Vaccaro: Italian Baseball Ripe for Transformational Period

Editor’s Note: Chris R. Vaccaro is the Senior Editorial Advisor of World Baseball Network and a board trustee of the Italian American Baseball Foundation, where he works on communications, operations, and international relations. This personal narrative is about his recent baseball development trip to Italy.

PARMA, ITALY — We were halfway between Grosseto and Parma in northern Italy when the flutters started. The familiar feeling of baseball permeated my heart and mind in the land of my heritage, my blood. I still pinch myself on baseball fields in Italy. 

We take them for granted in America. Every town has several. My native Sachem High School on Long Island just built a custom state-of-the-art turf complex that is newer, crisper, and more decadent than anything in Italy. But the dilapidated, run-down, and worn fields in the middle of my ancestors’ land are the connective tissue that has allowed me to see the country through the game we love. Baseball, after all, is a universal language. 

Strolling around just beyond the outfield walls at the Junior Parma complex, I noticed a rusty Barilla pasta box truck stuffed beyond the scoreboard. I thought this was the most Italian thing you can see on a baseball field. It’s perfect, really. It sits there among weeds with the hot summer sun beating down on its faded yellow paint. It’s a relic of a different time, just like the rest of these facilities and complexes across Italy. 

We were in Italy for our most recent cultural excursion with the Italian American Baseball Foundation in partnership with the Francisco Cervelli Baseball Academy. Part of our mission is to grow the game in this beautiful country through clinics, scholarships, and a college pipeline we have been building for years. The element of witnessing our work first-hand on Italian soil can not be stated more clearly: we are doing what we are meant to do, and no other organization in the United States and Italy – and probably globally – has built the type of sports non-profit that we have in such a short period of time. Founded by Joe Quagliano and Carmine Gangone in 2016, the IABF has become the model for how a U.S.-based non-profit can support baseball in another country. 

Kids of all ages need exposure to the game. As we know, baseball is not Italy’s first sport. It’s soccer, which has taken a hit in recent years and sadly lost its dominance as a global power. Baseball is non-existent for some Italians. It’s very niche. Ask the average Italian in any city, and they may have no clue their region has dozens of young ball players. They may not realize Italy made it to the quarterfinals of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, either. 

Italy’s golden era of baseball was in the 1970s and 1980s when stadiums were being built, the game was marketed with a fresh perspective, and local teams flourished with strong attendance. Baseball was brought to Italy by U.S. servicemen during World War II. It will forever be one of the most unique additions to Italian culture during a heightened time of war and conflict. Within 25 years, they had stadiums, leagues, a tiered affiliated system, and rising attendance. Since then, the same stadiums and fields have existed but are stuck in the past. 

We watch closely as the kids work out. There are some very good ballplayers. They hustle. They throw hard. They love the game. They need more opportunities, games, at-bats, and resources. IABF lives in the future and in the period of history where transformation will happen. We see ourselves as a catalyst for positive momentum and development. Through our resources, we hope to build a more sustainable and lasting partnership with key stakeholders like Marco Mazzieri and Gibo Gerali, two legendary figures of Italian baseball who care deeply about the game and helped us plan and execute our most recent excursion. If the historical periods of Italian baseball are marked by massive transformation – debut in the 1940s and extreme growth in the 1960s-1980s-we are about to enter an extremely important period of baseball history in the country.

During one scrimmage we attended in Castiglione della Pescaia, a beautiful seaside town on the west coast of Italy about 90 minutes north of Rome in Tuscany, one player hustled around the bases to score from second. I gave him an IABF hat and said, “Great job, nice hustle.” I was not prepared for his reaction. He broke down and hugged me. He traveled several hours to be at that clinic, and between running high on adrenaline from scoring in the 90-degree heat at the end of a busy day, his emotions were overcome with gratitude and excitement. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said. 

No, pal, thank you for reminding us why we do this.

Chris R. Vaccaro is the Senior Editorial Advisor of World Baseball Network.