Almost three months have passed since Orlando Hernandez sailed to freedom. While others speak of book deals and movie rights, the former ace of Cuba’s national baseball team still has trouble discussing the voyage across the Caribbean, made with his wife and six of their countrymen.
“I’ll be very honest with you,” Hernandez said, tears coming to his eyes. “I would rather not talk too much about it at this point. Maybe at another moment, but not now.”
Hernandez ducked no other questions at Friday’s 45-minute news conference formalizing his signing with the New York Yankees. The half-brother of World Series most valuable player Livan Hernandez was not being secretive or coy when he avoided this one.
He simply did not want a joyous occasion intruded upon by the harsh realities of what it took for him to get here, especially not while former teammate Jorge Luis Toca and four other baseball men were facing perils of their own.
“That scar is still very fresh on his mind,” agent Joe Cubas said.
Hernandez’s escape from Cuba was smoother than the latest news-making attempt at defection. Toca’s group was feared lost at sea before it reportedly was found Friday on a small Caribbean island, nine days after it had fled Fidel Castro’s regime.
According to Cubas, Hernandez spent only one day aboard a makeshift boat after his Dec. 26 departure. But his group spent four days on the barren Anguilla Cay, off the Bahamian coast, before the U.S. Coast Guard spotted it.
“That’s a little tiny island with no trees, a rock, really,” Cubas said. “They had no provisions, no shelter, no food. All eight had to sleep on top of each other for warmth.”
The Yankees are gambling $6.6 million that the toughness Hernandez showed in his flight from Cuba will help him recapture the mystique he had a few years ago. He was one of the aces of the national team that won more than 150 consecutive games in international competition before losing to Japan last year, after Hernandez–known as “El Duque”–had been kicked off.
“He is a very, very tough competitor,” said Mark Newman, the Yankees’ vice president for player development. “I think that’s evident in the way he (handles himself). He has his head screwed on right.”
Hernandez spent a year working for $10 a month as a physical therapist at a mental hospital after his younger brother defected. He was forced to work out “in hiding” away from government view, keeping his right arm ready for the chance to pitch again. He became the subject of a bidding war after establishing residence in Costa Rica, turning down an offer from the Disney-owned Anaheim Angels that reportedly included movie rights to sign a four-year deal with the Yankees.
“Since a young boy, I’ve always dreamed about the New York Yankees,” said Hernandez, who used Cubas as an interpreter. “I left Cuba in search of freedom, and with that freedom comes a chance to be a member of the New York Yankees. . . . For me to be able to wear this uniform, for me it’s the maximum.”
Hernandez is more likely to wear the uniform of the Norwich Navigators or the Columbus Clippers when the season begins. Although he is expected to pitch in the major leagues at some point this season, the Yankees do not want to push him as fast as they did Japanese right-hander Hideki Irabu, who went 5-4 with a 7.09 earned-run average last year.
There have been reports Hernandez is 32 to 35 years old, not the 28 Cubas claims. But Hernandez has the appearance of a pitcher at the top of his game, not someone over the hill.
“I don’t know where the discrepancies came from,” Hernandez said. “I’m 28 years old. I was born on 10-11-69, as told me by my mother. Every time the government thinks an athlete will defect, it puts obstacles in the way.”
Newman believes Hernandez will be successful with the Yankees because of his skill, not his raw ability. He throws a variety of breaking pitches and–unlike most Cubans–has a knack for changing speeds on all his pitches.
“He’s a pitcher,” Newman said. “He’s not somebody who’s going to light up the radar gun. He’s not going to hit 97 (m.p.h.), but he will throw above-average (velocity).”
Hernandez knows he will be under intense pressure with the Yankees, but he hasn’t yet learned from where much of that will come. Asked what he knows about George Steinbrenner, he said only that “he’s the owner.”
“There’s always some pressure that exists,” Hernandez said. “To be a part of such an organization as the Yankees, in the beginning it can give you a little bit of pressure.
“But the most important thing is to turn your fear into another obstacle you have to overcome.”
