Tomás Aquino Abreu Águila

Outstanding Cuban baseball player. One of the most nuanced pitchers in the history of Cuban revolutionary baseball, founder of the Cuban National Baseball Series and considered a Glory of Cuban sports.

Native of San Fernando de Camarones, Las Villas.

Aquino Abreu made his debut in the I National Baseball Series with the Azucareros team and was in the national pre-selections from 1962 to 1970, joining the Cuba baseball team on several occasions: IX Central American Games in Kingston in 1962; IV Pan American Games in Sao Paulo in 1963, where he achieved leadership in earned run average with 0.50 with two wins and no losses, and X Central American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1966. He was also selected to participate in the Colombia World Series, but was unable to attend as he was not granted a visa.

Possessing a very strong arm, in a different baseball where pitchers threw a lot, on December 28, 1965, he threw 19.1 innings and a third in a game that lasted 20 innings. Less than a month later, he became the protagonist of a record never equaled in National Series when he pitched two consecutive no-hit, no-run games on January 16 and 25 in the Sandino and Latinoamericano stadiums respectively.

For this feat he was selected among the 10 best athletes in Cuba in 1966, and in 1968, during the VIII National Baseball Series, he led the pitchers with 10 and 1 and 1.09 earned run average. Already in 1975 he entered the select group of pitchers who have achieved 1000 or more innings pitched.

During his time with Team Cuba, he rejected two offers of 25,000 and 30,000 dollars to play professionally.

Career as a coach
While still an active player, he provided technical assistance for the development of Korean baseball in 1969 and 1974. In the XVI National Baseball Series he managed the Arroceros team, improving the results of that team, and in 1983 he fulfilled a mission in Nicaragua at the request of the country.

Last January 2023, Aquino Abreu celebrated in Manicaragua the 57 years of the two consecutive no-hit, no-run games he pitched in our National Series, a feat and a record difficult to break in the history of Cuban baseball.