and strikes in the big leagues from 1999-2023 and had served as a crew chief since 2017.
He is the second umpire to retire this week, but far less high-profile or controversial than Angel Hernandez, who stepped away from the game to spend more time with his family.
The 56-year-old Emmel umped over 2,500 major league games during his career, including the 2013 World Series, three league championship series (2007, 2014 and 2015) and the World Baseball Classic (2009 and 2013).
His career as an umpire included stops in the New York-Penn League, South Atlantic League, California League, Florida State League, Eastern League and International League.
Emmel made headlines in 2016 when he was struck in the head after the Angels’ Jefry Marte lost the grip on a swing of his bat during a game between Los Angeles and the Athletics at Angels Stadium.
The ump had to be taken to the hospital to get stitches.
“It’s scary, no doubt,” then-Angels manager Mike Scioscia told reporters. “These umpires, they don’t have a skull cap and then the bat comes flying, it’s scary. Unfortunately, that happened tonight.”
Emmel missed the 2018 season and was absent for the 2020 and 2021 major league seasons because of leg and knee issues.
He was limited to 37 games last year and did not call a game this season.
As for Hernandez, he and Major League Baseball reached a financial settlement for the oft-criticized ump to end his career that spanned more than 30 years.
Hernandez worked his final major league game on May 9 and confirmed the news in a statement on Monday.
“I have decided that I want to spend more time with my family,” he said in part of his statement, “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.”
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