Manny Gonzalez

Manuel Augusto Gonzalez

• Height 6' 0", Weight 210 lb.

• Born December 4, 1979 in Caracas, Distrito Capital Venezuela

Biographical Information

Manny Gonzalez was the first person born in Venezuela to become a major league umpire, preceding Carlos Torres by five years. He worked his first major league games as a fill-in umpire in 2010 and 2011, while still working regularly in AAA. He spent the entire 2012 season as a fill-in umpire at the major league level, replacing regular umpires who were on vacation or otherwise unavailable, and was added to the permanent major league umpiring staff in 2013.

He received his first postseason assignment when he was selected as part of the crew that worked the 2015 American League Wild Card Game. He then worked the 2017 All-Star Game and various other postseason series after that. He was one of the umpires who worked at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

He became a minor league umpire in 2002, eventually reaching to the AAA International League, before working major league spring training games starting in 2010.

On April 1, 2026, he was the home plate umpire the first time a game ended on a successful challenge via the ABS Challenge System, introduced at the start of that system. With two outs in the 9th and the count 1-2 on Evan Carter of the Texas Rangers, he called the next pitch from Albert Suárez of the Baltimore Orioles a ball, but C Samuel Basallo challenged the call, which was overturned, meaning that Carter had struck out and the game was over. The score was 8-3 in Baltimore's favor, so the events were not really that dramatic but it was nonetheless a first.

Further Reading

• Jake Rill: "We can say with certainty, no MLB game has ever ended like this before", mlb.com, April 1, 2026. [1]

Related Sites

• Manny Gonzalez on Retrosheet.org