Although he didn’t get the win last night, Livan Hernandez has been a proven winner on and off the baseball diamond. I’ll admit it, I didn’t really want Eisler Livan Hernandez Carrera on the Mets when he was signed by Omar. I, like many Met fans assumed his career was over after a rough second half in Colorado last season. He’s proved me wrong thus far and is having a renaissance of sorts as a Met. He’s 4-1 and has helped solidify the backend of the Met rotation after a rocky start to the season. Here’s a great article detailing Livan’s rough beginnings and escape from Cuba.

I’ve always respected Livan Hernandez, not only as a baseball player but for what he’s gone through as a person. He’s been in the league for 13 years now and has always been know as innings eater. When asked about his endurance, Hernandez replied laughingly,”I used to throw a lot of rocks at mangoes in Cuba to knock them out of the trees.”

Back in 1995 at the age of 19 he defected from Cuba. In Cuba, Hernandez, he was making $6 a month, and he was so poor he only had one shirt to play in. His mother washed it for him by hand every night. Hernandez took advantage of the Cuban government team’s foreign trips to buy merchandise for resale in Cuba. On one trip to Mexico, he bought $100 worth of women’s underwear, which he sold for $200 back home. Truly, Livan is the definition of a hustler.

Livan said he had some hard times when he first moved to America. He obviously didn’t speak the language, didn’t know anyone and was very alone.  That’s one thing money doesn’t make up for. “I don’t got no family here when I come,” he said. “It’s like you blind. You don’t see nothing. You don’t know what you’re going to do. The Marlins gave me a lot of money, and I don’t know what I want to do with that money.”

Hernandez has mentioned he’s pretty much come to terms with the fact that he may never get a chance to go back to his homeland. Although who knows, as sanctions with Cuba have been lightened under the Obama administration. One former basbeall great has already made it back to Cuba.

If you get the chance I’ve heard very good things about a documentary named ‘The Lost Son of Havana’. It’s produced by the Farrelly brothers. Filmmaker Jonathan Hock accompanies baseball great Luis Tiant to his homeland of Cuba after a 46 year exile. It recently premiered at the Tribeca Film festival and ESPN swooped in to buy the rights.