El Duque article in Sun-Times

[bjm676]

Kinda long, but thought I should share it. Nice story on El Duque.

 

Safe at home in Chicago

 

January 14, 2005

 

BY DOUG PADILLA STAFF REPORTER

What happened between here and there just might tell everything that is needed to know about Orlando Hernandez.

 

It has nothing to do with baseball and everything to do with teamwork, desire and a will to see an improbable task to its completion.

 

The life in the United States of the White Sox' newest pitcher began at the dawn of 1998 as he left behind his native Cuba on Christmas in 1997.

 

The time bridge between his two lives -- while relatively short -- is filled with signs that the Sox found themselves a player of high character. At the very least, they have a survivor who thinks of others as much -- if not more -- as himself.

 

Hernandez's journey to the United States was not as comfortable as it is for most baseball defectors from his country, mostly because he never intended to defect. Hernandez ultimately made his break from a life of oppression like most Cuban citizens do, in a leaky boat that required as much prayer as it did buoyancy.

 

Banned from playing baseball in his home country because he was accused of helping half-brother Livan Hernandez to defect in 1995, Orlando Hernandez finally determined it was time to go. He was a national hero turned pariah in his own country. Friends and former teammates refused to associate with him out of fear of retribution.

 

The Christmas escape was launched at nightfall and wound up being a gift on many levels.

 

The escaping group was large, the boat was small, and the odds against having success were huge. Setting sea that night were Hernandez; his new wife, Norris Bosch; Alberto Hernandez (no relation, but a fellow baseball player); Orlando Hernandez's cousin Joel Pedroso; his best friend Osmani; another friend, Juan Carlos, who supplied the 19-foot fishing boat used to escape; Carlos' wife, and a deck hand.

 

The fishing boat, which actually was built by Carlos, was only supposed to venture 12 miles into international waters where it would rendezvous with a speedboat that would complete the estimated 90-mile journey to freedom. When the speedboat never materialized, the tough decision was made to continue.

 

Over rough seas in an area that had claimed so many Cubans in the past, the group fought seasickness and fear. All except for Orlando Hernandez, though, who considered himself ''Errol Flynn'' on that potentially deadly journey.

 

Through it all, Hernandez was convinced he was doing the right thing.

 

''I was looking for freedom and a job,'' he said this week. ''At the time, it didn't matter if it was baseball or anything.''

 

After 10 hours, with the boat taking on water, the group landed on a deserted island in the Bahamas called Anguilla Cay, a frequent landing spot of previous Cuban defectors. While finally on land, freedom still would prove elusive.

 

Night turned to day which turned to night again. Four cans of Spam, three pounds of brown sugar, bread and a supply of drinking water started to run low. Orlando Hernandez brought order to the group, putting in charge a person to hunt for mussels, another to break them from their shells and another to cook meals.

 

Nights were spent huddled together closely for warmth, and a boat sail was used for a blanket.

 

It took four days of isolated living before the U.S. Coast Guard found the group and brought everybody to a detention center in Nassau. Already reported as missing in Cuba, Hernandez called a radio reporter to confirm the news of his escape and provide details.

 

But by law, the government of the Bahamas was under obligation to return Hernandez and his group to Cuba and not open the door to a new life in the United States or elsewhere. Through the help of sports agent Joe Cubas, who had played a big role in other Cuban baseball player defections, humanitarian visas were offered for Orlando Hernandez, his wife and Alberto Hernandez.

 

Orlando Hernandez would not have it, though. He sent back word that unless the entire group was offered visas, he would return to his downtrodden life in Cuba. It didn't take long before the group was allowed to enter Costa Rica on visas.

 

Destined for greatness

 

 

 

Baseball seemed to come easy for the son of the former Cuban national team member who originally carried the nickname of ''The Duke.'' Orlando Hernandez's father, Arnaldo ''El Duque'' Hernandez, was known for his electric pitching style and equally flashy sense of fashion.

 

Arnaldo Hernandez divorced Orlando's mother when Orlando still was too young to understand the dynamics of the split. Arnaldo eventually fathered Livan through another woman, and both Livan and Orlando would find their way to the Cuban national team as pitchers.

 

The half-brothers were tight and were together in Monterrey, Mexico in October 1995 when Livan set in motion his plan to defect. Unlike Orlando's death-defying escape, Livan walked from the Cuban national team's hotel and into a waiting car. Orlando also was offered the chance to defect, but with two daughters in Cuba and not much of a yearning for overwhelming riches, he decided to stay.

 

But instead of being praised for his loyalty to his native country, Orlando was accused of helping Livan escape. At least three times, Orlando was detained and questioned as the Cuban government suspected Orlando also had plans to defect.

 

In July 1996, the country's sports commission took the drastic measure of removing Orlando from the national team, believing the upcoming Olympics in Atlanta offered too much of a prime opportunity for their pitching star to escape. Officially, Orlando was told poor performance was the reason he had been cut, even though earlier that year he had pitched a one-hit victory in the deciding game of the Cuban World Series.

 

It was a humiliating fate for a pitcher that had gone 129-47 while playing for his country.

 

''It was difficult, but now it doesn't matter because you can't go back,'' he said. ''The two years I was suspended, all I thought about was how I was going to escape and seek freedom.''

 

He was allowed to keep his job as a sports physical therapist at a Havana psychiatric hospital, but he was making less than $9 a month. He was harassed by police, ignored or cursed on the streets, and his longtime marriage to his first wife Norma came to an undignified end.

 

After seven previous abandoned attempts to escape, he finally made his run to freedom on that Christmas night in '97.

 

'A positive guy'

 

 

 

When Orlando Hernandez had heard about Major League Baseball while in Cuba, there were two teams mentioned prominently: the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. When Hernandez heard the Yankees were interested in his services upon arriving in Costa Rica around New Year's Day 1998, he asked Cubas to do what he could to put him in pinstripes.

 

The Cleveland Indians and California Angels also were in the bidding, but a four-year, $6.6 million deal ultimately was reached with the Yankees.

 

After spring training, Hernandez was assigned to the Yankees' Class A affiliate, quickly was promoted to Class AAA and found himself in Yankee Stadium by June. In his major-league debut against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Hernandez picked up the victory by allowing one run on five hits in seven innings.

 

''It's difficult to express how I feel,'' Hernandez said at the time through Cubas, who was acting as his interpreter. ''When I left the field, I felt a great deal of emotion. My eyes were watery.''

 

He finished that season an impressive 12-4 with a 3.13 ERA. The following season he was 17-9 with a 4.12 ERA. In six major-league seasons, Hernandez is 61-40 with a 3.96 ERA. All of it has come with the Yankees, though he did spend the entire 2003 season with the Montreal Expos but didn't pitch because of injury.

 

Hernandez's shoulder surgery in 2003 kept him from pitching until July 11 last season, but when he did return after re-signing with the Yankees, he started 8-0 with a 2.49 ERA.

 

Sox general manager Ken Williams took a chance on the 35-year-old Hernandez, but wanted some certainties that his 2003 arm trouble was behind him. Williams said the Sox' training staff, including trainer Herm Schneider, looked over Hernandez and pronounced him as fit as any player they have seen.

 

''I'm in good shape,'' Hernandez said. ''I don't like to say how many games I'll win, but I'll give them everything I have.

 

''I'm a positive guy, and I bring that with me. I'm the same pitcher [as before the injury] with more desire.''

 

For now, Hernandez is scheduled to take over the No. 3 spot in the Sox rotation. Manager Ozzie Guillen said Thursday that Mark Buehrle will be the team's Opening Day starter, followed by Freddy Garcia. Jose Contreras and Jon Garland will round out the rotation.

 

''The rotation is stronger because we are going to have a real No. 5 starter,'' Guillen said. ''After last year, having Garland in that spot makes you feel good.''

 

When Guillen ran into some major-league scouts at the airport in Venezuela this week, he felt even better.

 

''They told me, 'If you make the playoffs, El Duque will be your No. 1 starter.' I faced him in the World Series ... and I didn't have too much success. I saw him pitch twice in the postseason, and he is a cold-blooded pitcher. He reminds me of Andy Pettitte.''

 

Sox eager for a look

 

 

 

The next stage is for the Sox to see him perform after pitchers and catchers report to Tucson, Ariz. on Feb. 16.

 

''We have to get to know him and to see how he prepares for a major-league season,'' Williams said. ''We'll see where he is coming back from the shoulder surgery. If this is a year ago, we don't make this [contract] overture. But because he is so far away from that [injury], he should be better than ever.''

 

Hernandez obviously knows how to deal with adversity. A shoulder injury is nothing when compared to what he has overcome in the past. So while Hernandez might be better than ever when it comes to injury, he is about as rich as they come when it comes to handling life's challenges.

[CanOfCorn]

I hope they are right about his arm. But, even if he can't ever pitch again, he should be a hall of famer just for what he went through.

[ChWRoCk2]

I hope they are right about his arm.  But, even if he can't ever pitch again, he should be a hall of famer just for what he went through.

 

yeah i hope so too