Rex Hudler has an incredible Angel Hernandez story from their days in minor leagues
That Rex Hudler reached 10 years of service time in Major League Baseball is a testament to his persistence.
Hudler was the Yankees’ first-round pick in the 1978 draft and spent parts of his first five professional seasons in Class A baseball. His first taste of the majors was more like a long sip of coffee as he appeared in just 43 games with the Yankees and Orioles from 1984-86.
Not including a year spent in Japan, Hudler appeared in more minor-league games (963) than major-league games (774).
Among Hudler’s managers were Earl Weaver, Whitey Herzog, Joe Torre and Terry Francona.
So Hudler has a lot of baseball stories, and every so often he’ll share one while calling a Royals game on Bally Sports Kansas City. They’ll range from the time he wore pantyhose during a game to playing against Cal Ripken the night he set the consecutive-games record.
On Sunday, Hudler shared a wild story about umpire Angel Hernandez, who is not a popular figure with baseball fans.
I caught up with Hudler at Kauffman Stadium this week and asked him to expound on the time Hernandez ejected a dugout full of Class A Fort Lauderdale Yankees.
“It was a Florida State League game at Al Lang Stadium. I spent parts of five years there and in that league, so I can’t remember what year it was,” Hudler said.
“Hot afternoon, of course. Summers in Florida were brutal. Worse than here because it rained every afternoon because it’s tropical. So anyway, it’s a day game, we’re all hot and a play at first base happened. We were right there on the first base dugout side. And we were letting (Hernandez) have it. We’re all on him. He had enough. He says, ‘OK, that’s enough. I don’t want to hear another word.’”
That’s when someone in the dugout hatched a plan to pass out athletic tape to the players so they could show Hernandez that they were keeping quiet.
“I don’t know if I instigated it or not,” Hudler noted, “but that’s something I would do.”
Instead of getting a laugh out of the players’ antics, Hernandez was furious when he saw that they’d all put tape over their mouths.
“The next time he looked over there and saw that he goes, ‘All right, everybody out.’ That’s the kind of bad ass he was at that particular time in his career.
“My manager was freaking out. My manager was going, ‘What the heck am I supposed to do? No extra players? No pitching?’ He ran everybody out. We had to leave so we all went in the locker room underneath the stands at Al Lang.
“In my 21 years of playing professional baseball, I never saw anything like that.”
Hudler estimated that 10 players were run out of the game and there were only 24 guys on a roster.
Hudler also noted that Hernandez was in his early 20s at the time. Just like a player, Hernandez worked his way up the minor league system to the majors.
“Yeah, I still remember,” Hudler said. “I don’t think it’s a proud moment for him.”
Hudler laughed a lot while telling this epic story but said he and Hernandez have become close.
“I got to know him years later as a broadcaster, and I would go the umpire’s room and see him.,” Hudler said. “You know, it was all fun. I got to know him and I like him. He’s my friend.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 11:17 AM.
