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Orlando Hernández

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Orlando Hernández
New York Mets – No. 26
Starting Pitcher
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
debut
June 3, 1998, for the New York Yankees
Career statistics
(through 2006)
Win-Loss81-60
Earned Run Average4.19
Strikeouts958
Teams

Orlando Hernández Pedroso (born October 11, 1964 in Villa Clara, Cuba), nicknamed El Duque, is a Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher for the New York Mets. His greatest success came as a New York Yankees starter during that team's run of World Series championships in 1998, 1999, and 2000.

Cuban years

Hernández played for Industriales of Havana in the Cuban National Series, helping the team win that title in 1992 and 1996. He also represented Havana in Selective Series, on teams including Ciudad Habana and Habaneros. He was 126-47 with 3.05 ERA over his ten-year career in the National Series. His career winning percentage in National and Selective Series, .728, is the league record.[1]

Hernández was also a fixture on the Cuban national baseball team, and was part of the gold-winning Olympic team at Barcelona in 1992.

In September 1995 Orlando Hernández's half-brother Liván defected from Cuba. Then in July 1996, Orlando Hernández was detained by Cuban state security and interrogated about his relationship to an American sports agent. Three months later, he was banned from Cuban baseball.[2] On Christmas day 1997, Hernández defected from Cuba, traveling on a boat from the small city of Caibarién to Florida.[3]

Olympic medal record
Men's baseball
Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona Team

Major league career

Hernández enjoyed his best year in 1999, with a 17-9 record and setting career-highs in strikeouts (157) and innings pitched (214.1) as a Yankee. After the regular season, he was selected the Most Valuable Player in the American League Championship Series.

While pitching for the Chicago White Sox in 2005, Hernández came through with a clutch performance in Game 3 of the 2005 ALDS against the Boston Red Sox. He came on in relief with the bases loaded and nobody out and promptly retired the side without surrendering a run. The White Sox would go on to win the game, sweeping the Red Sox out of the playoffs en route to their first World Series title since 1917. After the 2005 season, he was traded along with relief pitcher Luis Vizcaino and the highly touted prospect outfielder Chris Young to the Arizona Diamondbacks for former teammate Javier Vázquez. On May 24, 2006, he was dealt to the New York Mets in exchange for relief pitcher Jorge Julio.

Hernández's debut season in the National League allowed him to attain some offensive feats for the first time in his career. On July 29, 2006, Hernandez drove in the first two RBI's of his career. When asked when was the last time he remembered he drove in a run Orlando said, "In Cuba". Then, on August 20, 2006, at Shea Stadium, Hernández had the first stolen base of his career (3rd).

Hernández pitched well after his trade to the Mets going 9-7 with a 4.09 ERA in 20 starts as the Mets won the National League East. His stellar pitching in September, going 2-2 with a 2.01 ERA, earned him the privilege of being named the Mets Game 1 Starter in the 2006 National League Division Series. However, while running sprints in the outfield the day before the playoffs started, Hernández tore a muscle in his calf and had to be scratched from the postseason roster. He was resigned by the Mets on November 14, 2006.

Disputed birth year

When Hernández signed with the Yankees in 1998, he claimed to have been born in 1969. That fucking liar. In 1999, The Smoking Gun published his divorce decree from Cuba,[4] which had surfaced in connection with a child support case brought by his ex-wife; the decree revealed him to have been born in 1964. Both the official site of Major League Baseball and ESPN still give his year of birth as 1968, while his page on Baseball-Reference.com lists it as 1964.

Trivia

  • When in Cuba, Hernández was known for wearing his socks knee-high, an unusual sight in Cuban baseball.
  • Hernández has a unique windup, one in which he rapidly, in a reflex-like motion, kicks his leg up high while lowering his glove behind that leg, before throwing the ball.
  • Wearing number 26, he always jumps over the baselines when heading to or from the mound.
  • He is one of few pitchers to have ever thrown the almost unhittable Eephus pitch.
  • Along with Jose Contreras, Pat Borders, and Doug Mientkiewicz, one of four players to have won both a World Series Championship and an Olympic Gold Medal.

Career highlights

  • 4-time World Series Champion (1998 New York Yankees, 1999 New York Yankees, 2000 New York Yankees, 2005 Chicago White Sox.)
  • American League Championship Series MVP (1999)
  • 2-time Cuban National Series Champion (1992 Havana Industrialies, 1996 Havana Industriales.)
  • Gold Medalist for Cuban National Baseball Team (1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics)
  • AL All-Star (1999)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Guía Digital 2005-06" (PDF) (PDF) (in Spanish). Cocobeisbol (Radiococo.cu). pp. p. 467. Retrieved 2006-10-22. {{cite web}}: |chapter= ignored (help); |pages= has extra text (help)
  2. ^ Jamail, Milton H. (2000). Full Count: Inside Cuban Baseball. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press. pp. p. 88. ISBN 0809323109. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  3. ^ Fainaru, Steve (2003). "Emigration in the Special Period". In Aviva Chomsky, Barry Carr and Pamela Maria Smorkaloff (ed.). The Cuba Reader. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. pp. pp. 637-643. ISBN 0822331977. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "The Smoking Gun: Archive (Divorcio Notarial)". The Smoking Gun (in Spanish). Retrieved 2006-10-24. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help) (the decree is in Spanish, with a certified English translation)
Preceded by American League Championship Series MVP
1999 		Succeeded by

 

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