Livรกn Hernรกndez Responds to Comparisonsโ with Pedro Luis Lazo
The debate โฃsurroundingโค the legacies of Cuban baseballโ pitchers Livรกnโ Hernรกndez and Pedro Luis Lazo recently resurfaced, promptingโฃ a direct response from Hernรกndez himself. While bothโ are celebrated figuresโข in Cuban baseballโค history, their โขcareers took distinctly different paths – Hernรกndez excelling in Major League Baseball (MLB) and Lazo dominating the โฃamateur circuit, particularly in international โcompetition.
Hernรกndez is best known โขfor being the MVP of the 1997 World Series with the floridaโค Marlins, and also earned โฃMVP honors in the 1997 National League Championship Series. He was a two-time All-Star (2004,2005)โ and โwon a Silver Bat,leading the National โLeague in Innings Pitched for three consecutiveโ years (2003-2005).
In contrast,Pedro Luis lazo is revered asโค an Olympic legend,uniquely participating in four Olympic finals,securing two gold and two silver medals.โข He โalso played a crucial role in Cuba’s second-place finish at the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006. Throughout his amateur career, Lazo amassed over 200 victories, exceeding 2,000 strikeouts, and maintained an โERA of 3.50 or โขless.
When directly asked about the comparison, Livรกn Hernรกndez stated, “one has to โขrespect the โคrankings,” โand asserted thatโ his โคsuccess โin MLB positions him at a higher level than Lazo, who never played in the major leagues. In an interview, Hernรกndez underscored his โown professional baseball legacy, confidently declaring himself as one of the best Cuban pitchers โขin history.โ
Orlando “El Duque” Hernรกndez, also a prominent Cuban pitcher, contributed toโฃ three Worldโข Series championships with the New York Yankees (1998, 1999, 2000) and was named MVP of โthe American League Championship Series in 1999. He later won โขanotherโค World Series with the Chicago white Sox in 2005, finishingโ his MLB career with 90 wins.