Guillermo "Willie" Hernández Villanueva (born November 14, 1954 in Aguada, Puerto Rico) is a former relief pitcher for the Chicago Cubs (1977–1983), Philadelphia Phillies (1983), and the Detroit Tigers (1984–1989). He threw and batted left-handed.

Career[link]

Hernández signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1973. He was selected by the Chicago Cubs from the Phillies in the 1976 Rule V Draft. In his first two years in the majors (1977 and 1978), Hernandez went 16–9 with a 3.03 ERA in '77 and a 3.77 ERA in '78. The Cubs gave him a try as a starter in 1980, but he went 1–9 that year in 7 starts and 53 games pitched.

From 1979 to 1982, Hernández was 9–19 and gave up 128 earned runs in that time. After being traded to the Phillies for Bill Johnson and Dick Ruthven, he went 8–4 with 3.29 ERA and 7 saves. The Phillies made the World Series that year, losing to the Baltimore Orioles in 5 games.

Prior to the 1984 season, Hernández was traded to the Detroit Tigers with Dave Bergman for Glenn Wilson and John Wockenfuss. He had a 9–3 record, 32 saves and a 1.92 ERA in 140 innings pitched, while recording 112 strikeouts. In the entire season, Hernandez gave up only 6 home runs, 30 runs, 36 base on balls, and 96 hits. His 32 saves came in 33 opportunities.

Hernández won the 1984 American League Cy Young Award, beating out Dan Quisenberry. He also became one of the few relievers to ever win the Most Valuable Player Award (the others are Jim Konstanty, Rollie Fingers, and Dennis Eckersley), edging out Kent Hrbek. The Tigers finished 104–58 that season, and went on to sweep the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series and defeat the San Diego Padres in the 1984 World Series, four games to one. Hernandez pitched five innings in the series, had two saves, and gave up only one run.

His overall postseason stats include a 2–2 record and a 1.32 ERA in 10 games, 13 innings pitched. He walked 2, and struck out 7.

Hernández never had those numbers again, but was a solid reliever for the Tigers in his final years - when he became known by his given name Guillermo Hernández. In 1988, his second-to-last year, he went 6–5 with a 3.06 ERA and 10 saves in 67 innings pitched. Hernández's last MLB game was on August 18, 1989, before being released by Detroit. He attempted comebacks with the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs of the Toronto Blue Jays organization in 1991 and Columbus Clippers of the New York Yankees organization in 1995.

See also[link]

Baseball portal

• Best pitching seasons by a Detroit Tiger
• 1984 Detroit Tigers season
• List of players from Puerto Rico in Major League Baseball
• List of Major League Baseball all-time saves leaders

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Ian Drew is a Senior Editor (music) for American celebrity magazine, Us Weekly. He speaks about celebrities, music and fashion on television shows including CNN,^[1] Good Morning America,^[2] The Early Show,^[3] MSNBC,^[4] and Fox News.^[5] He interviewed Janet Jackson for one of Us Weekly's best-selling issues.^[6]

References[link]

Willie Rosario a.k.a. "Mr. Afinque" (born May 6, 1930) is a musician, composer and bandleader of salsa music.

Early years[link]

Rosario (birth name: Fernando Luis Rosario Marin) was born and raised in Coamo, Puerto Rico into a poor, but hard working family. His parents realized that as a child Willie was musically inclined and had him take guitar lessons at the age of 6. He received his primary and secondary education in his hometown. His mother also had him take saxophone classes; however, what he really was interested in was the conga. In 1946, he formed a band called Coamex but, a year later when he was 17 years old, his family to moved to New York City. The family rented an apartment in a Manhattan community known as Spanish Harlem.

Rosario came into contact and played the conga for various orchestras. After he graduated from high school he continued his education and studied journalism and public relations. On one occasion Rosario visited the famed Palladium Ball Room in New York, where Tito Puente was playing the timbales. This was the beginning of his love affair with that instrument. He was 22 years old when he took classes with percussionist Henry Adler.

Rosario's first band[link]

In 1959, Rosario organized his first band and played for three years in the Club Caborrojeño in New York. When not playing, he would work as a disc jockey for WADO, a Spanish speaking radio station in New York.

In 1962, he signed with the Alegre Records label and traveled and performed with his band in Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Mexico, Curaçao, U.S. Virgin Islands and all over the United States. In the 1980s he opened the Tropicana Club in Puerto Rico in association with fellow Puerto Rican musician Bobby Valentín.

Compositions[link]

External audio
	You may listen to Wllie Rosario's "Callejero" here.

Among his best known compositions and arrangements are "De Barrio Obrero a la Quince", "El Timbal de Carlitos", "Mi Amigo el Payaso" (My friend the Clown) with lyrics by Luis Antonio Ruiz, "El Revendon", "Lluvia" (Rain), "Cuando No Hay Cariño" (When there's no Love). Plus, he also composed the following jazz tunes "Flip, flop", "Stop and go" and "My Favorite Thing".

Rosario also produced the following songs with the participation of Gilberto Santa Rosa, Tony Vega, Papo Lucca and Bobby Valentín; "Latin Jazz Go-Go-Go", "El Bravo soy Yo" (I'm the tough guy), "Too Too Much" and "Willie Rosario y su Ritmo".

Awards and recognitions[link]

Among the awards and recognitions bestowed upon Rosario are a nomination in 1987 for a Grammy Award for his song "Nueva Cosecha" (New Harvest), various Gold and Platinum Records, the Golden Agueybana Award, ACE, Diplo and Paoli Awards. In 2000, the Puerto Rican Senate paid tribute to Willie Rosario in recognition of his 40 years in the field of music. In 2002, Willie Rosario was inducted into The International Latin Music Hall of Fame.

Wllie Rosario's last production was "La Banda Que Deleita". He continues to play small venues in the San Juan area, having last been seen performing at Shots Bar & Grill in the Isla Verde Mall in late October 2006. Since his October 2006 performance, Willie Rosario and his band also performed for the Puerto Rican Medical Doctors' Association of El Paso (Texas) Gala in December 2007.

Discography[link]

El Bravo Soy Yo! (1963)

Fabuloso y Fantástico (1966)

Latin Jazz a Go-Go-Go (1967)

Two Too Much (1968)

Haida Huo (1968)

Boogaloo y Guaguancó (1968)

El Bravo de Siempre (1969)

De Donde Nace el Ritmo (1970)

Más Ritmo (1972)

Infinito (1973)

Otra Vez (1975)

Gracias Mundo (1977)

From The Depth of My Brain (1978)

El Rey del Ritmo! (1979)

El de a 20 de Willie (1980)

The Portrait of a Salsa Man (1981)

Atízame el Fogón (1982)

The Salsa Machine (1983)

Nuevos Horizontes (1984)

Afincando (1985)

Nueva Cosecha (1986)

A Man of Music (1987)

The Salsa Legend (1988)

Unique (1989)

Viva Rosario! (1990)

The Roaring 1950s (1991)

Tradición Clásica (1993)

Sorpresas (1995)

Back To The Future (1999)

La Banda Que Deleita (2006)

See also[link]

Puerto Rico portal

• List of famous Puerto Ricans

External links[link]

• Popular Culture