Deisy Tovar de Hernández, the wife of former Major League Baseball outfielder Gorkys Hernández, was killed in the double earthquakes that recently struck Venezuela. Hernández announced his wife's death in an Instagram post on Saturday.
"You are and always will be the queen of my life—the most beautiful, lovely, and precious woman in the world," Hernández wrote in a tribute to his wife. "You were the one who always found a way to lift me up during hard times; you were and remain the most beautiful woman of my life."
Tovar, 38, was inside the Hotel Eduards with other family members of players for the La Guaira Delfines team when the earthquakes hit. The team was preparing to play the Aragua Tigres at the Estadio Forum de La Guaira. Following the back-to-back 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes, Hernández and his teammates rushed to the hotel to search for their loved ones.
Photos from the scene showed former Los Angeles Angels prospect Luis Viloria looking at the rubble of the hotel, while Hernández was seen sitting in front of the hotel fence with his phone. Rescue teams continued searching for victims, with reports indicating that screams could still be heard from the Hotel Eduards rubble hours after the initial tremors, highlighting the need for heavy machinery to move debris.
Hernández, who played in the majors from 2008 to 2018 with teams including the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, and Boston Red Sox, expressed his commitment to honoring his wife's memory. "Fly high, my princess, my queen; may God hold you in His glory. Guide me to keep moving forward and to lift up our family," he wrote. "My warrior, Deisy Maria Tovar De Hernandez."
Tovar and Hernández were married in December 2025. She is survived by her daughter, Vittoria Vásquez, from a previous relationship. Local sports broadcaster Raúl Zambrano also reported that rescue teams were searching for the wife and daughter of former major leaguer and Delfines coach, Eliézer Alfonzo.
