By Will Weissert. .c The Associated Press
GUATEMALA CITY, 10 (AP) - Adrian Hernandez says he wore slacks, a shirt and sunglasses during his voyage out of Cuba, not a dress.
``I don't know where that rumor got started,'' Hernandez said Friday. ``I'd make a very ugly woman.''
Hernandez, who is known as ``El Duquecito,'' has a 93 mph fastball and has been compared to Orlando ``El Duque'' Hernandez of the New York Yankees because of their knee-jerking pitching motions.
He left Cuba on Jan. 2, he said, using the cover of a collective hangover from New Year's celebrations and lingering fears about the Y2K bug's affects on air travel to board a flight to Costa Rica.
``It was the most tense moment of my life,'' he said. ``I felt like any minute someone from the government was going to recognize me and I would lose everything. I would lose baseball in Cuba and in the United States. I would have nothing.''
The right-hander pitched for Cuba's top professional team, Havana Industriales. He said he left with an exit visa in his name acquired by his manager and girlfriend, Michelle Aguirre, who left a week before he did and currently is staying with him in Guatemala City.
Aguirre wouldn't give details of how she got the visa, but said she risked 25 years in prison. It is extremely complicated for professional athletes and doctors to get exit visas in Cuba unless they are for a particular event, in which case they are closely watched.
``He never should have been issued a visa,'' Aguirre said. ``The visa is legal. It's just not legal for him.''
There had been reports Hernandez stole a passport from a girlfriend and left Cuba in drag. Hernandez said he first heard the rumor in Costa Rica, where he spent a few days before heading to Guatemala City.
In Guatemala City, Hernandez has been negotiating with major league teams. He worked out on Friday with 36 Cuban trainers who have been here legally for several months as part of a professional exchange program with Guatemala. Hernandez wore a pinstriped Industriales uniform and a pair of Nike
shades.
On Tuesday, he plans a more public workout that is expected to attract representatives from 25 clubs. Aguirre said she has ``unofficial offers'' from seven teams worth up to $14 million for four years, but there has been no substantiation from the teams.
Aguirre said Hernandez had been on the verge of signing with the Cleveland Indians. With Industriales, he made about $7 a week.
``I never thought in my life about leaving Cuba,'' he said. ``I was famous there and I was happy there and I loved my team so much.''
But Hernandez didn't play for Cuba in the exhibition games against the Baltimore Orioles and was passed over last summer for Cuba's Pan American Games team.
``I cried a lot about that. There was no way I could have been left off those teams. I was the island's champion pitcher,'' he said. ``They left me out and that's when I began thinking about leaving.''
Hernandez said he has a lot in common with Orlando Hernandez.
``We grew up, came of age in the same system, on the same team,'' he said. ``When I was 16 and 17 he was the most popular player there was and I envied him. By the time I left, I had as many fans as he did and was just as famous.''
AP-NY-03-10-00 1728EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. |