Major League Baseball umpire Angel Hernandez is suing commissioner Rob Manfred and the league on charges of racial discrimination in the sport's promotion and post-season assignment policies.
Hernandez claims in his civil lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati that he was passed over several times for a chance to work the World Series despite high marks on evaluations, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
He also charges that Major League Baseball never made permanent his temporary crew chief assignment.
U.S. District Court judge Michael Barrett is scheduled to oversee the case, noted the Enquirer.
"The selection of these less qualified, white individuals over Hernandez was motivated by racial, national origin and/or ethnic considerations," the lawsuit states. Hernandez is a Cuba native.
Hernandez also charged that Major League Baseball's chief baseball officer Joe Torre is holding a grudge against him that dates back to when Torre was manager of the New York Yankees.
Hernandez claims in the lawsuit that after a 2001 game, Torre commented that the umpire "just wanted to be noticed over there" after a call. Since Torre joined the Major League front office in 2011, the lawsuit claims "the notion that Hernandez 'just wanted to be noticed' permeated Hernandez's yearly evaluations, as did Torre's general negative attitude towards Hernandez," wrote ESPN.
ESPN noted Hernandez worked the 2002 and 2005 World Series and was part of a League Championship Series crew for the seventh time last year.
"The lawsuit cites that in Torre's tenure, Alfonso Marquez — who worked the World Series in 2011 and '15 — is the only non-white umpire to be assigned to the World Series. The other 34 umpires who worked the World Series in that time were white," wrote CBS Sports' Matt Snyder.
"Further, Hernandez notes that he has applied to become a crew chief and been denied. Since 2000, the lawsuit says, there have been 23 umpires promoted to crew chief and all have been white," Snyder added.
According to The Associated Press, the lawsuit states that when Hernandez and the World Umpires Association questioned MLB on why Hernandez had not been promoted to crew chief for this season, the organization sent a letter from Torre.
Torre said in the letter that Hernandez needed to "gain greater mastery of the official playing rules and replay regulations, continue to improve situation management, and display an ability to refocus and move forward after missing calls or receiving constructive feedback from the office," the AP reported.
MLB has declined to comment on the lawsuit.
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