Baseball? In Italy? You Betcha!

Baseball?  In Italy?  You may ask yourself. True it is, and it is as well played, and as fun as in any minor league park in the United States. My wife, Wendy, son, Ian, and I took the Eurostar train from Rome to Bologna several weekends ago for a wonderful mix of Italian culture and plain ol’ Americana - Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Ducati?

We stayed at “Da Betta (www.dabetta.net). This B&B is conveniently located on the 25 bus line, which runs from Da Betta to/from the train station and to/from Piazza Maggiore, where you can catch the 27A to/from the ballpark. Da Betta is part of the family house of Andrea Cristiani, husband to Elisbetta “Betta” Menghini. Andrea is also the team manager of the Fortitudo Baseball team of Bologna, “Seven Times Italian Champions” as his e-mail signature proudly reminds you  (Fortitudo Website).

The idea of taking a baseball game and then being able to talk strategy with the manager over breakfast the next day was enough of a draw, but we also found our room enchanting. Ian, who has asked me 1001 times why I like baseball and resisted hitting the road so soon after returning from home leave, declared after flopping down in his bed -- “I could stay here for a couple of months.” Our room was the former canning kitchen, where the Cristiani family prepared preserves and jellies for the winter. The enormous cooking fireplace had been converted to child’s bed, complete with the huge, old chimney. Ian remembered the stories of Hanzel and Gretel, and the Gingerbread Boy as he snuggled up for sleep.

But first, baseball! The 27A bus pulled up in front of the coffee bar, aptly named “5th Base,” outside the stadium. We had arrived a few minutes late for the first game of a double header (4 PM) and Fortitudo di Bologna was already up by one. A double header for the puny price of €8 for adults, kids under 14 free! As I grabbed a large premium draft beer for the (in the U.S.) unheard of ballpark price of €3, I noticed the clusters of die hard (mostly male) fans sitting at umbrellaed tables on a slight rise along the left field foul line. I should say I smelled the men, as some were smoking cigars, and I harkened back to my first minor league games years ago and that same smell of beer and cigar smoke, and the same crack of the bat carried me back to Civic Stadium in Portland, Oregon.

Wendy and Ian were waiting, so I shook off the nostalgia, and ducked the urge to join the fanatics in a Toscano and a deconstruction of the game. The three of us took front row seats directly behind home plate, among the modest crowd of 500. Finally, I would be able to show Ian the difference between a curve and a slider! The fans were knowledgeable and into the game. Between innings, we waived to Andrea in front of the home team dugout. He motioned us over and invited us to go up and introduce ourselves to the team President, Dr. Alfredo Pacini. We climbed up to the top level, next to the announcer and right above the surprisingly engaged press corps to meet the President, Dr. Pacini, an oral surgeon.

As Fortitudo broke open the tied game with three runs in the fifth, chasing the Grosseto starter, we discussed the high point and nadir of baseball in Italy. Pacini said the pinnacle was in 1988 in this very stadium, when an incredible U.S.amateur team, that included the one-armed pitching phenom, Jim Abbott, as well as Tino Martinez and Robin Ventura, took on Cuba for the World Cup championship game. While Cuba beat Abbott 2-1, Abbott beat the Japanese fireballer, Hideo Nomo, in the Olympic gold medal game in Seoul later that same summer. Italy played well in the championship series in Bologna and fans were literally hanging from the light poles in the outfield to watch key games.

We had reached the middle of the seventh and to my joy and amazement, the announcer broke into a fabulous rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” -- a performance that put to shame most of the “guest” singers at Wriggly Field. As Fortitudo ran away with the game, scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh, we discussed baseball today in Italy. Pacini said money was tight and the game had lost its luster. His team, with one of the strongest traditions in Italy, depended on volunteers to keep costs down. Well-to-do fans were tapped for donations to pick up the modest salary of their favorite player. Baseball in Italy sought to minimize financial losses, not grow and expand its popularity.

The non-professional, club-sport approach to baseball in Italy has hamstrung its development, as has the dependence on the vagaries of central government funding from CONI, the national Olympic sports committee. Pacini acknowledged that there was much talk of “professionalizing” baseball in Italy, but he became vague when asked how “team ownership” would be established. Currently, there is little autonomous value to the teams. The facilities are largely owned and maintain by community governments, teams have few assets, and their brands have little value.

I discussed with Pacini my conversation with the head of the new independent Golden Baseball League (www.goldenbaseball.com) about bringing Golden championship team or a team of Golden all stars to Italy to play exhibition games. Pacini liked the idea, if it could be self-financing.

"But this is Italy," I thought. Ballplayers, too, are drawn to the allure and cache of playing in the eternal city or other romantic and historic places. Even paying modest salaries, the draw of Italy  attracts quality players from the Caribbean and the United States to couple with home-grown talent. On the field today were Jorge Nunez, a Dominican who had spent three years in AAA, Barth Morreale, who pitched for the University of Illinois, and most importantly, Ian Corso of California State, Dominguez Hills Toros. (My son, Ian, had never heard of a baseball player who shared his name).

What could help baseball make the big leap in Italy from the current semi-pro league, to a true, professional, player development league?

Scenario 1: The "Yao Ming" Effect -- A break-out Italian-born star emerges, stars in the Major League, and draws Italian public interest to the sport. Maybe Alessandro Maestri (Boise Hawks bio page) , a 21-year-old prospect, who averaged almost a strikeout per inning with the Class A Boise Hawks this summer, will lead the star-crossed Chicago Cubs to the promised land.

Scenario 2: Crossover Allure -- George Clooney, who was high school baseball star and who tried out for the Cinncinatti Reds, merges his love of baseball and Italy and bankrolls the development of a professional league in Italy, winning over a starstruck Italian public. Clooney holds the movie rights to "The Catcher Was a Spy: the Moe Berg Story" -- the story of a pro baseball player who was a U.S.
spy during WWII. Maybe a studio would support his involvement in developing a league in Italy as a publicity stunt if this film is made.  Maybe Mike Piazza and/or his dad Vince, a leading Philadelphia businessman and owner of the Westover Country Club, would take a stake, too.

Scenario 3: Home Run Ball -- Major League Baseball decides that Italy is crucial to its strategy to develop baseball in Europe. MLB helps bring a stadium or two in Italy up to its standards and agrees to play some games here. The frenzied arrival of U.S. celebrities and paparazzi pictures from the game peaks Italians' interest in the game. Deep-pockted Italians follow and a professional league is born. MLB already runs an annual player development camp for the most talented prospects from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East in Tirrenia (near Pisa) MLB European Baseball Academy Press Release .

Scenario 4: Little Ball -- No grand slam, but rather the patient work in building on the strong base of grassroots baseball in Italy.

Coming to Italy in early October?  Love baseball? Mark your calendars for the Italian fall classic. October 6-7 (Columbus Day weekend) are the first two games of the Division A-1 Finals. Bet on Bologna and make your hotel reservations now.