Agustín Marquetti

Agustín Marquetti Moinelo (born August 28, 1946) is a Cuban former baseball player. He spent his 22-year career as a first baseman in the Cuban National Series (SNB) playing in Havana, mainly with Industriales.

Marquetti twice led the National Series in both home runs and runs batted in (1969 and 1972).

Early life As a boy, Marquetti was a fan of Almendares in the Cuban Winter League. At just 15 years old, Marquetti was drafted into a militia raised against the anti-Castro invasion force at the Bay of Pigs; his military service gave him the nickname "El Miliciano." in 1964, he debuted with Havana at the 1964 national youth championship, earning a spot on the Cuban national youth team that played a series in Canada in August of that year. He was reportedly offered a contract with the Cincinnati Reds, but declined. As Marquetti later recounted, he had been chatting with Garcia just days earlier when the pitcher asserted his forkball was unhittable. Marquetti only managed to round second before fans mobbed the infield in celebration, an iconic image in Cuban baseball history.

Personal life Marquetti's son, also named Agustín, defected from Cuba and later played in the Detroit Tigers organization. Marquetti himself later relocated to Miami, where he opened a baseball academy with his son.

Marquetti said he at one time wanted to play in the Major Leagues, but that it would have been "unthinkable" to defect while playing with the national team. Discussing the recent trend of Cuban players defecting to the United States, he said that Cuban players of his generation "played with love, like you don't play there, in the Major Leagues." "I'm from that generation; this is another one, which can't think like mine ... We had the revolution in our blood. Now, people don't think that way anymore." Marquetti has expressed that defecting Cuban players should be allowed to rejoin the Cuban national team for events such as the World Baseball Classic.