Safe at Home
By lefty
Sometimes it’s damn hard to hate the Yankees.
When José Contreras defected from his Cuban national baseball team while in Mexico in October of 2002, he did something much more courageous and difficult than defecting from Cuba and Fidel Castro. He left his wife and two daughters behind.
"I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking that my daughters would be there, and they wouldn't be there," he said in this Kevin Baxter story for the Miami Herald. "And I would cry like a child because I was by myself."
Contreras risked everything for a dream treasured more — the promise of freedom and a lucrative American baseball career.
So last Monday, when 21 Cubans were smuggled to the shores of the Florida Keys aboard a "go-fast" boat, Contreras quickly learned that three of them were his wife and two daughters. Late Tuesday night, he joined them for a long awaited emotional reunion in Miami.
Contreras’ dream is now complete. Baxter describes how his wife sleeps by his side in the master bedroom of their spacious four-bedroom apartment. His arm is young and considered golden by many, and he’s financially secure earning $8.5 million this season alone. His 3-year-old daughter, Nailenis, wakes him in the morning with a gentle tap. "It was what I had dreamed about the past two years," Contreras said in the same story. The only question now is do they turn this "rags to riches" story into a silver screen production or a TV mini-series.
Contreras makes his first start since their reunion this afternoon in the first game a double header at Yankee Stadium. His wife and daughters have waited 20 months to see him pitch in a professional game and had to wait a couple of extra days because of the rain out Friday night.
This freedom story deserves a happy ending. So we here at YankeesSuck.com join all patriotic baseball fans in wishing Contreras the best of luck today in this nationally televised game. We wish this because of what he has accomplished off the field. He is a true American hero and his story is what makes this country great. We wish him and his family a "happily ever after" life from this point forward. And today we hope he pitches nine "perfect innings."
So lets root for a 1-0 victory by the Mets in the tenth!
