Mario Salvini is an Italian sportswriter who often writes about baseball and other sports for Gazzetta dello Sport. This is his perspective from 6,000 miles away.
The third MLB Players Weekend was scheduled for the last week of August 2019. The home teams would wear white, and the away teams would wear just black. On each player’s shoulders, instead of the name, was the nickname he chose. The initiative had been born two years earlier, with much brighter uniforms. It was successful (in the sense of merchandising).
If Giancarlo Stanton had not been on the disabled list with a right knee injury, he would have played. Likewise, he had jersey No. 24 made. The nickname he chose for himself was PARMIGIANCARLO.
Now, it’s only possible to formulate pretty suggestive hypotheses, but at this point, it’s not so far-fetched. Starting from an observation: Giancarlo Stanton is not his real name. For the entire first part of his career, he was regularly called Mike, Mike Stanton. Until, at a certain point, he decided: “You have to call me Giancarlo.” Perfect. Voilà: from that moment on, he’s Giancarlo everywhere.
Wikipedia says he decided to travel to Europe in the 2011-2012 off-season. He liked hearing certain names pronounced, like Giampiero, Gianpaolo, and Giancarlo.
Now, in November 2011, it is known that Mike Stanton, together with Prince Fielder, Adam Jones, Dexter Fowler, Roger Bernadina, Rick van den Hurk, and poor Greg Halman, made a tour to four European cities to play baseball with kids: Utrecht, Amsterdam, Prague, and Parma.
Excluding the possibility that he might have heard the names Gianpaolo and Giancarlo in Utrecht, Amsterdam, and Prague, it is to be imagined that the inspiration came to him in Parma. Indeed, if on November 12, 2011, some Giancarlo was on the Quadrifoglio diamond, know that he could have been the inspiration. Think about it.
It is equally known for certain that Parma Baseball gave each of the Major Leaguers a bit of Parmesan Cheese and a bottle of Lambrusco, the local wine. According to a not-so-legendary legend, Fielder had finished both the next day on the train to Rome, where they boarded heading to the States before arriving at the Roma Termini train station.
While the cheese was eaten, the name was born. Long live Parmigiancarlo Stanton.
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