Hernandez is the Cuban-born pitcher known as El Duque. A former Yankees standout, he ended his baseball career with the New York Mets.

Born in Cuba—his father was a baseball player nicknamed "El Duque," a moniker Hernandez would later take as his own—Hernandez starred for the country's national team in the early 1990s, helping to win the 1992 Olympic gold medal. He compiled a lifetime record of 129-47—the best ever in the Cuban baseball league—but after his half-brother (and fellow pitcher) Livan defected to the U.S. in 1995, the Cuban authorities banned El Duque from baseball in 1996. He spent time working in a psychiatric facility for $8.75 a month, then defected himself in December 1997, sailing off the island with his common-law wife and a few others in a rickety boat. Stranded on an uninhabited island for several days, they subsisted on Spam before being found by the Coast Guard and taken to the Bahamas. Nearly deported back to Cuba, El Duque and his family were eventually granted humanitarian visas. Two months later, he'd signed a four-year, $6.6 million contract with the Yankees, where he remained until 2004. After playing with the Chicago White Sox for a year and then spending several months with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he returned to New York when he was traded to the Mets. Although he's attempted several comebacks in the minors after the fact, he concluded his career in the majors in 2007.

Relying on deception rather than overwhelming power, his trademarks on the mound were his high leg kick and his dizzying array of pitches and deliveries. The peak of his career came during the Yankees World Series three-peat from 1998-2000, when he racked up a 41-26 record during the regular season and was chosen as the MVP of the 1999 American League Championship Series. [Image via Getty]