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Former Nationals' starter Livan Hernandez featured on ESPN's 30 for 30: "Brothers in Exile" at 9:00 PM

Livan Hernandez and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez are featured on ESPN's 30 for 30 tonight. The latest 30 for 30 film, titled, "Brothers in Exile" tells the story of the Cuban-born pitchers' defection and journey to the majors. It's on at 9:00 PM on ESPN.

By Patrick Reddington
Rob Carr

"If ever there was a story, an interesting story about the defection of a Cuban player," Vin Scully began during a 2011 start by then-Washington Nationals' right-hander Livan Hernandez, "it would be the story of Livan Hernandez."

The story the legendary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer went on to tell was previously reported by then-Florida Sun-Sentinel baseball writer Gordon Edes in a 1996 article entitled, "Intrigue, Marlins And The Fat Man", but Scully told it in such detail you'd swear the story was his own.

"The Fat Man stepped out of the car so Livan could see and the player raced across the dark street. But all of a sudden he saw an approaching car..." - Vin Scully telling the story of Livan Hernandez's defection from Cuba, 2011

"As a young baseball player, he often thought about defection," Scully continued, "and he left the Cuban national team in 1995 while training in Monterrey, Mexico, but here's the part that sounds like a movie.

"He was working out with his team, and a young woman approached him with an autograph book.

"Well, he'd seen that happen a lot, and when he took the pen, the woman flipped open the book to the center of the book and in the center of the book, there was a photo that had been pasted. It was 'El Gordo,' the Fat Man.

"Can't you just hear the music?"

I won't continue with Scully's narrative and potentially spoil the story that will be told tonight at 9:00 PM on ESPN's 30 for 30 episode entitled "Brothers in Exile" which tells the story of Livan Hernandez and his half-brother Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, who "risked their lives" to get out of Cuba and start their respective careers in the majors.

This looks like it should be interesting...

And then there's this...

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