The
ANNOTICO Report
To most
people, "Italian baseball" probably sounds like a sports oxymoron,
something akin to "Jamaican bobsled team." Italian art, food,
fashion, film -- sure. But Italian baseball?
Yet
The Italian federation
chose a roster that included both Italian players and Americans of Italian
descent with minor or major league experience, including as its marquee player
future Hall of Famer, Mike Piazza.
Piazza, with 14 years
experience as a Major League star, was genuinely enthusiastic about playing for
Team
While it was a thrill for
all Team Italy players to be in the Classic, The Italian players LOVED the
experience of playing with their American "brethren" stars, whom they
easily "bonded" with, because of Piazza's and Catalanotto's
attitude of "I am Glad to be with YOU" attitude!!!
John Mangieri,
a native of
Matt Galante,
a longtime coach for the Houston Astros, who coached the
Italian team, beamed with pride noting the mutual respect and warm camaraderie
between the Italians and Italian Americans.
As expected,
CLASSIC EXPANDED BASEBALL HORIZONS
On
Milwaukee.com
By Larry Baldassaro
To most people,
"Italian baseball" probably sounds like a sports oxymoron, something
akin to "Jamaican bobsled team." Italian art, food, fashion, film --
sure. But Italian baseball?
Yet
A major goal of the
Classic was to foster the development of the sport in countries such as
"I'm confident that
this event can help us move forward," said Riccardo Fraccari,
president of the Italian Baseball Federation, about the significance of the
Classic (speaking in Italian, as did all the Italians quoted below).
"Italian baseball has arrived at a point where it must either take a step
forward and become truly professional, or take two steps back and become a
recreational sport. I think this experience will serve to demonstrate to our
Italian players the need for their teams to become fully professional and for
them to take their play to a higher level."
Giampiero Faraone,
who managed the Italian Olympic team in 2004 and served as
Wishing to field a
competitive team in a tournament that featured many of the best players in the
world, the Italian federation chose a roster that included both Italian players
and Americans of Italian descent with minor or major league experience,
including as its marquee player future Hall of Famer,
Mike Piazza.
To qualify for the team,
American players had to prove they were eligible for Italian citizenship based
on their ancestry. That decision stirred some controversy in
As expected,
John Mangieri,
a native of
Even Mike Piazza, with 14
years experience as a Major League star, was genuinely enthusiastic about
playing for Team
"I wouldn't have
missed this for the world," he told me. "I think this is important
for baseball in
For the Italian players,
it was the chance of a lifetime to play with and against the elite of world
baseball. When I asked Davide Dallospedale,
a veteran infielder with
He was also impressed by
the attitude of the Italian American major leaguers. "The big-name guys
like Piazza and (Blue jays outfielder Frank) Catalanotto,
they really care about playing for
The American players, in
turn, were impressed by the ability and promise of the Italians. "These
kids showed me they can play," said Catalanotto.
"I think we're going to see baseball getting stronger in
De Santis spoke of the
influence his experience might have on young players in
And it wasn't just the
young ballplayers who were thrilled with their American venture. Even a veteran
like Giampiero Faraone, who
has been involved with baseball in
Larry Baldassaro, Professor of Italian and Director of the Honors
College at UW-Milwaukee, served as interpreter for Team Italy at the World
Baseball Classic in Orlando, Florida.
http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/
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