There is an Italian national team that is likely to have much more following in America than in Italy. It is that of baseball that today in Taiwan will descend on the diamond for the World of professionals, the World baseball classic which for us opens with Italy-Cuba (12 o’clock on Sky), a tournament that seeks to free itself from the excessive power of the American major league, the championship that weighs much more in baseball than the world championships themselves. So much so that the Americans define the finals of their championship as the World Series.
The World Cup which is played every four years is therefore the moment of redemption for all those non-US players who can finally fight for their countries and proudly wear the shirts of the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, Cuba or Puerto Rico, just to mention the major suppliers of major league players. And among the 20 national teams of the World Cup (divided into four groups of five) there is also Italy which will face Cuba, Panama, Taiwan and Holland and which, in order not to look bad and take home a few dollars for our coffers poor baseball, fishing in abundance among the Italian-Americans, the children and grandchildren of the old paisà.
It is no coincidence that a national team entrusted to a coach, Mike Piazza, who goes almost unnoticed in our area while in America he is an idol. Great receiver of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets, elected to the US baseball Hall of fame, Piazza is the man who made New York cry by hitting the first home run in the Mets stadium in the first game played in the championship after the tragedy of the twin towers. Which for the city meant a return to life.
Our federation has entrusted Piazza with the task of rounding up the American championships in search of players with Italian relatives and passports, given that contrary to what the Czech Republic does, for example, we didn’t feel like going with an entirely native team. However, the result was completely opposite, in the sense that in the end the Azzurri of this national team born in our area are only 6 (Bocchi and Mineo from Parma, Scotti from Rome, Pinazzi from Milan, Bassani from Bologna and Ercolani from San Marino), while the backbone of the team will hinge on stars like Lopez and Pasquantino of the Kansas City Royals, Harvey and Fletcher of Baltimore and Los Angeles or Pallante of St.Louis. Not to mention that one of the most Italian of these is pitcher Joey Marciano (in the photo), none other than the great-grandson of the great Rocky, a boxing legend originally from Abruzzo. The grandfather of the blue of baseball was a cousin of the legend of the ring which this year marks the centenary of his birth. And Joey has already promised that he will be in Ripa Teatina on September 1st to celebrate the anniversary of his illustrious great-uncle.
Of course, a much more American than Italian national team, which makes many purists of our baseball turn up their noses. But if we think that even our national sport needed to draw on Jorginho, Emerson and even Joao Pedro, we can forgive the weaknesses of all the other blue disciplines.
