Piazza Helps Grow Baseball In Italy

Written by: Jerry Milani on 26th May 2009

Piazza Helps Grow Baseball In Italy | read this item

Mike Piazza’s story is familiar to many baseball fans – a 62nd round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he went on to become one of the most feared hitters of the 1990′s and 2000′s and is generally considered to be the best offensive catcher in history. That background, as well as his prodigious power and strong personality, made him a fan favorite in a 16-year career spent mostly with the Dodgers and New York Mets.

Embracing his heritage has also helped the slugger’s popularity among Italian-American baseball fans around the world., and as he has gained an appreciation for the International game, Piazza has become more involved with the Italian National Team, first as a player in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and then as hitting coach for the team in March.

“When I first went to Rome in 2002 I didn’t really know much about international baseball,” said Piazza. “Then I met everybody with the Federation and I understood how important developing baseball in Europe would have been. I love Italy, my heritage is Italian, as you know, my wife and I have friends here and I decided I wanted to do something for the development of the game in the country.”

piazza_hitting_coach This week, Piazza is taking his commitment to his ancestral homeland another step, conducting clinics in the Tuscan coastal city of Tirrenia on Tuesday and Wednesday. Piazza notes that working with young players who show promise comes naturally to him and helping to build on a growing Italian tradition of baseball makes it even more special.

“I worked for and with Team Italy’s manager Marco Mazzieri during the World Baseball Classic and we share a lot of ideas,” he added. “You’ve got talent in Italy, think of Alex Maestri and Alex Liddi in the minors. To help talented kids you need to get them play more games. Look at me, I didn’t really improve until I was given the possibility to play every day.”

Maestri has a 1-1 record and fine 2.48 ERA as a relief pitcher for the Tennessee Smokies, the AA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. Liddi is tearing up the high-A California League with High Desert, the Mariners’ affiliate, with a .366 average, 11 home runs and 44 RBI in 42 games. Six former major leaguers were born Italy, the last being Reno Bertoia, who played with four A.L. clubs, principally the Tigers and Senators, from 1953-1962.

piazzajersey Italy, rated 13th in the latest International Baseball Federation rankings, has had some success in world events, notably a victory over Team Canada in this year’s WBC. The squad will have another crack at improving its standing in the Baseball World Cup in September, the third round of which will be played in several cities in Italy.

With the professional Italian Baseball League season now in full swing, Piazza is looking for more ways to help grow the sport in the country and across Europe, and is excited to promote the game across the globe. He has joined former North American Major Leaguers like Bobby Bonilla, Cal Ripken and others in working to grow the sport, especially in emerging countries and places where baseball is now taking hold.

“I believe in the future we will have more and more players from other countries, also because in the U.S. a lot of the good athletes are attracted by games like American football and basketball,” said Piazza. “Baseball is a sport for everybody…boys and girls… because to play baseball you do not need specific abilities or a certain physical type as with basketball or American football. Also, the game is a lot of fun, it’s a metaphor on life and helps kids to deal with failure.”

The Italians will take another step forward in their growth in June, when two of the top Italian club teams, Fortitudo Bologna and Danesi Caffe’ Nettuno, meet the two top Dutch club teams, L & D Amsterdam and Corendon Kinheim, in the semi-finals and finals of the European Champion Cup ’09 in Barcelona, Spain on 20 and 21 June. The tournament winner will take the 2009 European Club Championship title at the site where baseball returned to the Olympic programme, and where it could return again in 2016 if Madrid is selected to host the games.

Piazza also feels that reinstatement of baseball into the Olympics is a key to increasing participation on the grassroots level worldwide.

“Baseball in the Olympic program would help many Federations get more funding in the first place,” he explained. “In Italy, they already have a developed program – they even had a team in the Little League World Series last year, but more funding would mean better facilities, more equipment, more development. And being in the Olympics would help baseball get to the kids. You are beginning to become popular when you are popular amongst the kids, we should never forget that.”

With Piazza’s added presence, it will not be long before not just Italians, but young people across Europe may be joining him teaching and growing the game as professional baseball ambassadors, with stories of global success of their own on all levels.

piazza_accademisti_gruppo

Photos courtesy Ezio Ratti/Fibs

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Topics: International, Italy, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets

Riz says:

May 27, 2009 at 9:20 am

Piazza stepping up to actually get over to Italy is a huge thing. What is funny is that most of the kids over there probably have no idea who he is, let alone that he was a Hall-of-Fame caliber player. It’s almost like having Francesco Totti come to America to give youth soccer clinics in the Midwest.
Andrew Vazzano says:

May 28, 2009 at 8:08 am

Great piece.

How long until Mets fans are clamoring to see Piazza as a coach?
Nettuno, Italy, to Host Baseball World Cup 2009 Finals in September : Baseball Digest says:

July 20, 2009 at 10:45 pm

[...] over the years, from Tony Lazzeri and the DiMaggio brothers decades ago to more recent stars like Mike Piazza and Jason Giambi. That connection to the sport has special meaning as the Lazio coastal city of [...]