Orlando Hernandez Archives - River Avenue Blues

The Duke of the Bronx

January 29, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

Welcome to RAB’s Retro Week. Spring Training is two weeks away and there’s not much going on in the hot stove league, so this is as good a time as any to look back at some Yankees stories from yesteryear. Since this year is the 20th anniversary of the 1998 Yankees, this week will be dedicated to that team.

Given how the season played out, it can be easy to forget the 1998 Yankees needed to be saved. Twice.

The first time they had to be saved came early in the summer, on June 3rd, when David Cone was unable to make his scheduled start because his mother’s dog bit him in the hand. True story. Cone talks about it during YES Network broadcasts all the time.

With Cone unavailable, the Yankees turned to maybe 28-year-old but possibly 32-year-old Cuban right-hander Orlando Hernandez, who the team signed in March because pitching depth was in short supply. The expansion draft raided depth charts — the Yankees lost righty Ben Ford to the Diamondbacks and righty Brian Boehringer to the Devil Rays in the November 1997 expansion draft — and left teams hesitant to trade their leftover pitchers.

* * *

“I’m sick of George’s tactics,” said Joe Cubas, Hernandez’s agent, to Murray Chass in March 1998. George being George Steinbrenner, of course. “I’m fed up with it and tired of it and sick of it. My conscience is clean. I can speak about this because I just told the Yankees first … George is leaking (numbers) on purpose to scare others away. If they think they are going to corner me into a deal with those tactics, they’re going to have a rude awakening when they see I’m about to cut a deal with another club.”

Hernandez defected from Cuba in December 1997, two years after his younger brother Livan left the island. As punishment for Livan’s defection, Orlando was left off the 1996 Cuban Olympic team and later banned from playing baseball in Cuba entirely. He defected to Costa Rica, which allowed him to avoid the draft and instead negotiate with any team as a free agent. The Yankees, Indians, Angels, and Mariners all wanted him, and George was driving a hard bargain.

“I’m dealing with four clubs. I’m close with one, and it’s not them,” said Cubas to Chass. “They’re trying to make it look like there’s a deal about to be made. The other clubs are taking it out on me. They’re asking, ‘Are you using us to get a better deal from George?'”

One day after Cubas made those comments — literally the very next day — Hernandez and the Yankees agreed to a four-year contract worth $6.6M. The Indians made a late push, but El Duque wanted to be a Yankee.

“I was about to cut a deal with Cleveland,” said Cubas to Buster Olney. “We were at opposite ends of the spectrum yesterday. The thing that helped was that (Brian) Cashman got directly involved, which he hadn’t been from the very beginning.”

* * *

Hernandez was a bit of a mystery at the time aside from his stellar record in Cuba. He’d starred in the Cuban league and pitched well in the 1992 Olympics, but it was unclear if he’d even start in the big leagues. The Yankees viewed him as a potential back-end starter or relief option. After an abbreviated Spring Training — Hernandez reported late because he signed late — he headed to the club’s High Class-A affiliate in Tampa.

Two starts and nine innings of one earned run ball later, the Yankees moved Hernandez up to Triple-A Columbus, where he pitched to a 3.83 ERA with 59 strikeouts and 17 walks in seven starts and 42.1 innings. The Yankees were preparing Hernandez for a bullpen role — “We’re kind of tossing the idea around,” said former farm system head Mark Newman to Chass — when Cone was bitten.

Hernandez made his big league debut on June 3rd, against the expansion Devil Rays. Against an admittedly thin lineup, El Duque fired seven innings of one-run ball at Yankee Stadium, striking out seven. Most fans hadn’t seen Hernandez prior to that. He was late to Spring Training and had been in the minors. Hernandez wowed with his leg kick and array of arm slots.

“It was very emotional due to the fact so many years had gone by since I pitched in front of so many fans, and it was my first game at the Major League level,” said Hernandez to Olney after the game.

The original plan called for Hernandez to make just the one spot start, then return to Columbus. Steinbrenner instead ordered Hernandez to remain with the big league team. “When you have an organization and an owner who knows what he wants to do, that’s going to happen,” Joe Torre said to Olney. Ramiro Mendoza shifted to the bullpen and Hernandez remained in the rotation.

So, with Cone recovering from his dog bite and David Wells nursing an achy shoulder — Hernandez nearly made his MLB debut one day earlier in place of Wells — El Duque stepped into the rotation and provided the type of stability the club was seeking behind Andy Pettitte. The Yankees were short on pitching depth and short on healthy starters. Hernandez helped save the day.

All told, Hernandez made 21 regular season starts for the Yankees in 1998, throwing 141 innings with a 3.13 ERA (142 ERA+) and a 3.53 FIP. That earned him a fourth place finish in the AL Rookie of the Year voting — Ben Grieve won the award, and was followed in the voting by Rolando Arroyo and Mike Caruso — and also a spot in the postseason rotation behind Pettitte, Wells, and Cone. Hernandez over Hideki Irabu was an easy call.

* * *

The second time the Yankees had to be saved came in October. The 114-win juggernaut Yankees swept the Rangers in the ALDS — the Yankees held Texas, a team that scored 64 more runs than any non-Yankees team during the regular season, to one run in the three-game sweep — before running into a very deep and very dangerous Indians team in the ALCS. Cleveland’s lineup for Game One that series:

CF Kenny Lofton
2B Joey Cora
LF David Justice
RF Manny Ramirez
3B Travis Fryman
DH Jim Thome
1B Richie Sexson
C Sandy Alomar
SS Omar Vizquel

The Yankees scored five runs against Jaret Wright in the first inning of Game One and eventually held on for the win. The Indians rebounded with a 12-inning win in Game Two and put a hurting on Pettitte in Game Three (six runs in 4.2 innings) to take a two games to one series lead. The only thing standing between the Yankees and a three games to one series deficit was the Cuban veteran and big league rookie Hernandez.

To make the situation even more dire — Game Four was in Cleveland, which was not an easy place to play in the late-1990s — Hernandez was going to pitch in cold weather, something he never did in Cuba, and pitch in general for the first time in 15 days. He wasn’t needed during the ALDS sweep of the Rangers and had a long layoff since his final regular season start. And it was the powerhouse Indians. And it was cold.

“When I was pitching with the Cuban national team, we played in Italy and Ireland, and other countries in Europe, and it was pretty cold. I’m not sure what the temperatures were, but it was pretty cold,” said Hernandez to Olney. “I’ve been through some cold times. I don’t feel that the cold on the field will affect my pitching tomorrow.”

El Duque was right. Seven innings, three hits, two walks, no runs. He struck out seven and retired 14 of the final 16 batters he faced. Paul O’Neill smacked a first inning solo home run to give the Yankees the only run they’d need on the night — they did add three insurance runs later in the game, and those are always appreciated — and Hernandez pitched the series back even at two games apiece.

“I’ve watched him pitch all year, and I’ve never seen him tense,” said Chili Davis to Mike DiGiovanna after the game. “With the rest he had, you knew he’d have a good fastball. When you’ve thrown a fastball by Thome, you’ve accomplished something.”

El Duque saved the Yankees’ bacon and helped them avoid a dreaded three games to one series deficit. They went on to win the ALCS in six games. Had there been a Game Seven, there was talk Hernandez would get the ball on short rest rather than Pettitte on normal given how Games Three and Four played out. Fortunately Torre never had to make that decision.

Hernandez started Game Two of the World Series against the Padres and was again magnificent, holding San Diego to one run in seven innings. The Yankees swept the series for their second championship in three years and the first of what would eventually be three consecutive World Series titles. El Duque allowed one run in 14 postseason innings in his two starts. He saved the Yankees when their rotation was falling apart in June, and he saved them again in the ALCS.

* * *

Going from leaving Cuba on a fishing boat to signing a $6.6M contract to pitching at Yankee Stadium in the World Series surely made for a whirlwind year for El Duque. The best part was saved for last though, and it wasn’t the World Series title.

John Cardinal O’Connor, the late Archbishop of New York, sent an emissary to Cuba and convinced Fidel Castro to allow Hernandez’s family to leave the island so they could reunite in the United States. Castro allowed Orlando’s family to leave, just as he allowed Livan’s family to leave a year earlier, after he pitched the Marlins to a World Series title.

On October 22nd, the day after the Yankees won the World Series, Hernandez’s mother, his two daughters, and his ex-wife were chartered from Havana to Miami. George Steinbrenner then flew them up to New York on his private plane. Hernandez and his family reunited at Teterboro Airport. The next day, they paraded down the Canyon of Heroes together as a family.

“He was just totally overwhelmed with joy,” said Rene Guim, a spokesman for Hernandez’s agent, to Andy Newman and Charlie Nobles. ”He cried like a little baby.”

The 2002 Yankees: A forgotten 103-win season

February 23, 2017 by Steven Tydings Leave a Comment

It’s been 15 years since the 2002 Yankees fell short of a fifth straight American League title and fourth World Series win in five years. Because that was a time of World Series or bust fervor, it’s easy to forget that the ’02 squad won 103 games and arguably had the Yankees’ best rotation of the decade. So let’s take a look back at that team as well as what could have been.

New Faces

Right now, Yankee fans are forced to adjust to a series of bright-eyed young kids coming up to the majors and a few solid veterans. The 2002 Yankees didn’t have a transition anything like the current squad, but they did see a few shifts after the 2001 World Series. They had holes in all four corners as Paul O’Neill and Scott Brosius retired while Tino Martinez and Chuck Knoblauch became free agents.

The Yankees being the Yankees, they filled all four holes within eight days. The first move was to trade David Justice to the Mets, one of the rare times the crosstown rivals would hook up for a trade, for Robin Ventura. Four days later, they’d deal reliever Jay Witasick to the Giants for John Vander Wal, who’d man right field.

That move would get overshadowed because it was on the same day they announced the signing of the reigning American League MVP Jason Giambi as their new first baseman. Rondell White would sign for an ill-fated stint in left field four days after that.

The front office appeared done with all five main starters from ’01 returning and Steve Karsay signed to be the new set-up man. However, this was George Steinbrenner’s team, so anything can happen. By anything, I mean that a 38-year-old David Wells called up Steinbrenner and unilaterally talked him into a two-year deal … even though he had a verbal agreement to sign with the Diamondbacks already. Seriously.

A dominant regular season

2002 was the first year of the YES Network and those tuning into YES in the inaugural season saw a juggernaut of a team. They lost their first game before reeling off seven straight wins. They won 13 of 14 in mid-May, a stretch that included two three-game sweeps of a perennial Yankees punching bag, the Minnesota Twins.

The offense is what carried the team. Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, all those guys were their normal selves for the most part. However, Giambi and a 26-year-old Alfonso Soriano combined for 80 home runs (41 and 39, respectively) and were a force near the top of the lineup. Soriano led the AL with 41 stolen bases and 209 hits., had more home runs than walks (23) and set Yankees records for at-bats (696) and strikeouts (157) in a season. He also had 51 doubles. Ventura was a surprise All-Star with 19 home runs at the All-Star break, so the Yankees literally had an All-Star at every infield position.

The Yankees were certainly based around hitting (they led baseball in runs scored, OBP and SLG and were second in home runs, third in hits), but their pitching staff wasn’t half bad. They had seven pitchers make at least eight starts and all had an above-average ERA+. Orlando Hernandez and Andy Pettitte each had strong years while David Wells rebounded from a bad ’02 to justify his contract.

The bullpen had four key pitchers: Ramiro Mendoza, Mike Stanton, Karsay and, of course, Mariano Rivera. Rivera went on the DL twice in ’02 (was still dominant when he was healthy), leading in part to Stanton and Karsay each pitching at least 78 games. All four relievers had ERAs below 3.44.

2002 was also the first year the Yankees faced the NL West in interleague play, which led to two memorable moments. One was Barry Bonds hitting an absolute bomb to the back of the upper deck at old Yankee Stadium that Giants PBP man Jon Miller would say was “heading for New Jersey”. The other was Marcus Thames’ MLB debut. He had to face the best pitcher going in Randy Johnson yet found a way to come through with a homer on the first pitch he saw.

Trade Deadline

The Yankees made two big trades in early July. The first was trading non-prospect Scott Wiggins to the Blue Jays to acquire slugger Raul Mondesi to man right field with Vander Wal, Shane Spencer and others not quite cutting it. Mondesi was a Steinbrenner move through and through as George wanted the past-his-prime outfielder and paid most of his remaining money.

(Mike’s Note: George traded for Mondesi after Tim McCarver said the Yankees needed a right fielder like Raul Mondesi during a nationally broadcast game against the Mets. Enrique Wilson started in right field on June 29th, made a few misplays in the loss, McCarver said they should trade for Mondesi, and a day later the trade was made. Yup.)

They also traded Ted Lilly, who was set to start the following Sunday, and two prospects in a three-team deal with the Athletics and Tigers to acquire 25-year-old righty Jeff Weaver, who they saw as injecting youth into a very old rotation. Weaver would pitch dreadfully in 2003 but was fine as a swingman in ’02 before two bad postseason appearances.

The Loss to the Angels

The Yankees led baseball with 103 wins. They didn’t get possession of first place for good until late June, but eventually won the division by 10.5 games. Ideally, that’d mean they’d face the AL’s worst playoff team (the 94-win Twins) in the ALDS, but instead they got the wild card winners, the 99-win Anaheim Angels. In their four-game set with the Angels, the Yankees led in the 5th inning or later of every single game. Yup. The pitching staff melted down in every game.

Game 1 would be a Yankees classic if it wasn’t for the rest of the series. Roger Clemens, arguably the team’s worst full-time starter, got the ball in Game 1 and was meh. He gave up four runs in 5 2/3 innings and left with the game tied. Ramiro Mendoza gave up a go-ahead home run to Troy Glaus to begin the 8th, but the Yankees rallied. With two outs in the 8th, Soriano and Jeter walked before Giambi tied the game with a single. That set the stage for Williams, who blasted the winning three-run homer.

Pettitte was pulled early in Game 2 and the Yankees came back again, this time with Soriano hitting a two-run homer in the 6th (off rookie Francisco Rodriguez) and the Yanks led, 5-4, until the 8th. Then, El Duque gave up back-to-back homers before Karsay and Weaver gave up two more runs in the 8th and 9th. A late Yankees rally fell short, 8-6, with a Mondesi pop out as the winning run.

The Yankees led 6-1 top 2nd of Game 3, but Mike Mussina was pulled after four innings after giving up four runs. Weaver, Stanton and Karsay combined to give up five runs over the next four innings as the Yankees lost, 9-6. David Wells and Ramiro Mendoza combined to give up eight runs in the 5th inning of Game 4 and the season was over like that.

What may have been the best pitching staff of the decade gave up 31 runs in four games and Mo only pitched one scoreless inning. You can chalk that up to bullpen mismanagement, but Rivera’s injuries that season may have been a reason not to go to him earlier (particularly in Game 2). However, Torre’s regular season bullpen load for Karsay and Stanton may have led to their hiccups in the postseason.

Legacy

There is an alternate universe where the Yankees held off the hot-hitting Angels, beat up on the Twins in the next round like they seemed to do every postseason and then met the Giants in Fall Classic for the first time since a great 1962 series.

The season marked the end of a 31-year-old Giambi’s peak as ’02 was his best year in pinstripes. Williams, then 33, also declined significantly after that year. Mussina and Clemens would rebound in ’03 and Rivera would too with a 1.66 ERA.

Spencer, Stanton and Mendoza moved on from the Yankees (besides one more stint for Mendoza two years later). The Yankees would splurge for Hideki Matsui and Jose Contreras the next offseason and win another 101 games. With the postseason success a year later, it just leaves you wondering what might have been in 2002.

Guest Post: Uniform No. 26: The Best of a Bunch of Stragglers

June 7, 2015 by Mike 22 Comments

The following is a guest post from Adam Moss, who you know as Roadgeek Adam in the comments. He wrote a guest post about umpire Tim McClelland back in February and will now tackle uniform No. 26. Enjoy.

We complain that the Yankees retire too many numbers (21 by the end of the season) or should un-retire numbers. However, you look at statistics, particularly on Baseball-Reference, the Yankees seem to have an inordinate amount of numbers that have an insane list of players. Yet, 26 seems to stick out. Most recently, we associate the Yankees’ No. 26 with Eduardo Nunez, who was wearing it from 2011-2013 (he wore 12 in 2010, his first season). The first time the No. 26 was assigned by the Yankees was Cedric Durst, a former outfielder for the St. Louis Blues from 1922-1926. Durst joined the Yankees in 1927, but did not get his number 26 until 1929. He only wore 26 for one year, changing to 27 for the 1930 season. That season he was traded to the Red Sox with $50,000 for Yankee legend, Monument Park and Hall of Fame inductee Red Ruffing.

I am not going to go through the entire list of who wore 26 in this blog post, it would take forever. Since Cedric Durst, 71 other players have worn the No. 26 for the Yankees, currently with Chris Capuano wearing it. However, the No. 26 also seems for the most part to deal with a lot of straggler players. In 2012 for example, we had Darnell McDonald wear No. 26 (and cut his famous dreadlocks) for 3 games before being designated for assignment. Since 2009, the Yankees have assigned the No. 26 to 9 players: Austin Kearns, Kevin Russo, Greg Golson and Nick Johnson all in 2010; Eduardo Nunez in 2011; Ramiro Pena, Darnell McDonald and Eduardo Nunez in 2012; Nunez kept it for all of 2013; Yangervis Solarte took 26 after Nunez was designated for assignment in 2014, and after he was traded away, Capuano took the number.

The Best Batter to wear No. 26

You’re going to probably watch your eyes melt when you hear me say this, but Eduardo Nunez has arguably had the best statistics for all batters who have worn No. 26. In 270 games with the Bombers, Nunez had 201 hits, 10 home runs and 75 runs batted in. He hit for a .267 average, .313 on-base percentage and .379 slugging. Of course, when the Yankees promoted Nunez in 2010, they thought he was quite possibly the heir at shortstop for Derek Jeter and the future face of the franchise at shortstop. Baseball-Reference’s SABERmetrics have not been so kind to Nunez offensively, as he never produced higher than an 0.4 offensive WAR for the Yankees (he has a 0.5 bWAR for the Twins this season thus far, but he’s only played 17 games due to injury.).

However, his defense has never quite been the same as his offensive production. Nunez has played various positions all over the place since his debut in 2010 (3B, SS, the OF, DH and 2B). From 2010-2013, Nunez managed 30 errors at the shortstop position alone (14 in 2011 and 12 in 2013, correlating with his most active seasons with the Yankees (he spent most of 2012 in the minors, only had 4 errors). At third base, he had another 11 errors, and 1 at second base in 2012. When Yangervis Solarte hit his way into the scene during Spring Training in 2014, the Yankees clearly had enough of Nunez and designated him for assignment on April 1. Regardless of our opinions on Nuney, there has clearly been no sign of a better hitter wearing that number.

The Best Pitcher (and overall player) to wear No. 26

No. 26 has produced many pitchers as well, but there was no one better wearing the number than Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez. Hernandez, the Cuban free agent, signed on March 23, 1998 with the New York Yankees, two years after his brother Livan signed with the Marlins. During his first stint in New York, Hernandez started 121 games in the regular season for the Yankees, throwing 8 complete games from 1998-2000, when he was in his prime at ages 32-34. He racked up 791.2 innings in that span, striking out 619 (I am not kidding). He allowed 105 home runs and 707 hits. Despite all that, he only had 18 wild pitches when facing 3,324 batters. He had a 114 ERA+ and a 1.232 WHIP. In all, the first stint the Yankees had with El Duque resulted in a 53-38 record and a 4.04 ERA.

As you probably know, the Yankees traded El Duque to the Chicago White Sox on January 15, 2003 for Eddi Candelario and Antonio Osuna. Hernandez was immediately flipped to the Montreal Expos with Rocky Biddle and Jeff Liefer for Jorge Nunez and future-Yankee Bartolo Colon. El Duque did not pitch in 2003 due to a rotator cuff surgery. As a free agent in 2004, El Duque re-signed with the Yankees for $500,000! His 2004 season was definitely not as electric as his first stint with the Yankees, as he only started 15 games for the Bombers at age 38, pitching only 84.2 innings and a 3.30 ERA (which was his best since 1998 at that point). The next year he signed as a free agent to the White Sox and gained his 4th ring in his career. Interestingly, at the end of that season he was traded to the Diamondbacks with future Yankees Luis Vizcaino and Chris Young (!) for another Yankee, Javier Vazquez.

Hernandez, his eephus pitch and his unusual leg kick were one of the best things to come out of the 1998 season. What Yankee fan doesn’t love El Duque? I sure don’t. He had a memorable time in New York, throwing his glove to Tino Martinez at first base, making quality starts constantly and just being unusual compared to most pitchers. Unlike Eduardo Nunez, who has a very timid reputation in Yankee lore, El Duque is forever a favorite and overall the best player to wear No. 26 since 1929.

Notable Runner-Ups

There is no question that El Duque was the best overall player with No. 26, and the best pitcher. However, there are 70 other players who deserve comment, but I want to focus on one batter and one pitcher. Starting with the batter, you have to scroll back to the 1932-1938 seasons for the arguable second-best batter who wore the No. 26. This player was a catcher named Joe Glenn. Glenn was a backup catcher to the legendary Bill Dickey, debuting in 1932 when he was 23 years old. He wasn’t an offensive powerhouse, but as he got older, he managed to start hitting with some average (.233, .271, .283 and .260 from 1935-38). On October 26, 1938, Glenn was traded with Myril Hoag to the Browns for Oral Hildebrand and Buster Mills.

On the pitchers side is a name older Yankee fans should recognize, John “The Count” Montefusco. Montefusco, a recent addition to Old Timer’s Day, was acquired from the Padres by the Yankees in 1983 after a long career with the San Francisco Giants. He only pitched in 18 starts for the Yankees, a majority during the 1984 season. He did, however, managed a 3.55 ERA and a 19-7 record for the most part of that time with a 106 ERA+ in 208 innings. In total, he allowed 209 hits and 19 home runs with a 1.303 WHIP. Yes Montefusco wasn’t amazing as El Duque was, but there’s no question that Montefusco was one of the better pitchers to wear No. 26. The Yankees were actually Montefusco’s last team in the majors.

Finally, you look at the number 26, one of these days, someone is going to get that number and put it to good use. For those curious, after 26, the number 39 is the most-used number. One of the other pitchers who deserve credit for both 26 and 39 is the great Joe Niekro, who played for the Yankees during the same time as Montefusco, strangely enough. While Capuano has held the No. 26, it’s not going to be forever, and at some point, another straggler will probably inherit the number.

AP: El Duque joins Yankees as minor league pitching instructor

March 4, 2014 by Mike 17 Comments

Via the AP: Orlando Hernandez has joined the Yankees as a Spring Training minor league pitching instructor. The 48-year-old retired in 2011 and last pitched in the big leagues in 2007. This will be El Duque’s first coaching gig as far as I can tell and he’s slated to remain in Tampa for several weeks. Since he’s working with minor leaguers, I wonder if Hernandez will stick around for all or part of Extended Spring Training as well.

Friday Night Open Thread

June 14, 2013 by Mike 75 Comments

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The Yankees announced their plans for Old Timers’ Day yesterday afternoon — Chad Jennings has the details — and one name stuck out from the roster: Orlando Hernandez. El Duque will make his Old Timers’ debut next weekend, and I haven’t been this excited since Mike Mussina made his debut a few years ago. Hernandez was the best and I can’t wait to see the leg kick one more time.

Here is your open thread for the night, or at least until the regular game thread comes along in a few hours. The Mets are playing the Cubs (Jackson vs. Marcum), plus MLB Network will air the Giants and Braves (Bumgarner vs. Medlen). No NHL or NBA action tonight, unfortunately. Talk about either of those games or anything else here. Have at it.

Remembering The El Duque Era

August 17, 2011 by Mike 106 Comments

It’s been nearly four full years since he last stepped onto a Major League field, but it wasn’t until yesterday that Orlando Hernandez officially announced his retirement from baseball. The one they call “El Duque” spent parts of nine seasons in the big leagues, pitching for both New York teams as well as the White Sox and Diamondbacks. He was also a National and a Ranger at various points, but in name only. He never pitched for either team. The vast majority of his career was spent in pinstripes (exactly two-thirds of his career innings, in fact), during which time he was one of the most unique players in franchise history.

A fixture on the Cuban National Team for the better part of a decade, El Duque defected from Cuba on Christmas Day in 1997, eventually gaining asylum in Costa Rica after a stop in the Bahamas. The Yankees won the sweepstakes to sign Hernandez that winter, inking him to a four-year contract worth $6.6M. Initial reports said he was 28, but others suggested he was 32. I bet if they had chopped the guy open like a tree and counted the rings, they would have gotten another number entirely.

Despite his extensive experience in Cuba and in international competition, the Yankees had El Duque begin the 1998 season with two starts in Single-A before a quick promotion to Triple-A. He made seven starts for Columbus, then made his big league debut on June 3rd, replacing Ramiro Mendoza in the rotation. I remember that first start well, and for the same reason so many other people remember El Duque: the leg kick. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, his knee hiding his face, the hands below the foot, it was everything I could ever conjure up while playing wiffle ball except on the big league field.

Hernandez held the then-Devil Rays to five hits and one run over seven innings that night in the Bronx, a preview of what was to come. El Duque threw a complete game four-hitter the next time out, then followed that up with a two runs in 7.2 IP in his third start. Only three times in his first 14 starts did he allow more than two earned runs, and he completed at least seven innings ten times during that stretch. Hernandez finished the season with a 3.13 ERA and a 12-4 record in 21 starts, earning him a fourth place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting. His True Yankee™ moment came in Game Four of the ALCS, when he fired seven three-hit, shutout innings against the powerhouse Indians with the Yankees staring a potential 3-1 series deficit in the face. Seven one-run innings in Game Two against the Padres in the World Series followed, as did his first ring.

El Duque made 33 starts the next year, going 17-9 with a 4.12 ERA. He made four postseason starts and won them all, which is usually what happens when you allowed just four earned runs in 30 IP. In Game One of the World Series, he struck out ten and allowed just a single hit to outpitch Greg Maddux. Things went a little south for Hernandez in 2000, though he still started 29 games and posted a 4.51 ERA. The Yankees again went to the postseason, but El Duque took his first career playoff loss against the Mets in Game Three of the World Series. Four runs and a dozen strikeouts in 7.1 IP is hardly the end of the world though.

Injuries and ineffectiveness started to creep into the picture in 2001, when he managed just 16 starts and a 4.85 ERA. Hernandez’s Yankees career came to an end after the 2002 season, or so we thought. He was traded to the White Sox in January 2003 for reliever Antonio Osuna and a minor leaguer, who then flipped him to the Expos as part of a package for Bartolo Colon later that day. El Duque didn’t throw a single pitch in 2003 due to injury, and more than a year after trading him away, the Yankees signed Hernandez late in Spring Training in 2004. As it turned out, he ended up being a savior that season, pitching to a 3.30 ERA in 15 second half starts. He also made a representative start (5 IP, 3 R) in the ALCS against the Red Sox.

The Yankees allowed Hernandez to leave as a free agent after the season, officially closing the book on the career in pinstripes. The veteran right-hander contributed 876.1 IP with a 3.96 ERA to the Yankees’ cause, not to mention postseason dominance that is still kinda hard to believe. El Duque threw 102 IP in the playoffs for the Yankees from 1998-2004, pitching to a 2.65 ERA. He won three rings in New York and was less than an inning away from winning a fourth, one win away from going to a fifth World Series.

* * *

El Duque isn’t a Hall of Famer, far from it. He never even made an All-Star Team, and only twice in his career did he throw more than 165 IP in a season. He made a great first impression in 1998 but gradually got worse and worse each year, though he always had a flair for the dramatic. I remember him throwing his glove to Tino Martinez after Rey Ordonez’s comebacker got caught in the webbing. I remember when he stood in the first base line with his arms crossed after fielding a grounder while Coco Crisp tried to juke his way to first. I remember the eephus pitches. I remember the smile. I remember the delivery and guarantee it’ll be in the wiffle ball arsenal for life. El Duque is an All-Joy Team first ballot Hall of Famer, the pitcher that didn’t just pitch a great game but also put on a great show while doing it.