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Baseballissimo

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Baseballissimo is one of those books you probably won't find at the bookstore, mainly because they wouldn't know what section to put it in. I only found it because of amazon's amazing "recommended for you" feature. It put together the fact that I enjoy memoirs, baseball, and Italy, and found a book about all three.

Baseballissimo is by Dave Bidini, a Canadian author. A surprisingly high percentage of the offbeat and intriguing books that I come across are by Canadian authors. I don't know how it works exactly, or what the income tax rate must be in Canada to subsidize such a program, but apparently the government actually pays authors to write books. They paid Bidini to take his family (wife, toddler, and infant) to Nettuno, Italy for six months so he could follow the local baseball team, the Peones for a season, and write a book about it. He says his choice was between baseball in Italy or wrestling in Newfoundland. Doesn't sound like a tough choice to me.

Bidini sits in the dugout and sometimes warms up with the Peones, an amateur team in one of the several Italian leagues. He gets to know the players and gives them all nicknames. He finds out how baseball came to be so popular in Italy (American GIs introduced it during World War II). He and his family become temporary residents of the small town of Nettuno near Anzio and about an hour's drive south of Rome. Bidini gets in touch with his roots - his grandparents were immigrants to Canada from Italy. He reminisces about how baseball has always been a part of his life. And he follows the Peones from pre-season training to the exciting season finish against Palermo.

Sometimes you get the feeling that Bidini cares more about the game than the Peones do. They're a good team, but it's just amateur baseball, and they all have day jobs and girlfriends and lives. Bidini's pushing forty and the manager, although still fit and athletic, is in his sixties. The players, mostly in their twenties and in a country where soccer is king, are sometimes late for practice, or are more interested in the fantastic pre-game snacks they've brought. Since this is Italy, there are no hot dogs and sunflower seeds. It's homemade pizza, smooth espresso, and sugary pastries. Sure, the players want to win, and they go all out when they play. But to them it's just a game. Little do they know.

Baseball has been a popular sport in Italy ever since it was first introduced by American soldiers who liberated Italy from the fascist in World War II. Author Dave Didini (along with his wife and two small children) traveled to Nettuno, Italy (south of Rome on the Tyrrhenian coast) to seek out his favorite summer game in what has evolved into the "baseball capital" of Italy since 1944. The serie A team in Nettuno is the Indians -- but this is a team stuffed with talent imported from Latin America. So for six months Didini followed the fortunes of the Serie B Peones, solidly staffed with Nettunese locals. When he returned to America, he sat down and wrote up his experiences with Italian baseball and culture. The result is Baseballissimo: My Summer In The Italian Minor Leagues. A lively and informative account that is a "must read" for anyone with an interest in baseball, as well as the armchair traveler seeking a quite different perspective on living and life in contemporary Italy.

For anyone who loves baseball, food, wine, Italy, and music (not necessarily in that order), this is the book for you. Dave Bidini's experiences with the Peones are hilarious. Imagine the passion that Italians have about everything in life. Now imagine that passion when arguing with an umpire. Hot dogs in the dugout? Not in Italy. Italians know how to eat! Read this book...you won't be disappointed.