Liván Hernández: Celebrating the 1997 Marlins’ Magical Season
The 1997 Florida Marlins were arguably the first Latino team to win the World Series.
They were certainly the fastest expansion team in baseball, at the time, to win its first championship, needing only five years from inception to a champagne shower, a record since broken by the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks.
And they were the first purely mercenary team in the free-agency era, put together in an unrepentant effort to secure glory and history during a wild spending spree by general manager Dave Dombrowski over two years.
But when you look at the roster 20 years later and throw in the fact that they played in Miami and actively courted fans in the Caribbean, the Marlins foreshadowed the global game that we see today and the success that can be built through it.
Not counting designated hitter Carlos Beltrán, the Houston Astros start five Latinos in this year’s World Series. The 1997 Marlins, in the first half of their season, started five with Caribbean roots, as well: Dominican second baseman Luis Castillo, Colombian shortstop Edgar Rentería, burly and surly Nuyorican third baseman Bobby Bonilla, Dominican leftfielder Moisés Aloú and Jamaican centerfielder Devon White.
And while Castillo was demoted to Triple-A and replaced by Craig Counsell, the Marlins’ rotation included Cuban-American Álex Fernández and 22-year-old Liván Hernández, pitching in the majors two years after defecting from Villa Clara, Cuba. Manager Jim Leyland is as old-school as they come, but he knew who to prod, who to pat and who to play, guiding the Marlins to second place in the National League East Division and a wild card slot.
One and done
Think of the Marlins as a team that we hardly got to know, a collection of diverse and boisterous personalities that bonded in a short time, unaware that they were destined to be dispersed after the Fall Classic in a liquidation sale mandated by owner Wayne Huizenga as he prepared to sell the team.
“We were a family,” Aloú told the Sun Sentinel this summer. “We acted like a team on and off the field.”
Aloú, signed as a free agent to a five-year, $25 million contract in December 1996, was the first to go, traded to the Astros two weeks after winning the World Series.
Hernández, who began the season in Triple-A, lasted another year and half with the organization. It didn’t matter. For him, 1997 would be an exhilarating ride. He was young, cocky and stocky, with a blazing fastball that set up a sharp-breaking slider and sneaky changeup. And he knew right away that he was a part of something good.
“I think that in ’97 we had the best team in the world,” Hernández said in July at the All-Star FanFest. “We lost only five games in spring training. That, I think, is the record.
“We knew that we would do something special because we had a lot of veterans on the team and a lot of young guys like Rentería, Castillo, Gary Sheffield. And the combination led to good chemistry. You’re winning inside the clubhouse because everybody loves each other. It’s 162 games. You have to have fun with the guys in the clubhouse.”
Winning by pitching
If you go strictly by the numbers, the Marlins weren’t overpowering. After going 26-5 in spring training, they finished 92-70 in the regular season, second in the National League East Division, nine games behind the Atlanta Braves.
The hitters worked the count and put the ball in play. Aloú supplied the heavy muscle, batting .292 with 23 home runs and 115 RBI. Bonilla hit .297 with 17 dingers and 96 RBI. Sheffield, despite missing 27 games, had a .424 OBP along with 21 home runs and 71 RBI.
These Marlins won mainly with pitching. Righty Kevin Brown — another high-priced free agent — went 16-8 with a 2.69 ERA, allowing only 10 home runs in 237.1 innings. Fernández notched 17 wins while veteran lefty Al Leiter added 11. Hard-throwing closer Robb Nen recorded 35 saves.
Hernández, called up on June 15, went 9-3 with a 3.18 ERA. Despite his youth, he threw with great poise and credited his superstitious routines on pitching days.
“I ate at home. I never ate at the stadium before the game,” he said. “I ate at home before going to the stadium. I liked Chinese. And if I was winning, I kept eating Chinese. Once I lost a game, I would go back to Latino food. Or start with Italian food. I ate everything. You can see, I ate everything. I got a weight problem. I can’t wait to eat.
“When I got to the clubhouse, the first thing I would do is put on music. Hip-hop, reggaeton and all that. I like salsa, but the day you pitch, you can’t be listening to meringue or salsa because it can be too calming. You got to play something loud that everybody likes. Because you play music for the people that are in the clubhouse.”
Hernández certainly played to the crowd. During mound meetings with his catcher, he wouldn’t cover his mouth with his glove.
“I’d see the people put their gloves to their mouths,” Hernández said. “I’d say, ‘How do you put a glove to your mouth? Nobody is going to understand what you are saying.’ We’d talk in Spanish, that’s it. We even had sign language in Spanish.”
Twice MVP
After the Marlins swept the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS, Hernández took over in the playoffs. He both started and relieved in the NLCS against the vaunted Atlanta Braves, helping the Marlins advance in six games.
Hernández was voted MVP after a 15-strikeout, three-hit, complete-game gem in Game 5 in which he outdueled future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux and won, 2-1. The Braves’ only run came on a Michael Tucker home run in the second inning.
“Nothing bothered me when I was pitching. Hit a home run, and the first thing I’m thinking about is who’s the next hitter. That hit is history,” Hernández said. “I make sure the next guy doesn’t hit a home run.”
Against the Cleveland Indians in the World Series, Leyland made Hernández his ace, letting him start Games 1 and 5. Hernández responded with two gutsy performances.
In Game 5 he pitched into the ninth, leaving after an error and single put two men on base. Nen almost botched it, allowing his two inherited runners to score along with a third run before closing out the game, 8-7.
Hernández’s pitching line? Eight walks, seven hits, six runs and two strikeouts in 8.0 innings.
bring me cuban coffee
Cleveland won Game 6, forcing one of the most exciting World Series finales in history. Game 7 ended up being an 11-inning cliffhanger that concluded with Hernández warming up in the bullpen as Rentería flicked a Charles Nagy curveball to center field, scoring Counsell and giving the Marlins a 3-2 victory — and the championship.
“We had nobody else to pitch,” Hernández said, “and Leyland asked me, ‘Hey, can you throw?’ I said, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ I hadn’t thrown for two days, and when I threw my first warmup, it bounced right there.
“I said, ‘Oh, my God, I’m in trouble.’ I thought that I threw a curveball, but the curve wasn’t working. I started warming up fast and asking for a Cuban coffee. ‘Bring me Cuban coffee.’ I tried to do everything right because maybe I thought that I might pitch three or four innings.
“I stopped to watch Rentería hit. The line drive was hit so softly. I don’t believe in a lot of stuff, but I have to believe that ball had an angel flying it because it was hit so softly and hit the infielder’s glove. He didn’t catch it and the ball continued into center field. And the rest is history.
“We win the World Series and I started jumping. I ran over and jumped on top of Rentería,” Hernández said. He was voted MVP, joining a select list of Latinos that at the time included only Roberto Clemente, Pedro Guerrero and José Rijo.
Not surprisingly, the party lasted all night.
“I had a brand-new Mercedes,” Hernández recalled. “Everybody jumped on top of the car. I remember that I had to sell it three days later because the bumper in the front was damaged, the roof was dented. It was unbelievable. But we won the World Series.”
Featured Image: Timothy A. Clary / AFP / Getty Images