Bobby Marcano

Who was Bobby Marcano?

Roberto "Bobby" Marcano was a Venezuelan professional baseball player who made a name for himself playing in Nippon Professional Baseball and for Tiburones de La Guaira in the Venezuelan Winter League.

Born in El Clavo, Marcano played minor league baseball in the United States from 1969 to 1974. In 1975, Marcano went to Japan where he joined the Hankyu Braves as a second baseman. The next three years, the Braves won the Japan Series.

Marcano played for Hankyu for eight years, then joined the Yakult Swallows for another three. Over the course of his career, Marcano was awarded four Gold Gloves, and was named to the Best nine four times. He is noted by many sources as being one of the best foreign-born players in Japanese baseball.

Marcano died at age 39, shortly after being diagnosed with cancer.