Fidel: "I already broke your no-hitter"

There are events that remain forever in a person's life, like when the star pitcher Tomás Aquino Abreu Águila (1936-2023) had the honor of pitching for Fidel Castro on February 6, 1966, during the Commander-in-Chief's second visit to the city of Santa Clara’s baseball park.

Aquino wasn't scheduled to pitch because of some discomfort in his right elbow, so he asked his manager for permission to leave after the first game of that day’s doubleheader against Team Orientales.

 According to the book Fidel nunca se poncha (Fidel never strikes out), when the first game was over and as Aquino was getting ready to leave, his teammate Leonel García Cartaya came in the room and told him, "Hey, don't take off your uniform, Fidel's looking for you."

When he came out, he found Fidel in the hallway, together with Arnaldo Milián Castro, then the First Secretary of the Party in the former province of Las Villas, who was an enthusiastic baseball fan.

 Aquino's great feat was still fresh in everyone's mind: that year he had thrown two consecutive no-hit shutouts, the first on January 16, 1966 against Team Occidentales, and nine days later against the powerful Industriales. It was said that, up to that point, only Johnny Vander Meer had accomplished this in official championships, back in 1938, playing for the Cincinnati Reds in Major League Baseball.

The Commander told Aquino, “I came to break your no-hitter. After the second game, you're going to pitch to me, and don't be afraid of hitting me with the ball”, and went out onto the field.

 At first, Aquino threw weakly, but noticing this, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution approached the mound and said, “You're fooling me! You won't throw a no-hit shutout like that. Throw hard, don't be afraid!”

He talked with his catcher Jesús Oviedo and increased the speed of his pitches. “See, that’s what I’m talking about,” the Cuban leader affirmed. After several pitches, Fidel hit a single to center field, and then went to Aquino, put a hand on his shoulder and jokingly said: “Now you can go take a shower and rest, because I've broken your no-hit shutout.”

Fidel asked him what he needed, and Aquino replied that his elbow was hurting a lot, and what he most wanted was to be able to participate in the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which would be his third international competition, as he had previously played in these Games held in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1962, and in the IV Pan American Games in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1963, where he notched up two wins and led the league with a 0.50 ERA.

Days later, while his team was playing in the province of Camagüey, Aquino was notified that he had to report urgently to Havana, and once there he received a great surprise, as Fidel personally told him: "I sent for you so you can be treated, get better, and be able to go to the competition in Puerto Rico."

Aquino's dream came true when he attended the regional tournament as part of the historic Cerro Pelado delegation. In that tournament, he achieved a 5-2 victory over the Puerto Rican team.

When the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution passed away on November 25, 2016, the former pitching star who had played 14 seasons, confessed that the moments he spent with Fidel would always hold a special place in his memory.

 "Those minutes," he affirmed, "I will never forget. I could sense all his greatness and was deeply moved by his extraordinary sensitivity. How often does the president of a country personally inquire about the health of a humble baseball player, a country boy like me?"