By Migue Guerra
It is indisputable that Orlando “El Duke” Hernández he has been one of the most important figures in the history of Cuban baseball. His achievements include: the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, he was 2 times champion of the National Series with Industriales and is the only Cuban who has won the World Series 4 times (three with the New York Yankees 1998, 1999 and 2000 and one with the Chicago White Sox 2005).
His career statistics in the major leagues do not go unnoticed, in 211 starts he won 90 games and lost 65, threw a total of 1,314.2 innings where he struck out 1,086, saved 2 games and had a 4.13 ERA on the mound.
In our special “Complete Swing Show” we have the presence of “El Duke”, in one of the most popular shows we have done, the native of the capital of all Cubans told us many interesting anecdotes about his personal and sports life. Among many of these peculiar stories Orlando Hernández told us about the day he almost pitched for the first time at Yankee Stadium.
Nothing better than his own words, to enjoy this curious experience:
“When they tell me one day, June 1st, they say: hey, you’re going to pitch tomorrow at Yankee Stadium, but don’t think it’s for nothing, it’s that it’s your turn tomorrow and David Wells doesn’t feel well.”
“David Wells’s previous outing was the perfect game, so it seems that he went to a bar to eat some rice and beans and he didn’t like it hahaha. The beans he ate were Johnnie Walker brand hahaha. “
“The man couldn’t pitch, so I got to the stadium, imagine when I saw that stadium, you know, I went to the hotel first and then to the stadium, when I’m there I change, I’m ready to pitch and David Wells walks out at the same time as I, and I said to myself: what happened here… I wasn’t going to pitch. “
“The translator tells me: if he can throw, he will throw, if not then you will throw. The man went and said that if I could pitch that was okay, they told me: go and change you’re going to Columbus (minor league team) again. “
Find out what “El Duke” said in the following video:
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