.c The Associated Press
HAVANA (AP) - Cuban defector Livan Hernandez on Saturday fulfills a dream by being the starting pitcher in the World Series for the Florida Marlins.
His half-brother, Orlando, has one as well: He'd just like to pitch again.
"Sometimes I dream I am playing in the Latin American Stadium'' in Havana, said Orlando, who boasts a lifetime record of 129-47, the best winning percentage in the history of Cuba's top baseball leagues.
But a year ago, Cuban baseball authorities suspended Orlando - known as "The Duke'' - for contacts with a Cuban-born professional baseball agent, Juan Ignacio Hernandez Nodar, who has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for trying to help players defect.
"I feel great pain. My talents aren't being offered to the fans,'' the 28-year-old Orlando said in an interview Thursday.
Livan, who left for the United States in 1995, has a multimillion-dollar contract and stardom. Orlando lives in two cramped rooms built of boards and blocks at the back of a relative's house.
It's a short walk down rutted streets to the psychiatric hospital where he earns 206 pesos a month - about $10 - as a physical therapist.
"It's not important where you live,'' he said. "We're contented here.''
While Livan pitches on TV before millions, Orlando works out daily and plays baseball on weekends in neighborhood games - but at second base, because other players say he's too good a pitcher.
Interviewed in the United States where he was preparing for the World Series against the Cleveland Indians, Livan said Orlando was the superior player.
"He was better than me,'' said Livan. "The best pitcher in Cuba. He won the most games of any pitcher.''
News that Livan had outdueled Greg Maddux and struck out 15 to help Florida win the National League pennant thrilled Orlando.
"I feel great emotion. To see him pitching, and I cannot. I feel like I am pitching when I see him.''
Orlando praised Livan as a heady, fearless pitcher and said he sometimes follows his brother's games on Spanish-language radio stations from Miami.
Cuba several years ago banned home-built satellite dishes, making it nearly impossible to see the games live. Friends occasionally bring videotapes of his games.
Orlando says he and two others suspended at the same time are appealing their lifetime bans and he insists he has no plans to defect to the United States, one of many countries he visited while playing with Cuba's national team.
"I have never denied it, I would like to pitch in the major leagues,'' Orlando said. "But never by defecting.
"We have always represented the country with dignity,'' he added.
Orlando's suspension came after Hernandez Nodar was arrested in Cuba in August 1996. Hernandez Nodar, a resident of Venezuela, was accused of trying to encourage young Cuban players to defect.
The Cuban press said Hernandez Nodar was doing it on his own after originally working for Miami-based baseball agent Joe Cubas, who specializes in helping Cuban players defect.
Orlando said he had contact with Hernandez Nodar when the agent was carrying gifts for him from Livan.
"Some medicine for my daughters, clothing for my daughters. He took us to eat at a restaurant,'' Orlando said.
"I never talking about accepting anything'' such as a contract, Orlando said. He said Hernandez Nodar "never spoke against the revolution to me.''
By contrast, Orlando said he twice has had angry confrontations with Cubas.
Livan grew up here in the shadow of his father, Arnaldo, and his brother, both stars in the Cuban leagues and both also known as "The Duke.'' Livan was known as "Little Duke.''
Orlando starred for one of Cuba's best teams, the Industriales of Havana, as well as the national team that traveled around the world. At 6-foot-2, he had sharp control, a nasty slider and a 90 mph fastball. He refused to describe his other pitches, calling that "a secret of war.''
The Hernandez family is the talk of Cuban fans, who meet in Havana's central park. Many Cubans, up until now, had argued that Orlando was the better pitcher. But Livan is the current favorite.
"Livan was the best prospect'' among young Cuban pitchers, insisted Jose Antonio Perez as he sat on a park bench. Another fan, Osvaldo Paredes, said Orlando was "one of the best pitchers in Cuba.''
While contacts with Livan seem to have raised suspicions among Cuban officials, "from my point of view, talking with my brother is not against the revolution. It's family. My brother is my blood,'' he said.
Orlando still thinks about his suspension.
When officials told him he was banned, Orlando said, "it was difficult for me to understand what they were saying. Today it is even more difficult to understand.''
AP-NY-10-16-97 1839EDT