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Article: El Duque keeps charm hidden.(SPORTS)(Patrick Reusse)
- Article from:
- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
- Article date:
- November 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Star Tribune Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Patrick Reusse; Staff Writer
New York, N.Y. -- RSEC:+
The consensus among baseball scouts was that Orlando Hernandez was unimpressive during workouts after his defection from Cuba. His fastball was clocked in the mid-80s. Throw in the suspicion that he was much older than the advertised age of 29, and the market for The Duke of Cuba was very limited.
The Yankees wound up signing Hernandez to a four-year contract on March 7, 1998. The story in New York was this was more a case of the Yankees protecting themselves - Cleveland also was interested in Hernandez - than a strong conviction El Duque would be a winning big-league ...