William Ortega Bobadilla (born July 24, 1975) is a Cuban former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player who played in five games for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2001 season, all as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

. He batted and threw right-handed. In Cuba, Ortega watched

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

games on videotapes which had been smuggled out of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Before defecting, he played for

Industriales Industriales is a baseball team in the Cuban National Series. Located in Cerro, La Habana, it is known as the only team representing the country’s capital, Havana. Industriales is historically the most successful team in the National Series, a ...

in the Cuban National Series. Ortega defected from Cuba during an international baseball tournament in Mexico in November 1996, leaving a wife and two-year-old son behind in Cuba. He was signed by the Cardinals in 1997 after a tryout. Ortega was an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

in the minor leagues. In his five major league pinch-hitting appearances, Ortega had one hit in five at-bats.

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1975 births Living people St. Louis Cardinals players Nettuno Baseball Club players Major League Baseball players from Cuba Cuban expatriate baseball players in the United States Industriales de La Habana players Arkansas Travelers players Expatriate baseball players in Italy Memphis Redbirds players Peoria Chiefs players Potomac Cannons players Prince William Cannons players Cuban expatriate sportspeople in Italy Defecting Cuban baseball players Baseball players from Havana {{Cuba-baseball-bio-stub

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