Intorno al Corno: Around the Horn with America’s Pastime in Italy

By Ron Spence, ICI NY Press Office

Playing sports is a great way to exercise the body and mind in friendly and fun competition. Sports also play an important diplomatic and humanitarian role in the world by bringing people from different ethnicities, nationalities, and religions together. The 1914 Christmas Truce, in which British and German soldiers stationed along the Western Front in World War I, tired of the horrors of war, came together and celebrated Christmas Eve & Day with a friendly game of soccer. The United Nations implemented the ‘International Year of Sport & Physical Education’ in 2005 in order to promote what it called ‘a Universal language’ of peace- sports. In New York City, where ‘the big four’ American sports reign supreme- baseball, basketball, football, and hockey, it’s not uncommon to see life-long Yankees and Mets fans skip a few baseball games while the World Cup soccer tournament is on (myself included), and swap a mug of Budweiser for a half-liter of Hefeweizen. While Europe’s national pastime of soccer (or as it’s referred to in the continent as association football) has made huge in-roads in the American sporting community, America’s national pastime of baseball is growing in Europe, and, in particular Italy.

The origins of baseball in Italy go back to the late 19^th century with the arrival of two American naval ships in the port of Livorno (in Tuscany), the USS Lancaster and the USS Guinnebaug. To pass the time the Americans held a baseball game (128 years ago today) on January 23, 1884 at the Campo d’Osservazione (Observation Field), which attracted crowds and enough attention to make the pages of Livorno’s newspaper La Gazzetta Livornese. With baseball having reached Italy, early baseball pioneer Albert G. Spalding (whose middle name, Goodwill, should be noted) decided to serve as a ‘Goodwill’ ambassador of the sport (and to promote his sporting goods company which developed what was to become a fixture on the streets of New York- the ‘spaldeen’ ball used for stickball games) and in 1889 held baseball tournaments in Florence, Naples, and the Eternal City- Rome. The tournament was a success and attracted many curious on-lookers including Italy’s King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. During World War I the American Army, in order to foster closer ties with the allied Italian Army, taught Italian soldiers the sport and held baseball games between the two armies. Captain and future beloved Mayor of New York Fiorello LaGuardia even served as a baseball coach for these games.

Throughout the inter-war years an Italian-American and baseball enthusiast named Massimo Ottino (who Americanized his name to Max Ott) ,and Guido Graziani, an Italian physical education teacher promoted the game, but upon the rise of Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime, the game was soon banned for being labeled American. It wasn’t until after World War II that baseball experienced a Renaissance in Italy, and under the leadership of Ottino and Graziani the Lega Italiana Softball and the Lega Italiana Baseball leagues were born. The first modern professional (and historic) baseball game between two Italian teams was held before 2,000 baseball hungry fans on June 27, 1948 at Giurati stadium in Milan. These two leagues would eventually evolve into what is today known in Italy as the Federazione Italiana Baseball-Softball, the governing body of baseball in Italy.

In recent years Major League Baseball has made a huge effort to promote the sport worldwide, and this promotion has led to a growing interest of the game’s development in Italy by American players and teams, including the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. In fact, the Mets, as part of a goodwill effort, have allowed the Italia (Italian) Olympic baseball team to play games at their Port St. Lucie, Florida baseball complex. Italian-American players on both the Mets and the Yankees have tapped into their Italian roots and played on the Italia Olympic baseball team, such as Yankees catcher Francisco Cervilli (who was born in Venezuela but whose parents  emigrated from Italy). In 2006 Mets future Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza played for Italy in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), the international goodwill baseball tournament sponsored by Major League Baseball. Piazza currently serves as Italy’s WBC hitting instructor, and no doubt imparts his experiences and hitting techniques on the club.

One Italian baseball organization in particular is fast becoming a major league in its own right- the Italian Baseball League (IBL), founded in 1948, and which is comprised of teams from the following cities (plus one country San Marino)-

·         San Marino (although not technically part of Italy it is still culturally Italian)

·         Bologna

·         Parma

·         Nettuno

·         Rimini

·         Grosetto

·         Godo

·         Novara (which replaced Sicily’s team, the Catania Warriors, in 2011)

These eight teams compete in a 42-game season and use only wooden bats and Wilson baseballs. Up until 2010 the league had a very interesting incentive for the teams to compete rigorously, in that whichever team finished in last place would be demoted to the minor leagues, and the team with the best minor league record would be promoted to the IBL. It would be interesting to see if this idea were to be implemented in Major League Baseball how this would shake up the competition, and could provide an even bigger incentive for teams to remain competitive throughout the season. Each team is allowed to have up to four non-Italian citizens, and each team must have at least six Italian citizen baseball players on the field at any given time. Former American players have found a second home in the IBL, including Jay Palma who was the 1980 sixth-round draft pick of the New York Mets and now coaches the Novara United team. Younger players hoping to one day break into Major League Baseball have also found a home in the IBL including Josh Phelps, who plays ‘Primabase’ (first base) for Rimini. The league has also honored Italian-Americans who have contributed to the game including former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher and current Los Angeles Angels Manager Mike Scioscia.

While I wouldn’t want to see baseball displace soccer as Italy’s national pastime, it would be fun to see Italy in time develop a ‘big four’ sports pantheon which could include baseball. While this may not happen in the near future, judging by the baseball seeds planted in Italy through its cultural exchanges with the United States, there is hope that this could become a reality.

Until next week, Ciao!

Ron