A few days after receiving his permanent residency card (Green Card) in the United States, the star former baseball player Reutilio Hurtado didn't waste much time and traveled to Cuba to embrace his loved ones.
Exclusively on his Facebook page, the journalist and sports narrator Yasel Porto reported that the former center fielder had been without physical contact with his twins, Maikel David and Mauro Denis, for a year and nine months.
"Before revealing the message sent by the man from Santiago, the writer stated that he hadn't seen his 17-year-old children since leaving Cuba to settle in Houston."
"It's incredible how the people here in Santiago have treated me. Since I arrived at the airport and everyone on the street, in the neighborhood. Tremendous affection that everyone has shown me," commented the current children's coach.
During his sports career, the outfielder was part of both versions of the famous "Santiaguera steamroller", the nickname for those nearly invincible teams led by the late manager Higinio Vélez.
Owner of number 52, the brother of former professional boxer Diosbelys Hurtado accumulated 21 National Series, with an offensive line of .289 average/.400 OBP/890 OPS, according to the statistics from the official Cuban baseball page.
Other standout figures include his more than a thousand runs scored (1,059) and runs batted in (1,083), as well as his 252 home runs, making him the fourth player from Santiago with the most home runs, only behind the three greatest batters that this eastern land has produced: Orestes Kindelán, Antonio Pacheco, and Gabriel Pierre.
In an exclusive interview with CiberCuba in 2021, Hurtado commented that "the executives of that time never separated me from my brother. I am referring to the then president of INDER, Humberto Rodríguez, the national commissioner Carlos Rodríguez, the technical director Benito Camacho (formerly Miguel Valdés), Higinio Vélez, mentor of Santiago de Cuba, may he rest in peace."
He recounted that Vélez told him, "taking me to the (Cuban) team was like me waking up with my brother in Miami. Everyone mentioned me as a possible defector."
In the interview with our medium, he recalled: "I was unable to participate, at least, in the Central American and Caribbean Games in Maracaibo 98, the World Cup in Italy that same year, the Pan American Games in Winnipeg 99, the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the World Cup in Taipei, China 2001, and so on, any major event including the Athens 2004 Olympics up to the first World Classic in 2006."
"Those were years in which my performance was well above that of all the other center fielders on the entire island. Of course, I felt bad, very bad, to the point that sometimes the thought of quitting baseball crossed my mind, but thanks to my family who always supported me, I did not do it," he said.
In his biography, there are six national titles and two Revolution Cups; however, Olympic and world medals are absent, despite having shown enough talent to be part of several Cuban teams.
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