Laz Diaz, a major-league umpire since 1995, is retiring after the season and it’s clear he will miss the friends he has made in baseball but not baseball itself.
It is not the game he used to know, he told USA Today in an interview for an article that appeared Sunday.
“It’s just changed so much,” he said. “There’s so much more technical stuff. It’s kind of restricted us. I mean, everything is black and white now. You can’t manage the game.
“You used to look at the scoreboard, and you’d see a player’s batting average, home runs, RBI and stolen bases. Now, you look up, there’s all kinds of stats up there, exit velocity, launch angle, on-base percentage, OPS. You can’t find anything because it’s all a percentage.”
He made his debut at Tiger Stadium 31 years ago and became a full-time umpire in 1999. He is scheduled to be behind the plate on Saturday in Detroit when the spotlight will focus on another longtime baseball figure taking part in his final game.
Three-time American League Cy Young Award winner and former AL Most Valuable Player Justin Verlander, who has pitched in just one game this year due to injuries, is set to make the final appearance of his Baseball Hall of Fame-worthy career on Saturday at Comerica Park. Verlander, 43, will carry 266 wins and 3,554 strikeouts into his 557th career start.
The final game for the 63-year-old Diaz will come the following day.
According to USA Today, Diaz is one of seven umpires to accept a buyout. The others are CB Bucknor, Lance Barksdale, Andy Fletcher, Marvin Hudson, Brian O’Nora and Tony Randazzo.
Diaz is the one who has spoken out about the job.
With more eyes than ever on umpires — think video review, challenges and umpire scorecards — Diaz implied in an interview with USA Today that he doesn’t enjoy his job anymore.
“I tell these young guys there’s so much pressure in this game,” Diaz said. “So, if you’re not going to have fun in this game, don’t do it. Do not do it. It’s not worth it. There’s just so much scrutiny and negative stuff now.
“It’s nasty. We don’t get the recognition. Everybody is putting us down. Like with Angel (Hernandez) and C.B. (Bucknor), they got so much criticism, and they’re great umpires. But everything is just so (expletive) negative.”
Diaz was on the field for some of baseball’s most significant moments. He worked the game in which Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run game in San Francisco in 2007, the first Field of Dreams Game in 2021 in Dyersville, Iowa, and three World Series.
