Days Of Yankees Past: Orlando Hernandez

As Yankees fans, we have all experienced those special games or moments that make us forever cherish certain players. For some, it’s Aaron Boone and the epic eleventh-inning home run to beat the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS; a moment we will never get tired of re-living. For others, it’s Derek Jeter and his awareness to make “The Flip” against the Athletics in Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS; a play that many of us believe only Derek could pull off. 

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For me, a player I will always hold in such high regard is Orlando Hernandez. And who could forget El Duque? With the story of his migration to the United States from Cuba just after his brother, Livan, won a World Series with the Florida Marlins and his signature high leg kick, Orlando was a player that immediately made his mark in the Bronx.

El Duque spent his first five MLB seasons with the Yankees from 1998-2002 and then one more in 2004 after spending the 2003 season with the Montreal Expos but never appearing in a game due to a shoulder injury. Most of us recall how excellent he was in his debut season: Finishing 12-4 in 21 starts with a 3.13 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 141 innings pitched. His performance that year was good enough to finish fourth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.

But what we all really love to reminisce about is how wonderful Hernandez was in the postseason. Winning three World Series titles with the Yanks, he posted a career postseason record of 9-3 with a 2.55 Era and 107 strikeouts over 106 innings. El Duque was excellent in his first three postseasons in New York.

Through the 1998-2000 postseasons, he was 8-1 with a 2.23 ERA. He had a career 1.78 ERA in the ALDS; striking out 25 batters in 30.1 Division Series innings pitched. He was the MVP of the 1999 ALCS against Boston; going 1-0 in 2 games started and allowing only 3 earned runs over 15 innings thrown. In his 5 World Series appearances (including his 2005 appearance with the White Sox), he had 36 strikeouts in 28.2 innings pitched and posted a 2.20 ERA.

But it was Game 2 of the 1998 World Series against the San Diego Padres that immortalized El Duque as a Yankee favorite of mine. I was a very lucky 11 year-old fan that got to attend that game and several others during that magical season. My father and his business partner had season tickets that year, and the June 6th matchup against Livan Hernandez‘s Florida Marlins was the first game I had ever attended. I remember instantly falling in love with the Yankees. It wasn’t hard getting hooked on maybe the best team of all time when I got to go to the Bronx and watch them play so much that season.

The night of October 18th, 1998 was warm, and the Bronx was buzzing after a dramatic comeback win in Game One. Less than 24 hours earlier, the Yanks had surged back to win the opener after scoring 7 runs in the seventh inning by the way of a Chuck Knoblauch three-run homer and that famous grand slam from Tino Martinez.

I went to the game with my grandfather and my dad’s business partner, Terry. Terry had parked the car about a quarter-mile from Yankee Stadium, and I remember the walk in being full of excited, confident fans who were all carrying these promotional “K” strikeout signs that Budweiser was handing out to people on their way into the game. When Terry handed me one, he said, “Get ready to use that a lot tonight. El Duque’s gonna kill ’em.”

And that was pretty much how it went down on the field that night. The Yanks jumped out to an early lead, scoring seven runs through the first three innings, and they never looked back. Hernandez didn’t give San Diego’s batters a chance at sniffing a comeback, as he struck out seven and allowed only one earned run through seven innings. It was a three-and-a-half-hour party inside Yankee Stadium that night; possibly the most fun I’ve had at any game I’ve ever been to.

As I got older, I began to really appreciate how lucky I was to watch that team play. The 1998 Yankees are probably the greatest baseball team the game has ever seen, and I got to spend several summer afternoons and one amazing October night in Yankee Stadium to watch them play first-hand.

And on that night on October 18th I joined over 56,000 people to watch the 32 year-old rookie out of Cuba make his first World Series start of what would eventually become a brilliant postseason career with the Yanks.