Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images
Audio By Carbonatix
In the image above, Tom Hanahan shows the positioning that is usually taken when an umpire is working first base. Which is why, during Thursday’s game between the New York Mets and Houston Astros, former Gold Glove-winning first baseman Keith Hernandez was left completely confused by the unusual positioning of first base umpire Rob Drake.
“Look at Rob Drake over at first base, look where he’s positioned!” Hernandez said after seeing where the umpire was standing with a runner on first base. “How’s he going to call a bullet down the right field line fair or foul, if it’s close?! I’ve never seen that! That positioning by a first base umpire, in my playing days, not even in Little League!”
“I would have to think that that’s an adjustment that Major League Baseball has made. He wouldn’t be doing that on his own,” Hernandez’s broadcast partner Gary Cohen suggested.
“Yes, no, of course, of course. I don’t know whose brainchild that is,” Keith Hernandez still questioned.
“Maybe it’s to improve the calls on pick-off plays?” Cohen then suggested.
“What about the bullet down the line? That’s a tough angle for the first base umpire,” Hernandez reiterated.
“That’s why they usually right along the line behind the bag.
“I don’t get it,” an incredulous Hernandez continued.
“It’s also a dangerous place for an umpire to be,” the third man in the booth, former Major League Baseball pitcher, Ron Darling, added.
“It’s also in the first-base coach’s way,” Gary Cohen then observed.
The broadcast then cut to third base umpire Malachi Moore positioned where the Mets broadcasters would expect him to be.
“I’m not kidding when I say that,” Darling continued, “That’s the reason why the first and third base coaches wear a helmet now. Because it’s dangerous.”
“Yeah, I mean, if the umpire, if he’s going to play there, should probably be wearing a helmet, too,” Cohen agreed.
He’s not wrong. And Rob Drake’s unique positioning at first base certainly is odd.
A former first baseman himself, Keith Hernandez, is absolutely miffed about where Rob Drake is standing.
"I don't know who's brainchild that is." pic.twitter.com/0rjFenNQIC
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 27, 2025