Baseball Italian Style

April 9, 2017; April 18, 2017 - At the relatively young age of 27, Anthony Rizzo was acknowledged as the leader of the Chicago Cubs team that won the 2016 World Series, ending 108 years of frustration for the franchise and its fans. That season the 6-foot-3, 240-pound left-handed first baseman hit .292 with 32 homers and 109 RBIs. His leadership role was confirmed symbolically at the 2017 home opener at Wrigley Field when, standing in the center field bleachers, he was the first to hoist the World Series flag, followed by his teammates. He then emerged from the grandstand and carried the World Series trophy across the field.

That Rizzo would play such a big role in the Cubs’ long-awaited triumph was hardly predictable when the Fort Lauderdale, FL, native was chosen by the Red Sox out of high school in the sixth round of the 2007 amateur draft. He then was traded twice before he was 22. Not exactly the normal trajectory of a can’t miss prospect. To make matters worse, in 2008 he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and underwent six months of chemotherapy. In 2012 the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation was established to raise money for cancer research and to provide support to children and their families battling the disease.

A tireless worker, Rizzo broke into the majors in 2011 with the San Diego Padres, who then traded him to the Cubs in the offseason. In 2013 he became the starting first baseman and was selected to the All-Star team three consecutive years beginning in 2014. He finished fourth in the MVP vote in both 2015 and 2016 and won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards in 2016. In 2013 Rizzo also played in the World Baseball Classic, hitting third for Team Italy, which advanced to the second round for the first time. In 2017 he won the Roberto Clemente Award, which honors a player who combines good play and strong work in the community.

May 10, 2017 - Pitching prodigies are rare in big-league baseball, with good reason. Given the rigors of the game at that level, even the most promising prospects usually require a few years of apprenticeship in the minors. This is especially true for pitchers, who tend to mature more slowly than position players. Rick Porcello was an exception to the rule.

After being acclaimed High School Player of the Year by USA Today, Porcello was selected by the Tigers in the first round of the 2007 draft. The following year he pitched well enough for the Tigers High A affiliate in Lakeland, FL, to be invited to spring training camp in 2009. Then, with only 24 professional games under his belt, the 22-year-old right-hander was chosen by manager Jim Leyland to be part of the Tigers starting rotation. After posting a 14-9 record, he was selected to start in a one-game playoff for the AL Central Division championship and finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year vote.

By his own admission, the next three years were a struggle as he faced adversity for the first time and worked to figure out who he was as a pitcher. Nevertheless, in his six seasons with Detroit, he compiled a record of 76-63, with a then-career-high of 15 wins in 2014. Traded to the Red Sox in 2015, he led the staff in strikeouts but struggled to a 9-15 record in his debut season. He then rebounded in spectacular fashion in 2016, winning the Cy Young Award with a league-leading 22 wins against 4 losses and a 3.15 ERA, as well as the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award. What did he learn from the ups and downs of life in the big leagues? “You’re never a finished product.”

Porcello’s maternal grandfather was Sam Dente, an infielder who was signed by the Red Sox in 1941 and logged nine years in the major leagues with five teams between 1946 and 1955. A slogan that caught on when he was with the Washington Senators went, “We’ll win plenty with Dente.” As was usually the case with the Senators, they didn’t.

Feb. 7, 2017 - Illinois native Dan Bellino was in his second year at the John Marshall Law School when he decided to become a professional umpire. Given the long odds of making it to the major leagues, this would seem to have been a curious career change, especially since he admits that he didn’t know how difficult the process would be. In fact, his original plan was to be a Division I basketball referee as well as an attorney. In spite of the obvious obstacles, he persevered, receiving his law degree, completing umpire school, and passing the bar exam, as well as working at several part-time jobs while umpiring in the minor leagues.

After working eight years in six different minor leagues, as well as the Hawaii Winter League, the Arizona Fall League, and the Puerto Rico Winter League, he beat the odds and was hired as a full-time major-league umpire in 2011, one of only three of 150 in his umpire school class to make it. He was selected to work in Division Series games seven times between 2014 and 2021, the 2016 All-Star Game, and the 2021 World Series.

April 24-25, 2017 - In his first 11 seasons (2007–16), Joey Votto’s statistics placed him among the elite hitters in the history of Major League Baseball. According to the March 27, 2017 issue of Sports Illustrated, his career “slash line” of .313/.425/.536 (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage) had been equaled or surpassed by only five players: Ruth, Williams, Gehrig, Foxx, and Hornsby. What makes his record even more impressive is that Votto is a native of Toronto, Canada, not exactly a cradle of big-league stars.

Drafted out of high school by Cincinnati in the second round in 2002, the 6-foot-2, 220- pound left-handed hitter became the Reds starting first baseman in 2008. As of 2021, he was a six-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner in 2011, and the National League’s MVP in 2010, finishing in the top seven five other times. A patient hitter, he led the NL in on-base percentage seven times and in walks five times. He also played for Team Canada in the 2005 Baseball World Cup and the 2013 World Baseball Classic. Votto is a seven-time winner of the Tip O’Neill Award, given by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame to the player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals.

A devoted student of the art of hitting, from his early days Votto studied the techniques of past greats in order to improve his game. His primary role model was Ted Williams, whose book, The Science of Hitting, he virtually memorized. Notwithstanding his impressive offensive output, there were those who criticized Votto at times, as others once criticized Williams, for refusing to swing at pitches outside the strike zone, even with runners in scoring position.

Here Votto discusses the fine points of hitting, the challenge of sustaining excellence over time, the “rabbits” he chases, and the changing nature of baseball, maintaining that it is his obligation, and that of all major leaguers, to progress and evolve so as to make the game better.

August 20, 2004; April 29, 2016 - A star pitcher-outfielder, as well as valedictorian, at Cathedral High School in Springfield, MA, Chris Capuano was drafted out of high school by the Pirates but chose to go to Duke University on a baseball scholarship. Following his junior year, he was signed by the Diamondbacks, but before beginning his professional career he completed his degree in Economics at Duke where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. The discipline and tenacity that enabled him to be a successful student-athlete at Duke helped him to endure and survive several obstacles in his big-league career, including two Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgeries and assorted other injuries.

Following a trade to Milwaukee, the 6-foot-2, 225-pound left-hander had his breakout season in 2005. His 18 wins were the most by a Brewers pitcher since 1987, and as of 2021, only three had ever won more in a single season. He was named to the All-Star team in 2006, but in 2007 underwent his second Tommy John surgery, which forced him to miss the 2008 and 2009 seasons. He returned to the Brewers in 2010, mainly as a reliever, then spent the next five seasons pitching for the Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees, alternating between starting and relieving roles. In 2016 he returned once more to Milwaukee, where his season was cut short at the All-Star break by an elbow injury.

In spite of his many setbacks, Capuano never gave up on returning to the mound. His determination and work ethic enabled him to spend part or all of 12 seasons in the majors, compiling a record of 77-92 with a 4.38 ERA. Following his retirement, he earned an MBA degree from MIT and became Operations Director of the MLB Players Association.

Feb. 1, 2017 - Jason Grilli was remarkably resilient throughout his long major-league career. A top pitching prospect and the fourth overall draft pick at the age of 20, the 6-foot-5, 235-pound right-hander seemed destined for a stellar career. But a series of injuries intervened, forcing him to reinvent himself again and again. In his fifth year, he was converted from a starter to a reliever, and over the course of his first 14 years, he was traded four times, released twice, and was a free agent six times. Yet for all that, thanks to his tenacity and adaptability, he managed not only to survive but ultimately thrive at a relatively advanced age. Grilli’s explanation for his dogged perseverance was simple: “I love the game.”

The son of Steve Grilli, a pitcher who spent parts of four seasons in the majors in the mid-1970s, Jason was drafted by the Giants in 1997 following his junior year at Seton Hall University. Following a trade to the Marlins, he pitched in seven major-league games between 2000 and 2001 before Tommy John surgery forced him to miss the entire 2002 season.

In 2006, the same year he was converted to a reliever by the Tigers, he pitched for Italy in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, then returned to pitch in 2009 and 2013, making him the only active major leaguer to play in the first three Classics. It was also in 2013 that Grilli, now with the Pirates, became a closer for the first time, was named to the All-Star team, earned 33 saves at the age of 36, and was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The following year an injury cost him the closer’s role, but in 2015 the 38-year-old reliever bounced back to notch 24 saves in the first half of the season for the Braves before a ruptured Achilles tendon put him out for the rest of the year. He pitched for two more years, with the Blue Jays and Rangers. In 15 seasons with nine teams, primarily as a reliever, he compiled a 34-47 record with 79 saves

June 19, 2007 - After being coached incessantly from an early age by his father, Joe, Barry Zito was selected by Oakland out of the University of Southern California in the first round of the 1999 draft. By mid-season the following year, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound lefty with a paralysis-inducing curveball was in the A’s starting rotation. After compiling a record of 24-12 through the 2001 season, he had a career year in 2002, going 23-5 with a 2.75 ERA and winning the Cy Young Award at the age of 24. After four more solid seasons with Oakland, he signed a seven-year, $126 million contract with the Giants as a free agent, becoming the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history. He posted losing records in his first four seasons with the Giants, was sidelined by injury for most of 2011, then bounced back with a 15-8 record in 2012. That postseason he won the opening game of the World Series, setting the stage for the Giants’ four-game sweep.

After sitting out the 2014 season, Zito returned to the franchise that drafted him, signing a minor-league contract with the A’s. So here was a 37-year-old former Cy Young winner going back to the obscurity and grind of a minor-league season, pitching for Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate in Nashville. Called up by the A’s in mid-September, he appeared in three games, then announced his retirement. In his 15-year career, the three-time All-Star compiled a record of 165-143 with a 4.04 ERA.

Zito, who was born in Las Vegas but raised mainly in California, was almost as well-known for his offbeat, zen-like personality as he was for his pitching. He was a surfer with long hair (occasionally dyed red or blue), practiced yoga and transcendental meditation, and played the guitar in the clubhouse. Though he grew up in a musical environment—his father was a conductor and arranger for Nat “King” Cole and his mother sang in a group that toured with Cole—it wasn’t until his minor-league days that Zito began playing the guitar as a way to relax. He became more serious about songwriting during his season in Nashville and released his first EP in January 2017.

Feb. 6, 2017 - Frank Catalanotto was a high school senior in Smithtown, New York, by the time he drew the attention of pro scouts who had come to watch some of his teammates. He impressed them enough to be selected by the Tigers in the tenth round of the 1992 draft. Following six years of development in the minors, he went on to play for five teams in a 14-year big-league career between 1997 and 2010.

The 6-foot, 170-pound left-handed hitter was versatile, playing first, second, third, and the outfield. His best year came in 2001 when he hit a career-high .330 for the Texas Rangers (fifth-best in the AL) and was engaged in a late-season contest for the batting title with rookie Ichiro Suzuki until a slump in the final week dropped him out of contention. He hit .300 or better in three other seasons and compiled an impressive lifetime average of .291.

Catalanotto has also been committed to Team Italy’s involvement in the World Baseball Classic. After playing in the first two events (2006 and 2009), he coached in 2013 and 2017 and has twice gone to Italy as a special instructor at Grosseto and Nettuno. He is also a co-founder of the Italian American Baseball Foundation, whose goal is to support baseball in Italy.

Describing himself as “one of the last of the old-school mentality,” Catalanotto talks about the ways the game changed during his career, which coincided with the so-called Steroid Era.

March 14, 1999 - Like his childhood friend and neighbor, Yogi Berra, Joe Garagiola Sr. grew up to be a major-league catcher. After five-plus years with his hometown St. Louis Cardinals (1946–51), he spent the last three-plus years of his career with three other teams before going on to an award-winning career as a popular radio and television personality. He received the Ford C. Frick Award in 1991 for excellence in broadcasting and the Hall of Fame's Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

His son, Joe Jr., followed a different path to the major leagues. After earning a law degree from Georgetown, he worked as general counsel to George Steinbrenner’s Yankees, spent 17 years as an agent, then became a partner in a Phoenix law firm, focusing on sports law. It was in that capacity that he was instrumental in securing an MLB expansion franchise in 1995. Once the franchise was granted, Jerry Colangelo, the managing general partner, hired Garagiola to be the first general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a position he held until August 2005.

In his tenure as GM, Garagiola led the team to three divisional championships, including the pennant and World Series title in 2001, only four years after the team’s debut. In 2005 he was named Major League Baseball’s senior vice president of baseball operations, and in 2011, senior vice president of standards and on-field operations. He also served as general manager for Team USA in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He returned to the Diamondbacks in 2018 as Special Advisor to the President & CEO, then was named Senior Director, Special Projects in 2021..

March 15, 1999 - A native of Chicago Heights, Illinois, Jerry Colangelo earned All-Big Ten honors as captain of the University of Illinois basketball team. Named general manager of the expansion Phoenix Suns in 1968 at the age of 28, he remained involved with the NBA franchise until 2012 in various roles, including head coach and managing general partner. A four-time NBA Executive of the Year, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2005 Colangelo was named to head the US men’s national basketball program. Under his leadership, the USA won the Olympic gold medal in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020.

In 1998, three years after a group of investors headed by Colangelo as managing general partner were awarded a major league expansion franchise, the Arizona Diamondbacks made their debut, with Joe Garagiola, Jr. as their general manager. In 2001, they became the youngest franchise to win a World Series by beating the Yankees in seven games. In addition to the Diamondbacks and Suns, he also owned the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA and the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League.

Also in 1998, Colangelo headed a fund drive to build the new home of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago’s Little Italy. The new facility, named “The Jerry Colangelo Center,” was dedicated in 2000, and in 2021 he was awarded the Andretti Lifetime Achievement Award by the NIASHF.

In his office in the America West Arena in Phoenix, where we spoke, Colangelo had what he called his “roots corner.” Among other things, it displayed the accordion he played as a youngster and a photo of the small house where he grew up, which his grandfather built from railroad boxcar remnants.

April 22, 1998; June 6, 2006 - Selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 62ndround of the 1988 draft, behind 1,389 other hopefuls, Michael Joseph Piazza seemed destined to be just another kid with an unfulfilled dream. Instead, the native of Norristown, Pennsylvania, went on to be widely acknowledged as the greatest offensive catcher in major-league history. In a 16-year career with the Dodgers, Marlins, Mets and Padres, he hit 427 home runs, including a record 396 as a catcher, and posted a career .308 average.

After initially struggling in the minor leagues, by 1992 he had become the Dodgers Minor League Player of the Year. In 1993 he became the Dodgers starting catcher, made the All-Star team, and was the unanimous choice as NL Rookie of the Year. A 12-time All-Star, he was twice the runner-up in the Most Valuable Player voting, four times finishing in the top five, and won ten consecutive Silver Slugger Awards.

Of his 427 home runs, none was more memorable than the one he hit at Shea Stadium on September 21, 2011. In the first professional sporting event in New York City after the September 11 terrorist attack, Piazza hit an eighth-inning, game-winning homer that not only gave the Mets a come-from-behind win over the Braves but provided a much-needed morale boost to a stunned city. When Shea Stadium closed in September 2008, that home run was chosen as the second-greatest moment in the stadium’s history, and it is even mentioned on his Hall of Fame plaque in Cooperstown. On July 30, 2106, the Mets retired Piazza’s Number 31.

Piazza has long been involved with efforts to enhance the development of baseball in Italy. He was the marquee player for Italy in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006, then served as a coach in the 2009 and 2013 Classics.

While his record easily warranted admission to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2013, Piazza was not elected until his fourth time on the ballot. Unsubstantiated rumors of alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs, which Piazza denied, had tainted him with guilt by association, linking him with suspected and avowed steroid users whose names were also on the ballot. His induction in 2016 made him the lowest-drafted player ever to be enshrined in Cooperstown. In his acceptance speech Piazza expressed his gratitude to his father, Vince, in Italian, saying: "Many thanks to the country of Italy for the gift of my father."

July 2, 2000; Sept. 1, 2006 - A native of Peoria, Illinois, Joe Girardi was a three-time Academic All-American at Northwestern University and two-time All-Big Ten selection as a catcher. Following his graduation in 1986 with a degree in industrial engineering, the Chicago Cubs selected him in the fifth round of the draft. He went on to a 15-year career with the Cubs, Rockies, Yankees, and Cardinals, won three World Series rings with the Yankees in 1996, ‘98, and ‘99, and was an All-Star in 2000. On July 18, 1999, in his final season with the Yankees, he caught David Cone’s perfect game against the Montreal Expos at Yankee Stadium.

Following his retirement as a player, Girardi worked as a television commentator and as the Yankees bench coach before being hired to manage the Florida Marlins in 2006. He was selected as the NL Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America after leading the team to a surprising 78–84 record, becoming only the third rookie manager to win the award. Nevertheless, he was fired after the season because of disagreements with ownership. Then, when he succeeded Joe Torre as manager of the Yankees in 2008, he requested uniform number 27, symbolic of his goal to lead the team to its twenty-seventh World Series title. He achieved that goal in 2009, followed by three consecutive postseason appearances. In his ten years managing the Yankees the team posted a record of 910-710, a .562 winning percentage. In 2020 he became manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. Both as a player and manager, Girardi applied the same discipline and work ethic that enabled him to earn an engineering degree and excel in baseball at Northwestern.

May 28, 2005 - Few if any players in big-league history have achieved so much success at a variety of positions as Hall of Famer Craig Biggio. A seven-time All-Star as both a catcher and second baseman, he also spent two seasons as an outfielder. Biggio was also something of a rarity in the era of free agency, having spent his entire 20-year career with one team.

A star running back at Kings Park High School on Long Island, Biggio chose to pursue baseball as his profession. Following his junior year at Seton Hall University, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound catcher was selected by the Astros in the first round of the 1987 draft. In 1989 he became the Astros starting catcher and won the NL Silver Slugger Award . Following the 1991 season, in which he made his first All-Star appearance, the Astros asked Biggio to move to second base. With the help of coach Matt Galante, he not only made the difficult transition but went on to win four Gold Glove awards at the position, as well as four Silver Slugger Awards.

On June 28, 2007, he became the 27th player in major league history to record 3,000 hits, and is the only player with more than 3,000 hits, 600 doubles, 250 home runs, and 400 stolen bases. He ranks fifth all-time in doubles and second in being hit by pitches. Biggio is also the only player other than Tris Speaker with 50 doubles and 50 stolen bases in the same season. In 2007 he received the Roberto Clemente Award as “the player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team,” and the following year the Astros retired his uniform number 7. Statues of Biggio and his longtime teammate, Jeff Bagwell, a 2017 Hall of Fame inductee, stand outside Minute Maid Park in Houston. In 2015 Biggio became the first Astro to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Here he discusses his transitions from catcher to second baseman to center fielder, Yogi Berra’s superior knowledge of baseball, players he admired, and his disappointment with the lack of loyalty from both management and players.

September 26, 1999 - An MVP Award recipient and three-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner, third baseman Ken Caminiti was the classic scrappy ballplayer who won the respect and admiration of fans and teammates by refusing to let injuries keep him out of the lineup. But the Hanford, California, native was not always so committed to the game. Frustrated with baseball while in college, he was ready to quit until his father convinced him to give it one more year. He did and performed well enough to be drafted by Houston in 1984 and break into their starting lineup in 1989. In eight years with the Astros, his offensive production was solid if not spectacular, but it was his glove and grit that made him stand out from other third basemen. In his years in Houston Caminiti endeared himself to the local Italian American community, so much so that when he did not win the Gold Glove Award in 1994, they awarded him a replica.

Beginning in 1995, the year he was traded to the San Diego Padres, Caminiti won three straight Gold Glove Awards. In 1996 he led the Padres to a division title with career highs in homers, RBIs, batting average, and slugging average, culminating in his unanimous choice as the NL MVP. Over his 15-year career, Caminiti hit 239 home runs with 983 RBIs and a .272 average.

His legacy was tainted when, in 2002, one year after he retired, he became the first major leaguer to acknowledge publicly the use of steroids. He admitted that he had used them to cope with the pain of a torn rotator cuff during his MVP season, as well as occasionally in later years. Sadly, there were other demons that haunted Caminiti, who also struggled with addictions to alcohol and cocaine. On October 10, 2004, he was found dead at the age of 41 in a New York City apartment; the cause of death was attributed to an overdose of cocaine and opiates. Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, a Houston teammate for seven years, told me, “We know he had some issues, but people need to remember him as a great guy, a great friend who would do anything for you.”

May 18-19, 2016 - In 11 big league seasons between 1986 and 1996, Sacramento native Chris Bosio, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound right-hander, posted a 94-93 record with a 3.96 ERA in 309 games. With the Milwaukee Brewers for the first seven years, he won 14 or more games three times, was named their Most Valuable Pitcher in 1989 when his 2.95 ERA was the sixth-best in the AL and had a career-high 16 wins in 1992. He then went to the Seattle Mariners as a free agent in 1993 and soon made his mark there, pitching a no-hitter against the Red Sox on April 22, retiring 27 straight after walking the first two batters. Limited by injuries, in four seasons with Seattle he had a 27-32 record with a 4.43 ERA.

An intense, fierce competitor on the mound, Bosio developed into a highly regarded pitching coach. In addition to various stints in the minors, he coached for Tampa Bay (2003) and Milwaukee (2009) before serving as the Chicago Cubs pitching coach from 2012 to 1017. When the Cubs ended their 108-year World Series drought in 2016, Bosio was credited with developing or fine-tuning several of their pitchers, including Jake Arrieta, the 2015 Cy Young Award winner, and Kyle Hendricks, who had the lowest ERA in the majors in 2016. In 2018 he was hired as the pitching coach by the Detroit Tigers, but was terminated in mid-season for allegedly making “insensitive comments” to a team employee.

Bosio reminisces about caring for his siblings when his mother was ill, his success as a young athlete, throwing a no-hitter while sick with the flu, and his philosophy of coaching.

September 26, 1999 - Brooklyn native Matt Galante was a student at St. John’s University when he was selected by the Yankees in the 1966 amateur draft. The 5-foot-6, 157-pound infielder played for eight years in the minor-league systems of the Yankees and Brewers. Between 1973 and 1984, he spent 12 seasons as a minor-league manager for the Brewers, Mets, and Astros. Except for 1997, when he had a front-office position, he was a Houston Astros coach from 1985 to 2001. In 1999 Galante served as acting manager of the Astros for 27 games while Larry Dierker was dealing with health issues. After coaching for the Mets from 2002 to 2004, he returned to the Astros front office. In 2006 he managed Team Italy in the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

Dec. 14, 2016 - Chicago native Ned Colletti was a blue-collar guy who made it to the highest levels of Major League Baseball’s front offices. After working as a sports reporter, in 1982 he began his major- league career in the Chicago Cubs’ media relations department before moving into baseball operations. In 1990 he won MLB’s Robert O. Fishel Award for Public Relations Excellence. He then spent 11 years (1994-2004) with the San Francisco Giants, first as director of baseball operations, then as assistant general manager.

In 2006 Colletti moved on to the Giants’ arch enemy when he was named general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that had posted a 71-91 record the previous season. In his first year as GM the Dodgers posted a record of 88-74, went to the postseason as a wild card, and were named as Baseball America’s Organization of the Year. In 2011 he reached 500 wins as a general manager in 953 games. The only GM in Dodgers history to reach that milestone in fewer games was Buzzie Bavasi, who in 1951 became the first Italian American to be named a major- league general manager. In Colletti’s nine years as GM the Dodgers went to the postseason five times, including three appearances in the NL Championship Series, and no National League GM had as many wins. Colletti was replaced in 2014, following the Dodgers elimination in the NL Divisional Series, but remained in the Dodgers front office as senior advisor to the president. In 2019 he was hired as a scout by the San Jose Sharks of the NHL.

April 29, 1998; May 13, 2016 - In his long major league career Mike Scioscia has had success both as a player and as a manager. A native of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, he was selected out of high school by the Dodgers in the first round of the 1976 draft. He became the Dodgers regular catcher in 1981, his first full season, and except for 1983, when he missed most of the season due to injury, he held that position over the next 12 seasons and helped the team win two World Series titles. A .259 career hitter and two-time All-Star, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound receiver holds the franchise record for most games caught and was considered the best in the game at blocking runners off the plate.

After his playing career ended, Scioscia was the Dodgers bench coach for two years, managed their Triple A affiliate in Albuquerque for one year, then managed the Los Angeles Angels from 2000 to 2018. A two-time Manager of the Year, Scioscia led the Angels to the 2002 World Series title, the first in franchise history, and six AL West Division titles. His 1,650 wins are second-most all-time by a manager with one team. Mentored by Tommy Lasorda, the only manager he played for, Scioscia became a mentor himself. Three of his coaches—Joe Maddon, Bud Black, and Ron Roenicke—went on to become big league managers. Highly respected by his peers, he was one of four managers—along with Tony La Russa, Joe Torre, and Jim Leyland—named by Commissioner Bud Selig in 2010 to a special committee of baseball veterans to review all on-field related issues.

Scioscia also appeared as himself in two episodes of The Simpsons, the longest-running prime-time series in American television history: “Homer at the Bat” (1992) and “MoneyBART” (2010).

May 31, 2017 - Larry Lucchino is among the most influential executives in major-league history, but he himself describes his entry into the world of baseball as fortuitous. A star high school athlete in Pittsburgh, Lucchino was a reserve guard on the Princeton basketball team that Bill Bradley led to the 1965 Final Four. Then, with a law degree from Yale in hand, he went to work for famed attorney Edward Bennett Williams, who became the owner of the Baltimore Orioles in 1979. After impressing Williams with his legal work for the Orioles, Lucchino served as the franchise’s vice president and then president from 1979 to 1993.

Inspired by his memories of Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Lucchino was the primary force behind the construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, a retro ballpark that bucked the long-standing trend of symmetrical, multipurpose baseball stadiums and inspired a return to traditional ballpark design throughout Major League Baseball.

Then, as president and CEO of the San Diego Padres between 1995 and 2001, Lucchino oversaw the building of Petco Park, which spurred the revitalization of downtown San Diego.

In 2001 Lucchino became president and CEO of the Red Sox as part of the ownership group that would end the “Curse of the Bambino” in 2004 by bringing a World Series title to Boston for the first time in 86 years, followed by two more in 2007 and 2013. Lucchino also directed the $200 million renovation of Fenway Park. In 2015 he became President/CEO Emeritus of the Red Sox and the following year was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame.

But Lucchino was not finished building new ballparks. As chairman and principal owner of the Red Sox Triple A affiliate in Pawtucket, RI, he moved the franchise to Worcester, MA, where, working with ballpark architect Janet Marie Smith, as he had in his previous projects, he oversaw the construction of Polar Park, which opened in 2021.

In addition to his four World Series rings (including one with the 1983 Orioles), he also has a Super Bowl ring from the 1983 Redskins, and a Final Four watch. But his most lasting legacy is his role as the visionary facilitator who brought back the charm of the fan-friendly urban ballpark while augmenting it with modern amenities.

April 25, 2016 - For San Jose, California, native Dave Righetti, baseball has been part of his life as long as he can remember. His father, Leo, was signed by the Yankees while a junior in high school and played professional ball for 13 years, the last three (1953–55) as a shortstop with the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League.

Drafted by the Rangers in 1977, Dave Righetti was traded to the Yankees following the 1978 season. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1981, then threw a no-hitter against the Red Sox on July 4, 1983. When future Hall of Fame closer Goose Gossage left the Yankees after the 1983 season for free agency, manager Yogi Berra gave the role to Righetti, who saved 31 games in his first year. In 1986 “Rags” established a major league record of 46 saves (since broken) and won the first of his two Rolaids Relief Awards.

In seven years as the Yankees closer (1984–90), the two-time All Star saved 223 games, averaging just under 32 per season. In Yankees franchise history, only Mariano Rivera recorded more saves and appeared in more games. Righetti then spent three years with the San Francisco Giants before closing out his 16-year career with the A’s, Blue Jays and White Sox, compiling a 82-79 record with 252 saves and a 3.46 ERA. From 2000 to 2017 he was the pitching coach for the Giants, who won the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Widely considered one of the best in baseball, Righetti coached pitchers who have won two Cy Young awards, thrown five no-hitters, and made 22 All-Star teams.

December 16, 2016 - For the most part, anonymity is a good thing for umpires. They tend to get noticed only when they make what are perceived, by managers, players, or fans, as mistakes. On the other hand, there are some umpires whose performance sets them apart in a positive way. Steve Palermo was one of those umpires.

The grandson of four Italian immigrants, the Worcester, Massachusetts native became a major-league umpire in 1977 at the age of 26 after a rapid ascent through the minor leagues. He was soon acknowledged as one the best in the game, gaining the respect of players, managers, and fellow umpires. Dan Bellino, a major-league umpire since 2011, said of Palermo: “Ask anybody that worked with him or worked in that era and they all say Steve Palermo would’ve been a Hall of Fame umpire. He was that good. Some guys were born to be umpires; Steve was one of them.”

Palermo was part of the umpiring crew in the 1983 World Series, four American League Championship Series, and the 1986 All-Star Game. On July 4, 1983, he was the home plate umpire for Dave Righetti’s no-hitter against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. He was also the third base umpire who made the fair call on Bucky Dent’s decisive home run in the 1978 AL East tie-breaker game between the Yankees and Red Sox at Fenway park, a call that disappointed his father, a Red Sox fan.

On July 6, 1991, in the midst of his 15th season, his on-field career was cut short by a bullet wound he suffered while coming to the rescue of two women who were being beaten and robbed outside a restaurant in Dallas, Texas. Doctors told him he would never walk again, but Palermo rejected that prognosis and for almost five years went through the painful rehabilitation process that enabled him to walk with the aid of a cane. In 2000 he was named an Umpire Supervisor by Major League Baseball, a position he held until his death on May 14, 2017, at the age of 67 after battling cancer.

Palermo provides insights into the world of umpiring and talks about the intricacies of dealing with players and managers, his role as a supervisor of major league umpires, and how he dealt with his life-changing injury.

April 23, 2016 - Larry Bowa embodies the definition of a baseball “lifer.” The son of a minor-league infielder and manager, he has spent his entire adult life in the game, as a player, coach, and manager. Not blessed with exceptional talent, Bowa was a quintessential hard-nosed ballplayer and overachiever. Through determination and tireless effort, the 5-foot-10, 155-pound infielder from Sacramento became a five-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner in a 16-year big-league career (1970-85) with the Phillies, Cubs and Mets. Beginning in his rookie season, he was a starting shortstop for 15 consecutive years, 12 with the Phillies, three with the Cubs. His best season came in 1978 when he finished third in the MVP vote.

He managed the Padres in 1987 and part of 1998, then managed the Phillies for four years (2001-04). After leading the team to its first winning record since 1993, he was named NL Manager of the Year in 2001 . He also coached for the Angels, Mariners, Yankees, Dodgers, and Phillies. In 2017, his 43rd season in the majors and 33rd with the Phillies, Bowa was in his fourth season as their bench coach. In 1991 he was inducted into the Phillies’ Wall of Fame.

Always candid and outspoken, he pulls no punches in expressing his old-school opinions about the way the game should be played, how it’s changed since his playing days, the skills and attitudes of current players, and the importance of fundamentals and hard work.

July 29, 2008; October 13, 2016 - An all-city quarterback at Warrensville Heights (Ohio) High School, Salvatore Leonard Bando chose to focus on baseball at Arizona State University. In his junior year, he led the team to the 1965 College World Series title and was named the tournament’s outstanding player. Following his junior year at ASU, Bando was selected by the Kansas City A’s in the sixth round of the 1965 draft.

By 1968 the 6-foot, 200-pound third baseman was in the A’s starting lineup, and the following year he was the American League’s starting third baseman in the All-Star Game. Recognizing Bando’s leadership qualities and his win-at-all-costs approach to the game, that same year manager Hank Bauer named the 25-year-old infielder captain of the now Oakland A’s, a team that featured three future Hall of Famers: Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, and Rollie Fingers. Respected by his teammates and management, Bando provided a much-needed stabilizing influence on a team marked by outsized personalities that clashed with some frequency. Considered to be the mavericks of Major League Baseball because of their trademark mustaches and internal squabbles, the A’s won three consecutive World Series between 1972 and 1974.

While his on-field performance was at times overshadowed by that of some teammates, Bando was the undisputed leader of the A’s and played a key role in the team’s success, in part because, as captain, he was the intermediary between the players and their tight-fisted owner, Charlie Finley. While the team flourished on the field, the players had an increasingly contentious relationship with Finley. They even took the unprecedented step of threatening to strike in the midst of the pennant race in 1976 when Finley refused to play three of his star players after Commissioner Bowie Kuhn nixed the owner’s attempt to sell them. Bando served as a buffer between the players and Finley, but he was also one of his most outspoken critics.

Fed up with Finley’s meddling, Bando became a free agent after the 1976 season and spent his final five years playing for the Milwaukee Brewers. A durable player who led the league in games played four times, over his 16-year career he hit .254 with 242 home runs and 1,039 RBIs. A four-time All-Star, he finished in the top four in MVP voting three times between 1971 and 1974.

After nine years as an assistant to General Manager Harry Dalton, Bando served as the Brewers GM from October 1991 until August 1999, which he describes as the toughest eight years of his life. His brother, Chris, was a major-league catcher from 1981 to 1989, primarily with Cleveland, and his son, Sal, Jr., played in the minors.

September 22, 2015; May 27, 2016 - Al Ferrara, the son of Al Ferrara, Sr., a New York City fireman, and Adele Paulucci Ferrara, grew up on East Second Street in Brooklyn. His maternal grandmother, Assunta Paulucci, as well as an aunt and several uncles, lived in the same building. Then, after his mother passed away when Al was 17, Assunta moved into the Ferrara’s apartment to help care for Al and his 12-year-old twin siblings. When Al was eight years old and preferred to play baseball, Assunta insisted that he take piano lessons. In spite of his initial reluctance, by the time he was 16 he was good enough to play a recital at Carnegie Hall.

But that was just the beginning for Alfred John Ferrara, Jr. He appeared in several films and television shows between 1953 and 1978 and played on two World Series-winning teams with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963 and 1965. In 1966, when the Dodgers were swept by the Orioles, he hit a single in his only plate appearance in a World Series game. His Dodgers uniform number 20 is retired, though only because it was worn by future Hall of Famer Don Sutton after Ferrara opted to switch to number 9 in honor of Ted Williams.

Nicknamed “The Bull” for his muscular build, Ferrara spent five years with the Dodgers between 1963 and 1968 before being selected by the San Diego Padres in the 1968 expansion draft. After two seasons with San Diego, he split his final season between the Padres and the Cincinnati Reds. In his eight-year career, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound outfielder hit .259 with 51 home runs and 198 RBIs.

February 13, 2004 - Born in Brooklyn on June 27, 1943, Americo Peter Petrocelli was the youngest of seven children of Italian immigrants. Signed out of high school in 1961 by the Boston Red Sox, by 1965 he was their starting shortstop at age 21. Unlike the typical slick-fielding, light-hitting shortstops of the era, Petrocelli was a power hitter, twice finishing in the top five in home runs in the American League. In 1969 he set an AL record for shortstops by hitting 40 home runs, a record that stood until 1998 and remains the single-season record for Red Sox shortstops. That same season he tied the record, since broken, for the fewest errors by a shortstop and finished seventh in the MVP vote. Then, when he moved to third base in 1971 following the arrival of future Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio, he set a then-major-league record for third basemen with 77 straight games without an error.

In 1967, beginning with a three-run homer on opening day, he played a key role in the “Impossible Dream” season of 1967, when the Red Sox won the pennant after finishing in ninth place the previous year, an event that is credited with launching a new era of success and popularity for the struggling franchise. In his 13 years with Boston, the two-time All-Star hit 210 home runs with 773 RBIs. After his playing career ended in 1976 he became a Red Sox broadcaster, then managed in the minor leagues for four years between 1986 and 1992. Petrocelli was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997. Since 2013 he has been the co-host, along with Ed Randall, of Sirius XM Radio’s “Remember When” broadcast.

May 12, 2008 - A major-league infielder with three teams, Tony La Russa appeared in 132 games over six seasons between 1963 and 1973. He also spent all or parts of 15 seasons in the minors. Inquisitive as well as competitive, the native of Tampa took advantage of all that experience by closely studying the intricacies of the game and becoming a major-league manager. He learned so well that by the time he retired in 2011, only Connie Mack and John McGraw had won more games.

In 1973, when La Russa was in his 12th year in professional baseball and aware of his limited future as a player, he began to pursue a law degree. Taking classes during the offseason, he obtained his degree in 1978. But that same year the Chicago White Sox hired him to manage their Double-A affiliate in the Southern League. One hundred and six games into the 1979 season he was named manager of the parent club at age 34, beginning an uninterrupted string of 33 consecutive seasons as a major league skipper. As manager of the White Sox, Athletics, and Cardinals between 1979 and 2011, he led his teams to 2,728 wins, six pennants, and three World Series titles. In 2021 he was lured out of retirement and returned to manage the Chicago White Sox, leading them to the AL Central Division title. Voted Manager of the Year four times and finishing second five times, he is one of two managers to win the World Series in both leagues.

La Russa was an innovator in a game that treasures tradition. Intensely focused and detail-oriented, he was driven to find even the slightest edge over his opponents. No less significant than the wins and titles he accumulated was his lasting impact on the way the game is played. His best known, and most enduring influence was his modification of relief pitching, using specialty relievers in late innings to take advantage of situational match-ups and defining the role of closer as a ninth-inning specialist. While his relentless competitiveness, not to mention frequent pitching changes, made him a polarizing figure at times, his innovations and strategical brilliance earned him the respect and admiration of his peers and baseball analysts. In 2013, his first year of eligibility, La Russa was unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame by the Expansion Era Committee.

September 4, 2005 - Jim Fregosi did just about everything a person can do in big-league baseball. Originally signed by the Boston Red Sox, the San Francisco native was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the 1960 expansion draft. In 11 years with the Angels (1961-71), he was a six-time All-Star shortstop before moving on to the Mets, Rangers, and Pirates. In his 18-year career, he compiled a lifetime average of .265, with 151 home runs and 706 RBIs. At the time of his induction into the Angels Hall of Fame in 1989, he led the franchise all-time lists in games, at-bats, hits, and triples. In 1998 the Angels retired his uniform number 11.

At age 36, while still playing, Fregosi was hired as manager of the Angels. He managed the team from June 1978 until May 1981, leading them to their first-ever Western Division title in 1979 and finishing second in the Associated Press voting that year for AL Manager of the Year. He went on to manage the White Sox, Phillies (winners of the 1993 NL pennant), and Blue Jays, compiling a 15-year record of 1,028-1,094. He later was a special assistant to the general manager of the Atlanta Braves, serving as their top advance scout. In 2010 he received the George Genovese Award for excellence in scouting from the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation.

July 9, 1998; June 15, 1999 - The childhood and adolescence of Ron Santo were anything but idyllic. His father was an abusive alcoholic, his parents divorced when he was six, and he was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 18. Nevertheless, a combination of iron-willed resiliency and natural talent enabled him to overcome these adversities and become one of the greatest players in Chicago Cubs history and a Hall of Fame inductee.

Ronald Edward Santo grew up in the Italian district of Seattle known as “Garlic Gulch.” Signed out of high school in 1959, a year later, on June 26, 1960, the 20-year-old third baseman was in the Cubs’ starting lineup, where he would remain for 14 seasons. Traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1974, Santo retired at the end of that season.

In spite of playing his entire 15-year major league career while afflicted with diabetes, Santo was a nine-time All-Star and a five-time Gold Glove winner who hit 342 homers and drove in 1,331 runs. He was one of only four players over that span who had 2,000 hits, 300 home runs and 1,300 RBIs. The public remained unaware of Santo’s illness until he revealed the news on “Ron Santo Day” in August 1971, when he began a lifelong commitment to raising funds for the cure of juvenile diabetes.

Following his retirement, Santo became a successful businessman before returning to the Cubs in 1990 as a radio color analyst. Beloved by fans for his unbridled enthusiasm and blatant rooting for the Cubs, he held the job until his death in 2010 at the age of 70. In 2003 the Cubs retired his uniform number 10 and in 2011 they erected a statue of him outside Wrigley Field. In 2012 he was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.

No less impressive than his on-field achievements was the way he responded to a series of health issues that plagued him over the last decade of his life, which included heart surgery, amputation of both legs below the knee, and cancer. We would often speak during those years when the Cubs came to Milwaukee and I was always impressed by his positive attitude, courage, and self-deprecating sense of humor. There was no hint of self-pity, even in the face of afflictions that would have kept most people at home.

July 19, 1997; May 14, 2008 - Joe Torre is best remembered as the manager who led the Yankees to four World Series wins between 1996 and 2000. But while it was his managerial success that led to his 2014 induction into the Hall of Fame, his outstanding career as a player should not be overlooked. In 1971 he was the NL MVP, leading the league in average, RBIs, hits, and total bases. Over the course of his 18-year career (1960–77) as a catcher, first baseman, and third baseman for the Braves, Cardinals, and Mets, he hit .297 with 252 home runs and 1,185 RBIs, won a Gold Glove, and was a nine-time All-Star.

When the Brooklyn native was signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1959, his older brother, Frank, who played a significant role in Joe’s development as a player, was in his fourth season as a first baseman with the Braves. After five seasons in Milwaukee, he played his final two years (1962–63) with the Phillies.

Before beginning his stint as the Yankees manager in 2006, Torre had managed the Mets, Braves, and Cardinals for a total of 14 seasons between 1977 and 1995, making it to the postseason only in 1982 with the Braves, winners of the NL West division. In his 12 years as manager of the Yankees, the team went to the postseason every year and played in six World Series. He then managed the Los Angeles Dodgers for three years, leading them to the NLCS in his first two years. Twice named NL Manager of the Year by the Associated Press, Torre ranked fifth all-time in wins when he retired in 2010.

The following year Commissioner Bud Selig appointed him Major League Baseball's executive vice president of baseball operations, a post he held until 2020. Also in 2011, Torre was a recipient of the Ellis Island Family Heritage Award, which celebrates the extraordinary achievements of Americans who trace their ancestry through Ellis Island.

May 3, 2016 - Brooklyn native Ken Aspromonte frustrated his family when he was young by choosing to root for the Yankees instead of the Dodgers (who did not have Joe DiMaggio in their lineup). One of many future major leaguers who grew up playing baseball on Brooklyn’s famed Parade Grounds, Aspromonte was an infielder who played for the Red Sox, Senators, Indians, Angels, Braves and Cubs between 1957-63. He then spent three years (1964-66) playing in Japan for the Chunichi Dragons and the Taiyo Whales. From 1972 to 1974 he managed the Cleveland Indians, compiling a record of 220-260.

His younger brother, Bob, was a major league infielder who played for the Astros, Dodgers, Braves, and Mets over the course of a 13-year career between 1956 and 1971. In 2012, both brothers were inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.

Ken has been very active in the National Italian American Foundation, serving as Executive Vice President, a member of the Board of Directors, and as Regional Vice President for the Southwest.

Here he reminisces about an unusual batting tip he got from Hall-of-Famer Ted Williams, playing against the all-time Japanese home run king, Sadaharu Oh, and a brawl in which players of the two opposing teams fought together against unruly fans at a ten-cent beer night.

April 22, 1998 - Signed by the New York Giants as a “bonus baby” in 1954, 20-year-old John Joseph “Joey” Amalfitano spent most of his first two seasons warming the bench, with 25 at-bats in 45 games. In his rookie year, he roomed with Johnny Antonelli, the Braves’ “bonus baby” of 1948 who had just been traded to the Giants.

Following his two-year initiation, the San Pedro, CA native spent five seasons in the minors before returning to the big leagues in 1960, when the Giants were in San Francisco. That proved to be his best offensive year with a.277 average in 106 games. Over his ten-year career (1954–55, 1960–67) with the Giants, Astros, and Cubs, the utility infielder compiled a .244 average in 643 games.

As it turned out, Amalfitano’s major-league career was just getting started. Between 1967 and 1977 he coached for the Cubs, Giants, and Padres. In 1978 he returned to the Cubs coaching staff, served as interim manager for the final seven games in 1979, then took over as manager 91 games into the 1980 season. He managed again in 1981 but was let go at the end of the season. After coaching for the Reds in 1982, he began a 16-year stretch as the Dodgers third base coach, the first 14 with Tommy Lasorda as manager. Ending his long tenure as a big-league coach in 1998, he then moved into various front-office positions with the Dodgers and Giants.

November 12, 2005 - Thomas Charles “Tommy” Lasorda was never one to hide his feelings. His passion for the Dodgers was such that he was said to bleed Dodgers blue. He was no less open about his pride in his Italian heritage. Prior to Italy’s game against the heavily favored Venezuela squad in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006, the 79-year-old former manager addressed the team in the locker room. Appealing to the players’ sense of pride in their heritage, he said, “Each and every one of you has that Italian blood. Italy gave me the greatest gift that any man can ever receive; Italy gave me my father. I want to give something back to Italy today: a victory.”

It was a moment that captured the essence of the man, combining his showmanship, his ability to motivate, his love of baseball, and his devotion to his Italian roots. He addressed the Italian squad as underdogs, a role he was familiar with all his life. The son of an Italian immigrant who drove a truck in a sand quarry and an Italian American mother, Lasorda, along with his three brothers, grew up poor in Norristown, Pennsylvania, with few if any prospects for a better future. With a combination of street smarts, competitiveness, humor, and bravura, he willed himself to unimaginable success.

After eight seasons in the minors, the left-handed pitcher compiled a major-league record of 0–4 in 26 games over three seasons (1954—56) with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Kansas City Athletics. Beginning in 1965, he spent eight years managing in the minors before becoming the Dodgers third-base coach in 1973. He succeeded Walter Alston as manager for the final four games in 1976 and went on to lead the team for the next 20 years, winning four pennants and two World Series. When he retired in 1996, only Connie Mack, John McGraw, and Alston had managed one team for more years, and only Casey Stengel had managed in more postseason games. Lasorda was lauded by some and criticized by others for his habit of showing his emotions so openly, including hugging his players on the field.

In 1997 he was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee, and in 2000 he managed the USA team to a gold medal in the Olympics. His fame increased after his managerial career ended as he became one of the most recognizable and popular ambassadors the game has ever had.

March 21, 2002 - On June 29, 1948, Johnny Antonelli, an 18-year-old phenom fresh out of high school in Rochester, New York, was signed by the Boston Braves for a bonus reported by various sources to be between $52,000 and $75,000. Whatever the actual amount, it eclipsed the salaries of all other Braves players. (Designed to prevent wealthier teams from signing all the top prospects, the Bonus Rule then in effect required the Braves to keep Antonelli on their roster for two years.)

Antonelli made his major-league debut five days after signing but would appear in only three more games the entire season. With Johnny Sain and Warren Spahn anchoring their staff, the Braves had little need for the untested youngster. He continued to languish on the bench for the next two years, making 42 appearances. It wasn’t until 1951, when he was drafted into the Army, that he was able to get consistent work by pitching for his post team at Fort Myer, Virginia.

Traded to the New York Giants in 1954, the southpaw suddenly flourished. He posted the best record of his career, winning 21 and losing 7, leading the league in ERA and shutouts, finishing third in the MVP vote, and winning The Sporting NewsPitcher of the Year Award. In the stunning Giants sweep over the Cleveland Indians, Antonelli pitched a complete-game, 3–1 win in the second game, then notched a save in the Game 4 clincher. After the Series, he received a hero’s welcome in his hometown as well as a new car from the Italian American Businessmen’s Association.

He won 20 games in 1956, beginning a string of four straight All-Star appearances, and averaged 17 wins in his first six seasons with the Giants. Antonelli split the 1961 season between the Indians and Braves, then decided to retire when he was sold to the New York Mets. In his 12-year career, he compiled a record of 126-110 with an ERA of 3.34. Between 1969 and 1974 he managed at the Double A and Triple A levels in the Mets minor-league system.

February 17, 1999 - Born in the Italian “Hill” section of St. Louis to immigrant parents, Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra was an unlikely candidate for baseball immortality. At 5-foot-7, 185 pounds, he was both short and ungainly. Even Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey, one of the most astute judges of baseball talent, thought Berra was too slow and clumsy to be a big leaguer. But Yogi confounded the skeptics by having one of the greatest careers in baseball history.

Following service in World War II, in which he was a gunner on a rocket ship during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, he made his major league debut in 1946. In his 18 years with the Yankees, he won three MVP Awards and a record ten World Series rings, holds numerous Series batting records, was an All-Star for 15 consecutive years, had his uniform number 8 retired by the Yankees, and was honored with a plaque in Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park. He also led both the Yankees and Mets to the World Series as a manager and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972.

Berra transcended baseball to become a cultural icon. For a half-century, he was a highly visible part of American popular culture, as a television spokesperson for various products, as the namesake of the cartoon character Yogi Bear, and as one of the most frequently quoted American personalities. Thanks to his visibility, his unintentionally witty sayings, known as “Yogi-isms,” and his unassuming and endearing manner, he became one of America’s most beloved figures. In his eulogy of Berra, former Yankees manager Joe Torre said of his friend, “He was so good and so honest and so real and so human.” Those in baseball knew him as a man with an exceptionally keen baseball mind. Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, who played for the Houston Astros when Berra was a coach, said, “He’s the smartest baseball man I’ve ever been around.”

The Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, located on the campus of Montclair State University in New Jersey, both perpetuates Berra’s legacy and provides sports-based educational and public programs for K-12 schoolchildren.

December 16, 2000 - A native of East Boston, Leonard Richard “Lennie” Merullo was the ninth of twelve children of Italian immigrants. His outstanding prep school performance in baseball earned him a scholarship to Villanova University, where he was captain of the baseball team. He became ineligible to play during his senior year after signing with the Chicago Cubs.

Exempt from military service during World War II due to color blindness, Merullo made his debut as a late-season call-up in 1941 and was then a Cubs shortstop through 1947, when a back injury forced him to retire at the age of thirty. In six-plus seasons he hit .240 in 639 games. On September 13, 1942, in the second game of a doubleheader in Boston, Merullo set a major league record. It was the day his first child had been born and after playing the entire first game on little sleep, the Cubs shortstop made four errors in one inning, booting two grounders and then making errant throws on both. As a result, Len Jr. would forever be known as “Boots.”

Merullo also enjoyed a long and successful career as a scout, working for the Cubs from 1950 to 1972 before joining the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau. He retired in 2003, ending a 64-year career in professional baseball. In 2006 the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America presented him with the Judge Emil Fuchs Memorial Award for his contributions to baseball. At the time of his death on May 30, 2015, at age 98, he was the last living Cubs player from the 1945 World Series.

Merullo’s son, Len, Jr., aka “Boots,” played in the Pirates minor league system for three years, and his grandson, Matt, had a six-year major league career with three teams, mainly as a catcher.

June 7, 1993 - At his first major league tryout Phil Rizzuto was told to “go out and get a shoeshine box; that’s the only way you’re going to make a living.” The diminutive 5-foot-6, 150-pound shortstop known as “The Scooter” not only made a living in the big leagues, he was a five-time All-Star, a mainstay of the postwar Yankees dynasty that won nine pennants and seven World Series in his 13-year career, and is enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

By 1941, one year after he was the MVP of the Triple A American Association, the Brooklyn native was in the Yankees starting lineup, replacing longtime shortstop Frank Crosetti. He made the All-Star team the next year before his career was interrupted by three years of service in the Navy. After finishing second in the MVP vote in 1949, he was the runaway winner of the award in 1950 when he had career highs in several offensive categories, including hits, average, slugging average, on-base percentage, RBI, and runs. In addition to being an outstanding shortstop, Rizzuto was one of the most skillful bunters of his era and an excellent base runner.

When his playing career ended in 1956, Rizzuto began what would be a 40-year run as a Yankees broadcaster. He was no less successful in the booth than he had been on the field as his stream of consciousness style and trademark call of “Holy Cow” made him a fan favorite. By the time he retired in 1996, the man once dismissed as too small to make it in the big leagues had been with the Yankees for 53 years, longer than anyone in the history of the franchise. In 1994 Rizzuto was inducted into the Hall of Fame following his selection by the Veterans Committee.

July 7-8, 2002 - Dom DiMaggio was the youngest and, at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, the smallest of three brothers to make it to the major leagues. Vince, the oldest, was a two-time All-Star in his ten-year career, and Joe was a Hall of Famer widely considered the greatest all-around player of his era. Of the more than 350 brother combinations that have played Major League Baseball, few if any have equaled the combined achievements of these three sons of Sicilian immigrants.

Like his brothers, Dom, who spent his entire career (1940–42, 1946–53) with the Boston Red Sox, was an outstanding outfielder. He led the American League in outfield assists three times, and his 503 putouts in 1948 stood as the AL record until 1977. He also compiled a lifetime average of .298, primarily as a leadoff hitter, was often among the league leaders in runs scored, walks, hits, and doubles, and still holds the Red Sox record for hitting in consecutive games: 34 in 1949. Known as “The Little Professor”—he was one of the few players at the time to wear glasses on the field—he was beloved by Sox fans. In 1995 he was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame.

For all he achieved, his career has always been overshadowed by the towering figures of two contemporaries: his brother Joe and his Red Sox teammate, Ted Williams. Nevertheless, one measure of his ability is that, at a time when his brother and Williams were virtual locks to start in the All-Star Game, in his ten full years Dom was a seven-time All-Star and was in the starting lineup three times. In a 2006 interview with this writer, Red Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky said of his teammate, “Dominic never made a mistake. He was the perfect ballplayer and had one of the brightest minds in baseball.”

March 21, 2002 - Sebastian “Sibby” Sisti was signed in 1938 by the Boston Braves (then known as the Bees) during his senior year in high school and made his major league debut the following year at the age of 18. He was a starter at third and short over the next three seasons before losing three years while serving in the Coast Guard during World War II.

In 1946 he was named Minor League Player of the Year by The Sporting News after hitting .343 for the Indianapolis Indians. He returned to the Braves in 1947 but was hampered by a series of injuries and played in more than 100 games in only two of his last nine years. Yet even though he was a lifetime .244 hitter, he was so valuable as a utility man that he was one of the first four players inducted into the Boston Braves Hall of Fame. He played a key role for the 1948 pennant winners as a late-season replacement for injured second baseman Eddie Stanky. His versatility and relentless work ethic earned him the respect of his peers and the adoration of fans.

Following his release in 1954, Sisti managed in the minors between 1955 and 1959, then returned for one more season in 1969. He would later revive his managerial career, this time on film. Serving as a technical advisor for The Natural, Barry Levinson’s 1984 adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s novel, much of which was shot in his hometown of Buffalo, New York, Sisti appears briefly onscreen in the role of the Pittsburgh Pirates manager.

October 2, 2000 - The son of immigrants from northern Italy, Dario Lodigiani was born in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. Lodigiani played ball with both Joe and Dom DiMaggio, first at the local playground now named in honor of Joe, and later in junior high and high school. A three-sport All-Star at Galileo High School, he turned down a scholarship to St. Mary’s College—at that time a West Coast baseball powerhouse—to sign with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League in 1935. That was the beginning of a 73-year career in professional baseball. He spent all or parts of six years in the majors between 1938 and 1946 playing for the Philadelphia A’s and the Chicago White Sox, primarily as a third baseman. He lost three seasons while serving in the Army Air Corps in the South Pacific between 1943 and 1945.

When an elbow injury cut short his big-league career he returned to the Pacific Coast League, playing for Oakland and San Francisco from 1947 to 1951. After managing in the minors for two years, he coached for the Indians and Athletics, and scouted for the White Sox for more than forty years. He was still employed by Chicago at the time of his death in 2008 at age ninety-one. The team awarded him a World Series ring following its 2005 win. In 2006 he was elected to the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame.

Here he recalls his experiences with such legendary figures as Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Connie Mack, Casey Stengel and Ted Williams.

November 30, 2005 - Anthony Thomas “Nino” Bongiovanni’s major-league career was brief. Following a two-game cup of espresso early in the 1938 season, he appeared in 66 games for the Cincinnati Reds in 1939. The left-handed outfielder also spent 14 years in the minors between 1933 and 1949, losing three years to military service in World War II. In his first ten minor-league seasons, he played in the Pacific Coast and International Leagues, both of which were classified Double A, at that time the highest level in the minors. In 1935, his third year in pro ball, he hit .338 for the Portland Beavers in the PCL and was third in the league in hits, one spot behind 20-year-old Joe DiMaggio.

After returning from service in the Army Air Corps, he played for three years in the Class C California League and one year in the Class D Far West League. In his final two seasons, he was a player-manager for Oroville in the Far West League (1948) and Stockton in the California League (1949).

While Bongiovanni’s major-league career was short-lived, his life on earth spanned 97 years. When we spoke he was three weeks shy of his 94th birthday. Nevertheless, he had no trouble calling up memories of his days as a ballplayer. Seventy years after the fact, he was still miffed at the scorekeeper who, he said, robbed him of extending his 43-game hitting streak in 1935 to 56 games. At the end of our discussion, he gladly offered to share the secret of his longevity, after which he laughed heartily.

June 8, 2001 - The son of Italian immigrants, Angelo Giuliani was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on November 24, 1912. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound catcher began his professional career in 1932 with his hometown St. Paul Saints of the American Association. Drafted by the St. Louis Browns, he made his major league debut in 1936.

After two years with the Browns, he spent the 1938 and ‘39 seasons with the Washington Senators. He played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1940 and ‘41, then returned to the American Association with the Minneapolis Millers before completing his major league career in Washington in 1943. In his seven-year career, mainly as a backup catcher, he appeared in 243 games and compiled a .233 average.

Beginning in 1948, he worked as a scout for the Giants, Tigers, and Senators, who became the Minnesota Twins in 1961. That same year he established the Twins’ youth clinics, which ultimately operated in nine states and Canada. He is credited with signing thirty players for the Twins, including Kent Hrbek, one of the franchise’s all-time greats.

The interview with Giuliani took place in the basement rec room of his home in St. Paul, which was filled with baseballs, photos, and other memorabilia. On one wall at the end of the room were two photos, one of Babe Ruth and the other of a baby in swaddling clothes. Still spry and spirited at age 88, Giuliani pointed at the photos and said, “See those pictures? That’s me next to the Babe; the two bambinos.”

April 29, 2001 - The son of Sicilian immigrants, Phil Cavarretta was 17 years old when he quit high school in 1934 and began playing professional baseball in the Chicago Cubs organization to help support his family during the Great Depression. At the end of his first and only season in the minor leagues, he made his first start in the big leagues two months after his 18thbirthday and hit a game-winning homer at Wrigley Field, three miles from his boyhood home and high school. For the next 19 years, the left-handed-hitting first baseman/outfielder was a mainstay of the Cubs before finishing his career with the crosstown White Sox. His competitive spirit and relentless hustle made him one of the all-time favorite Cubs players.

Cavarretta was a four-time All-Star, won the National League batting title and Most Valuable Player Award in 1945, and played in three World Series. Over his 22-year career, he compiled a lifetime average of .293, with 95 home runs and 920 RBIs. For two and a half seasons between 1951 and 1953, he was the Cubs player/manager, becoming, in 1952, the first Italian American to manage a major league team for a full season. He later managed in the minor leagues and coached for the Detroit Tigers and New York Mets.