Ex-pitcher Hernandez files for bankruptcy
Livan Hernandez, who spent five of his 17 big-league baseball seasons with the Washington Nationals and threw the first pitch in team history after the Expos franchise relocated from Montreal in 2005, filed for bankruptcy in federal court in South Florida last month.
The news was first reported by the Miami Herald, which notes the 42-year-old Hernandez’s paperwork indicates he owes up to $1 million to as many as 50 creditors.
Hernandez, who last pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2012 and made $53 million during his career, estimated his assets are worth no more than $50,000.
He filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which allows him to come up with a plan to repay his debts in three to five years.
When Hernandez returned to Miami in April for the 20-year celebration of the Florida Marlins’ 1997 World Series championship, the Herald reported he owed child support to the mother of a girl he fathered in 2003 and $220,000 to a local businessperson who lent him the money in ’13.
Hernandez signed a $4.5-million contract with the Marlins after fleeing Cuba in 1995. The right-hander won World Series MVP honours while leading Florida to its first championship during his rookie season in 1997. Hernandez was traded to the San Francisco Giants in ’99 and from the Giants to the Expos before the 2003 season. He made 35 starts for the Nationals in their inaugural season, including on opening day in Philadelphia and in Washington’s first game at RFK Stadium.
Hernandez, one of two Nationals representatives in the all-star Game in 2005, was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in August ’06 and bounced around the league over the next three years. In ’10, the Nationals signed Hernandez to a minor-league contract that called for him to make $900,000 if he made the 40-man roster. At 35, Hernandez proceeded to have one of the best years of his career. During the middle of that season, Hernandez approached Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo in a hotel lobby and handed him a slip of paper with “$1 million” written on it. “I play for this,” Hernandez reportedly said. Rizzo agreed to the deal and tacked on another $750,000 in incentive bonuses.