Orlando Hernández Pedroso

Baseball player born in Villa Clara, Cuba. He won the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, was a 2-time National Series champion with Industriales, and is the only Cuban to have won the World Series 4 times (three with the New York Yankees and one with the Chicago White Sox). He is considered one of the best pitchers of all time in Cuban baseball.

During his time in the National Series, "el Duque" played for Industriales, the main team from Havana, serving as the team's primary starter and key piece in the championships won in 1992 and 1996.

During the 1996 post-season, he led Industriales to victory against Villa Clara in the Series final, having previously defeated Pinar del Río 4 games to 0 in the western semifinal.

In the 10 seasons he played in Cuba, he accumulated a record of 126 wins and 47 losses with an earned run average of 3.05 and 1,211 strikeouts. His winning percentage of .728 remains the best mark in National Series history.

In 1997, Orlando Hernández left Cuba by departing in a boat toward the United States from the small town of Caibarién. The boat was intercepted by American Coast Guard and the occupants were handed over to Bahamian authorities for eventual repatriation to Cuba. However, thanks to the intervention of sports agent Mark Cubas, "el Duque" managed to exile himself in Costa Rica and as a non-U.S. resident was able to negotiate his passage to the Major Leagues as a free agent. After two months in Costa Rica, he entered the United States with a visa arranged by the New York Yankees, with whom he had negotiated a four-year contract for $6.6 million.

"El Duque" enjoyed his best Major League season in 1999, with a record of 17 wins and 9 losses and establishing his highest strikeout mark with 157 innings pitched with 214.1 playing for the New York Yankees. After the regular season, he was selected as the MVP of the American League Championship Series. With the Yankees, Orlando Hernández spent six of his first seven Major League seasons, achieving victory in three consecutive World Series (1998, 1999, and 2000) as part of the Yankees' starting pitcher rotation.

In 2005, as a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, "el Duque" had a memorable performance in the sixth inning of the third game of the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox. He was brought in as a relief pitcher with the bases loaded and no outs and managed to dominate with two fly balls to the first two batters before striking out Johnny Damon and closing the inning without allowing any runs. This allowed the White Sox to win the game and subsequently eliminate the Red Sox from the playoffs. Orlando Hernández achieved his fourth World Series ring that season (2005), becoming the first Cuban to win four World Series.

After the 2005 season, El Duque was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks and in May 2006 was sent to the New York Mets in a deal that included relief pitcher Jorge Julio.

His first season in the National League allowed him to try some offensive performances for the first time in his career. On July 29, 2006, Hernández drove in the first two runs of his career. Later, on August 20, 2006, at Shea Stadium, he stole his first base.

Orlando Hernández pitched very well during his time with the New York Mets, achieving a record of 9-7 with a 4.07 ERA in 20 appearances while the Mets won the National League East division. His stellar performance during the month of September with a record of 2-2 with an ERA of 2.02 gave him the opportunity to be the starter of the first game of the National League Division Series. However, an injury suffered the day before the game while training prevented him from participating in the playoffs. Injuries limited him to starting only 24 games during the 2007 season, but he pitched with great effectiveness when he could, finishing with a record of 9-5 with an ERA of 3.72 and 128 strikeouts in 147 innings. During the 2008 season, "el Duque" could not pitch a single game due to injuries and surgery that prevented him from playing during the year, becoming a free agent at the end of the season.

The pitcher, who captured New York in his pocket with his deliveries in the late nineties, decided in 2011 to end a career that began in 1986 on the Island with Industriales.

After ten successful campaigns in Cuba, he was suspended for life by Cuban sports authorities. A year earlier, in 1995, his half-brother Liván, current pitcher for the Washington Nationals, had left the National Team during training in Mexico.

On Christmas Eve 1997, just two months after Liván was named the Most Valuable Player of the World Series with the Florida Marlins, El Duque left the Island on a raft.

On June 3, 1998, he made his debut with the Yankees and was a key figure for the team in winning three World Series between that year and 2004.

The Cuban is the only Latino to win championship rings in his first three years in the Major Leagues, a privilege reserved for very few players, including the legendary Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

In 2005 he won his fourth ring with the Chicago White Sox, where his relief appearance against Boston in the division playoff is still remembered, when he came in to pitch with the bases loaded and no outs, and abruptly stopped the Red Sox uprising.

Hernández has not pitched in the Major Leagues since 2007, when he was with the Mets. By that time there was little left of his dominance on the mound, after a series of injuries and age began to take their toll.

In 2009 he had control problems in Oklahoma City, a Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. In 2010 he played in the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals in an attempt to return to the Major Leagues.

The pitcher, 45 years old, leaves with a record of 90 wins and 65 losses.

"You have to know when it's time to hang up your gloves," he said to the television program María Elvira Live on Mega TV in Miami. "I don't want to keep trying to return to the Major Leagues."

"I'm satisfied, very happy with my career," he added.

For the past six months, El Duque has been coaching a team of nine-year-old children in Miami.