Major League Baseball
Jose Contreras is a far cry from Cuba

By Albor Ruiz
New York Daily News

Jose Contreras

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PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba — In the whirlwind 20 months since he defected from Cuba, Yankees pitcher Jose Contreras has had a roller-coaster ride through the major leagues and become rich beyond his wildest dreams.

But for the wife and daughters Contreras left behind in the quaint but crumbling colonial town of Pinar del Rio, time has stood still.

Miriam Murillo-Flores has spoken by telephone with her famous husband just about every day since he left Cuba on Oct. 25, 2002.

She said he shares his triumphs with her and confides his fears. She said they ache for each other and do not know when Cuba's Communist government will let him see her and his daughters — Naylan, 11, and Naylenis, 3 — again.

It has been like this ever since Contreras, 32, flew off to play baseball in Mexico and did not come back. The Yankees signed him to a four-year, $32 million deal last year.

Twice, she said, Cuban officials have denied her permission to leave. They are still embarrassed and angry that one of their brightest baseball hopes ran when he got the chance.

"I had an interview with the immigration authorities in Havana on April 27 and they told me I had to wait five years, until people had forgotten about Jose," she told the Daily News. "This has nothing to do with politics. I am just a housewife trying to get her family back together. But now I — and the children — have to pay for what he did."

Murillo-Flores, who married Contreras when she was 15 and he 16, said she never dreamed they would ever be separated.

"You know, it is like Jose always tells me, marriage was made to be together," she said.
 
While Contreras won his last start against Baltimore last Thursday, Murillo-Flores, 31, said the separation has taken a toll on her husband's psyche — and has affected his pitching. Contreras was ineffective at the start of the season and was sent to the minors to work out his troubles. He returned to the Yankees two weeks ago.

"Some days, when we speak, Jose sounds so sad that I get really worried and try to cheer him up," she said. "I tell him, 'We have to be patient, things are going to work out.' "

Contreras' bouts of depression, Murillo-Flores insisted, "only last a couple of days." But they have become more frequent as he has struggled to make his mark in the majors, where he has posted an overall record of 9-4 with a 4.41 earned-run average.

"One day last week I called him and he sounded really down," she said. "I asked him what was wrong and he said, 'Nothing, I'm just tired.' But I knew it wasn't true."

"Sometimes I call him a little after 9 p.m. and he is already sleeping. I tell him, 'How come you are in bed so early?' and he says, 'I have nothing to do.' "

Contreras declined to discuss his family situation with The Daily News, but he recently told a friend, "Every day, I miss Cuba. Sometimes, I wish I was back there."

Murillo-Flores is convinced Contreras will return to the form that made him a national hero in baseball-crazy Cuba when he led the national team to victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles in an exhibition game in 1999.

"He is very dedicated, very hardworking, very responsible," she said. "He puts a lot of effort into everything he does. While he was in Cuba, the first thing for him was training."

Murillo-Flores said she met Contreras in school, when they were both studying to be veterinary technicians. "He didn't think of becoming a baseball player," she said.

But he was destined for the diamond.

Does she have any regrets?

Murillo-Flores shook her head no.

"I am his wife and I am behind him all the way. I support the decisions he makes," she said. But she admits she is tired of not knowing when she will see her husband again.

"I used to have an upbeat, happy personality, but I am very bitter now," she said. "I am even taking medication for depression. Hope? Sure I have hope. That's the last thing you lose."

Then, almost in a whisper, she added, "At times I feel it is the only thing I have left. The truth is that I lose hope sometimes but I tell myself that I must have faith that things are going to get better."