Tom Urbani

Thomas James Urbani (born January 21, 1968) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played for four seasons. He pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1993 through the 1996 midseason, before joining the Detroit Tigers for the rest of the season.

In 1999, Urbani ended his professional career while pitching for the Rimini BBC of the Italian Baseball League as an Italian-American (oriundo) player.[1]

In his only season in the league, Urbani led all pitchers with 12 wins and a 1.35 ERA.[1] Afterwards, he guided Rimini to the best-of-seven championship series with a victory over the Nettuno BBC.[2] Besides, Urbani pitched the fifth perfect game in Italian baseball history against the San Marino BBC in the regular season, which was also the only one in the 40 years history of the Rimini team.

In that summer, Urbani also played as a starting pitcher for the Italy national baseball team in the pre-Olympic European tournament. He then helped Italy earn the silver medal at the 1999 European Baseball Championship, pitching eight scoreless innings on a two-hit, 14-strikeout effort over the France squad.[2]

Following his baseball career, Urbani briefly worked in real estate. He later established a company called Lefty Right Sports based in Santa Cruz, California,[3] and invented a device called the Curveball Trainer, which teaches young players how to pitch a curveball.[2]