Friday, October 10, 2003
Baseball in Italy. A legacy of American GIs
The ANNOTICO Report

Walter Santi wrote me about his Italian nephew, Davide, playing Baseball in Bologna.
I didn't realize that Italians played Baseball, (and certainly not American Football).
Of course I was familar with the popularity of Basketball in Italy/Europe.

Walter wrote back:

Yes there is some baseball in Italy with a few good teams.

How did this come about?

During the wind down of the last great war American GIs had plenty of Government issue baseball gear to pass away idle hours with.

The young Italian kids hanging around the games were their gophers ."bring us a soft drink, pizza or candy" and they were also being taught the game.

When the GIs left for home, they left mountains of baseball gear behind that did not go to waste.  Many of these young boys took over that equipment and became darn good players.

Professional teams formed and were sponsored by merchants and manufacturers, and professional club houses were also built.

Today, the young boys that started it all are grown men passing the game on to their kids and in some cases grandfathers are passing the game on to their grand kids.

Professional American players have gone to Italy to coach these players and I was there when it happened, and in the baseball season Italian teams "import" a few pro ringers to beef up a team.

Even stranger. American students at the nearby University of Bologna medical school often have played on these teams to let off some steam and have even married local girls and brought them back to the U.S.

Regards,
Walter

P.S. Re American Football. They don't play it, but they follow the American games via satellite TV ,  and are up on all the teams and players.