Pitcher Orlando Hernandez — who is Florida Marlins pitcher
Livan
Hernandez's half brother — and catcher Alberto Hernandez, who is
not related, have received plenty of attention since the group went
to the Bahamas in a leaky sailboat.
The players were banished from the Cuban national team for
helping teammates defect two years ago.
"I was forced to pay for my brother's sins, even though I was
the one who remained loyal," Orlando Hernandez told Newsweek for
today's edition.
He told the magazine that he was made a pawn in the battle
between sports agents.
"My nervous attacks have finally ended," he said. "I can
finally relax."
The former pitcher for Cuba's national team told Newsweek that
he had resisted leaving Cuba for years despite the promises from
sports agent Joe Cubas that he could become rich in the United
States.
"Joe told me that I could make $5 million over three years,"
Hernandez told the magazine in an interview before he left Cuba.
"But I told him I would rather have 5 million Cubans cheering me
on than make $5 million."
But after Livan defected in the summer of 1995, Orlando's life
started coming apart. He was dropped from the Olympic team, despite
having the best record. He went to work at a psychiatric hospital.
"None of this would have happened if Livan hadn't defected,"
Hernandez told Newsweek. "But I don't blame him. He didn't mean to
hurt me."
There may be another potential major leaguer among the group of
eight Cuban defectors who landed in the Bahamas last week.
The agent representing Orlando and Alberto Hernandez said Sunday
a third member of their group has talent that could interest major
league teams.
The two players, along with Orlando's common-law wife Noris
Bosch, were given visas by the United States.
The players were released by the Bahamian government and are
staying in the Nassau home of a Cuban-American developer. The other
five were detained by the Bahamian government.
Still waiting in a Bahamian detention center is outfielder Yoel
Pedroso, 21. He was never on the national team but did play amateur
baseball and impressed those who have seen him, said Rene Guim,
spokesman for Cubas.
Guim said Pedroso was at least a minor leaguer. Cubas will
represent Pedroso, who is Orlando Hernandez's first cousin.
Cubas' other two clients, the Hernandezes, are refusing to leave
the Bahamas without the rest of their group. According to WSVN-TV,
Noris Bosch traveled Sunday to Miami while the two players remained
behind. Guim said he could not comment on the news report.
The players insist they are motivated by their friends' fates.
But if they can establish residency in another country, they can
become free agents and negotiate a potentially lucrative contract
with any major league team.
If they come to the United States, they would be subject to
baseball's amateur draft and be able to bargain only with the teams
that select them.
But Guim said if their five companions are given United States
visas today, all of them will immediately get on a plane to the
United States. If not, they will talk with the Bahamas and several
Latin American countries to seek asylum for all eight defectors.
Orlando Hernandez's aunt, Barbara Cruz of Miami, also said the
player known as "El Duque" in Cuba is holding out for the others
and not for a baseball bargaining chip.
Livan Hernandez told The Miami Herald he doesn't understand why
his brother hasn't come to the United States.
"Those visas were authorized because of who I am and what I've
done in this country as a baseball player," he told the newspaper.
"I'm very grateful to the United States for this humanitarian
gesture, and I think `El Duque' should be, too."
© 1998
Associated
Press