U.S. GRANTS ASYLUM TO CUBAN PITCHER AFTER SEABORNE DEFECTION.

Byline: Steve Fainaru The Boston Globe

In a diplomatic and legal drama that continues to unfold, the U.S. government on Wednesday night extended political asylum to Orlando ``El Duque'' Hernandez, a world-class pitcher who fled Cuba in a tiny sailboat last week, hoping to follow his brother, Livan, to stardom in the major leagues.

As sports agents and relatives descended on the pink Bahamas immigration building Wednesday, Hernandez described a harrowing Caribbean journey, in which he and seven companions became stranded four days on a deserted sand bar before being rescued Tuesday by the U.S. Coast Guard and taken to a Nassau detention center.

U.S. officials said visas have been extended to three of the eight defectors: Hernandez; his longtime girlfriend, Noris Bosch; and another Cuban baseball star, Alberto Hernandez, who is not related to the pitcher. The fate of the other five Cubans, who will remain in Bahamian custody, is undecided.

It is also unclear when the two ballplayers will come to the United States.

The decision to give Hernandez asylum almost certainly will turn him into one of the most sought-after major league prospects.

After Hernandez spoke at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Cuban-American sports agent, Joe Cubas, who flew in from Miami, pressed $500 into the pitcher's palm. The gesture appeared to be a preview of the high-stakes world of professional sport for Hernandez, who last earned $10 a month as a physical therapist under Cuba's Communist government.

The State Department's quick decision, despite U.S. policy to repatriate most Cuban rafters, is the strongest indication yet of how baseball has become swept up in the longstanding political tensions between the U.S. and Cuba.

``I would like to play with my brother,'' Hernandez declared, as he fielded questions about everything from his fastball to the two young daughters he left behind. He wore a Florida Marlins baseball cap and looked gaunt after his ordeal.

Hernandez, who says he's 28, but whose age remains the subject of conjecture, already has contracted an agent, Jorge Ramis, a family friend. But Cubas said Hernandez also had asked him to represent him, ``on certain things,'' refusing to elaborate. And was attempting to obtain a Costa Rican visa for the pitcher, which would allow Hernandez to declare himself a free agent and drive up his market value.

Hernandez's case gained national attention this fall in part because of Livan, a 22-year-old rookie right-hander, with the Florida Marlins, who was named Most Valuable Player of the World Series, just two years after his own defection, in Monterrey, Mexico.

Orlando, known throughout Cuba as ``El Duque'' - the Duke - is believed by most Cuban fans to be the more talented of the two pitchers. But the Cuban Sports Ministry banned him from the sport for life earlier this year, accusing him of plotting to defect with Cuba's assistance.

Alberto Hernandez, the catcher, was also banned. And he said in the press conference it was one of the main reasons he decided to defect. ``The decision was unjust,'' he said.

Hernandez and the others said their drama began the day after Christmas in the town of Caibarinen, on Cuba's north coast. The group had traveled from Havana, by car, and loaded their few provisions - jugs of drinking water, salt, bread, sugar and sandwich meat - into a rickety wooden sailboat that had been built by 30-year-old Juan Carlos Romero, a baseball fan and friend of Hernandez's who also wanted to flee.

Using four oars and one sail to power the boat, the group set out at 7 a.m. ``The first part went perfectly. We made it out in eight or nine hours. Everything was going smoothly,'' said El Duque Hernandez. ``Then the wind shifted, and the boat began to take on water. Romero decided to run it aground in a remote area in the eastern Bahamas.

For four days, said Osmany Lorenzo, Hernandez's best friend and one of the crew members, the crew survived on shellfish and what remained of their provisions.

Hernandez said the group was finally spotted by a helicopter, which apparently signaled a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. After being transferred to another boat, the group was taken to a heavily guarded detention center in Nassau, where the defectors spent the night.