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Ozzie Guillén Rips Umpire, Says He Wishes He'd Punched Him in the Face Years Ago

White Sox analyst not happy with Hunter Wendelstedt.

Kyle Koster

Ozzie Guillén not a fan of one particular umpire.
Ozzie Guillén not a fan of one particular umpire. /
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The Chicago White Sox were blanked 9-0 by the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night to drop their astounding season record to 31-109. It appears they have a date with unfortunate destiny as it'll take drastic improvement to avoid posting the worst win-loss number Major League Baseball has ever seen. Once again, NBC Sports Chicago had to think of things to say on White Sox Live.

Thankfully, an incident between Sox manager Grady Sizemore and umpire Hunter Wendelstedt provided all the content neccessary. And it really set Ozzie Guillen off. Though, to be fair, a lot of things can set Guillen off.

“I wish I punched him in the face,” Guillen said of Wendelstedt. “He’s the first guy to kick me out of a game in the big leagues, with no reason. His dad, he was a legend. I said, ‘You know what? You’re not a pimple on your daddy’s behind.' I told him that. Because he kicked me out running out onto the field. He kicked me out of the game. Like, wait a minute. Don’t live on your daddy’s name. I spent more years in the big leagues than you. I think the call made today… I never argue with a call in TV. But obviously, with the uniform on, I did it almost every day. The calls made today were horrible.”

Not done, Guillen added: “The guy is bad. Look at how fat he is. He should be embarrassed to wear that uniform."

The barb about the umpire's relative girth notwithstanding, that's Guillen's lived experience and it would make sense if he's been waiting to torch the guy.

Plus, it probably felt good to talk about someone doing their jobs poorly who is not being paid by the White Sox. Only a few more weeks until it'll all be over.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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