Marco Ubani

Marco Ubani

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 176 lb.

• Born February 10, 1965 in Nettuno Italy

Olympics-Reference page

Biographical Information

Marco Ubani played for the Italian national team for almost a decade and twice played in the Olympics.

Ubani debuted in 1981 as a 16-year-old for his hometown Nettuno club, going 3 for 18 with a double and two walks. He went 12 for 55 with two doubles as a backup 2B for Nettuno in '82. In 1983, he moved to first base and batted .344/.425/.441. As a 2B/1B, he hit .313/.378/.374 in 1984. He struggled in 1985, hitting .225/.275/.324 while playing second base. In 1986, he moved to left field, where he would remain primarily until his final season; he hit .2990/.358/.449 that year. He picked up his game a notch in '87, batting .389/.450/.573 with 32 runs in 36 games. He batted .333/.422/.476 with 31 runs in 38 games in 1988. He went 6 for 18 with a double in the finals, which Nettuno dropped to Rimini.

In 1989, Marco produced at a .374/.440/.598 clip with 52 runs, 36 RBI and 14 doubles in 41 games. He led the Serie A1 in runs (6 ahead of Roberto Bianchi). He debuted for Italy on the international stage that year, appearing in the 1989 Intercontinental Cup and 1989 European Championship. In the 1989 Euros, he hit .389/.476/.556 with 10 runs in 9 games as Italy's main left fielder; the team won the Gold Medal. Ubani hit .346/.452/.477 for Nettuno in 1990, with 48 walks, 80 runs, 5 triples and 45RBI in 66 contests. He was third in runs. He hit .290/.313/.452 in the finals, which Nettuno won. In the 1990 Baseball World Cup, he hit .353/.421/.559 with 7 runs in 8 games; he was second on the Azzurri in runs, behind Ruggero Bagialemani.

Ubani hit .322/.437/.490 with 34 runs in 35 games in 1991. In the 1991 Intercontinental Cup, he hit .211/.286/.237 as the DH for Italy. During the 1991 European Championship, he batted .433/.575/.600 with 8 walks and 15 runs in 9 games as Italy won it all. In '92, he batted .329/.418/.507 with 33 runs in 36 contests. He struggled as Italy's left fielder in the 1992 Olympics, hitting only .143/.172/.214 and making two errors; only Elio Gambuti had a worse OPS among Italy's starters.

Ubani hit .307/.353/.450 with 25 RBI in 32 games in 1993 and then was 6 for 20 with a double in the finals, which Nettuno won. In the 1993 Intercontinental Cup, he hit .342/.359/.474 with 9 RBI in 9 games, with 15 putouts, one assist and no errors in left. He made the tournament All-Star outfield with Ermidelio Urrutia and Aaron Harvey. He batted .345/.513/.483 with 11 runs and 8 RBI in nine games in the 1993 European Championship as Italy won a Silver Medal. He tied Craig McDonald for third in the event with 9 walks, tied for 4th in runs (with Jamel Boutagra, Johan Hasselström and Olof Lindfors) and tied Antonio Salazar for 8th in OBP. He led left fielders in error-free chances in left (18; only Anthony Meurant had more putouts) and was second among all outfielders in total chances without an error (19, one behind Roger Sund).

In 1994, he hit .331/.428/.516 with 51 runs, 37 RBI and 14 doubles in 42 games. He was 5 for 25 with a walk in the finals, which were won by Parma. In the 1994 Baseball World Cup, he played DH for Italy and hit .400/.500/.433 with 7 runs in 8 games. In 1995, the veteran hit .333/.421/.485 with 30 runs in 33 games for Nettuno. He was 2 for 8 with six walks and two runs in the finals, as Nettuno fell to Parma again. Italy won the Silver in the 1995 European Championship; Ubani was just 4 for 23 with a triple, but drew 9 walks. He played some DH and split 1B with Francesco Casolari.

Ubani hit .368/.472/.613 with 27 walks, 54 runs, 19 doubles and 35 runs in 42 games in 1996 as Nettuno won it all. He tied George Canale for 7th in the league in doubles. In the finals, he went 9 for 22 with a double, four walks, 7 runs and 6 RBI for the champs. In the 1996 Olympics, he did very well, hitting .429/.519/.667 with 7 RBI in 7 games in left field; only Casolari had more RBI for Italy. He was 4 for 4 with 3 runs and 3 RBI in their win over Australia. He fell to .301/.354/.392 in 1997, though he still drove in 25 runs in 24 games in his 17th season; he struggled in the finals (4 for 24, 3B, HR, BB, as Nettuno lost to Parma). He made his final appearance with the Azzurri in the 1997 Intercontinental Cup, going 5 for 20 with a double and two walks as Italy's main left fielder.

Marco did not play in Italy's top league in 1998. He was a shadow of his former self in 1999 (.212/.336/.273), but did okay in the finals (5 for 18, 2B, BB), in which Nettuno lost to Rimini. In 2000, the veteran batted .275/.380/.317. He was only 2 for 16 with a walk in the finals, again won by Rimini. In his final season, 2001, he moved back to 1B and hit .274/.356/.323. He was 0 for 7 with a walk in the finals but Nettuno still won one more championship. That ended his career.

Overall, Ubani had hit .320/.403/.459 in 790 games in Italy's top level, with 642 runs, 472 RBI, 174 doubles, 52 home runs, 382 walks, 84 steals in 132 tries and only 298 strikeouts. He fielded .966 in 380 games in LF, .983 in 156 at 1B and .944 in 99 at 2B. He had also played 105 games for the Italian national team; through 2009, he ranked 9th in that department, between Giuseppe Carelli and Gianmario Costa. In Italian league history (through 2012), he was among the leaders in games played (28th), runs (23rd, between Luigi Carrozza and Paolo Ceccaroli), hits (26th), doubles (23rd), triples (38, tied for 6th with 1996 Olympic teammate David Rigoli), RBI (27th, between Claudio Corradi and Riccardo Luongo), walks (26th, between Gambuti and Rigoli), home runs (tied for 49th with Tony Lonero and Tommy Martinez), OBP (tied for 38th with David Sheldon, Marco Mazzieri and Gianguido Poma), slugging (46th), average (tied for 31st) and OPS (43rd, between Ramon Tavarez and Mike Romano).

Sources

• Italian Baseball Federation
• Old IBAF site