Major League Baseball has made history after appointing the first African American and Mexican American umpires as crew chiefs for the 2020 season. The league announced that for the 2020 season, African American umpire Kerwin Danley would be named crew chief as well as Mexican American umpire Alfonso Márquez will also be named crew chief. Both have been umpires in the league for some time now, both having experience in the World Series in the past. Matt Kelly tweeted out some of the new details on the historical changes.
Historic umpire promotions by MLB today:
– Kerwin Danley becomes the 1st African-American umpire crew chief
– Alfonso Marquez is the 1st Mexican-born crew chief
– Ramon De Jesus becomes the first full-time ump from the DR
Story here: https://t.co/AEZPX7K2Ry…
— Matt Kelly (@mattkellyMLB) February 27, 2020
Both umpires have plenty of prior experience with Daley starting in 1998 as a part of the Major League Baseball umpiring staff. Danley is now fifty-eight and has been involved in two World Series where he has been on an umpiring crew. He actually began umpiring in the Northwest league back in 1985, according to Chuck Schilken of the Los Angeles Times.
Márquez, on the other hand, has already made some history of his own, being the first Mexican born Major League Baseball Umpire, starting at twenty-seven years old. On top of this, Ramon De Jesus becomes the first full-time umpire from the Dominican Republic, as announced by Kelly’s tweet above.
With all of the sign-stealing and cheating scandal coverage around the league as Spring Training has opened up, this news is great for the league. Announcements like this are always good for the league.
