Ex-Yankee and Cuban baseball hero Jose Contreras in Havana

By the Progreso Semanal Staff

Jose Ariel Contreras, the famous Cuban pitcher who in 2002 left the national team in Mexico, finds himself in Cuba. From the municipality of Las Martinas, from the western province of Pinar del Rio, this giant of the pitcher’s mound has made a career in the Major Leagues where he played for the NY Yankees, Chicago White Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies.

His trip to Cuba, apparently related to his mother’s illness-which is equivalent to a visa on humanitarian grounds – also could be a result of the new immigration policy enacted by the Cuban government since 14 January. The new law allows entry into the country of those who illegally left and have been away at least eight years. The giant from the Pinar del Rio baseball team had not returned to his homeland for 11 eleven years.

The Cuban baseball fans recall his spectacular performance on the mound against the Baltimore Orioles during one of the famous exhibition matches. In that 1999 game Contreras silenced the Orioles for eight innings, posting 10 strikeouts and allowing no runs.

News of Contreras’s presence on the island has traveled from Pinar del Rio to Havana like a fast ball of more than 90 miles per hour launched by the national baseball colossus. Now many are wondering when Havana will see the idol of the country’s multi-champion club, Los Industriales, El Duque Hernandez, stroll the streets of the city and be able to converse with him in any one of its many corners.