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At 69 years old, Phil Cuzzi is the oldest currently active umpire in Major League Baseball. But after a shockingly bad showing in a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants, some are saying it’s time for Cuzzi to call it a career.
Cuzzi began his MLB umpire career in 1991, and finally got to call a World Series in 2017. However, not even the most skilled umpire can outrun Father Time, and it appears that time might soon be up for the New Jersey native.
Umpire Phil Cuzzi had a rough 8th inning in the Giants Phillies game.
He made two bad calls to Bryce Harper and then gifted Matt Chapman a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th life in the bottom half of the inning.
Instead of striking out, Chapman singled, and moved the winning run into scoring… pic.twitter.com/Sfeo7ZwNGB
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) July 8, 2025
In the top of the eighth inning of a 1-1 game between San Francisco and Philly, Bryce Harper stepped to the plate with a runner on first and no outs. He proceeded to take an 83-mile-per-hour sinker from pitcher Tyler Rogers that looked well outside of the zone, but Cuzzi called it strike one.
On the next pitch, Rogers threw another sinker, this one even further outside the zone. But again, Cuzzi called it strike two. Harper ended up grounding out, and the Phillies did not score in the inning.
Hey, it’s two bad calls, that can happen to any umpire. But it’s what happened in the bottom of the inning that really caused scrutiny for Cuzzi. Like the Phillies, the Giants put a runner on first with no outs. Matt Chapman then stepped to the plate to face reliever Orion Kerkering.
Kerkering quickly got ahead in the count 0-2, but Cuzzi then proceeded to call three straight pitches in the strike zone as balls before Chapman delivered a single to put runners on first and third. San Francisco scored two runs in the inning and won the game, 3-1.
Major League Baseball has no age limits on umpires. But the data is clear: older umpires struggle more with balls and strikes than their younger counterparts.
Phil Cuzzi has had a great run. But it might just be time for the end of that run.
The post Oldest MLB Umpire Makes Case For Age Limits With Awful Performance appeared first on BroBible.