Bidini Bats 1000 with Baseballissimo!

Toronto writer and musician tackles Italy's baseball season with a winning new book

Dave Bidini, rhythm guitarist for the Rheostatics, is also one of this country's funniest and best sports writers. A few years ago, he authored Tropic of Hockey, which chronicled hilariously his search for hockey in unlikely places, from Africa to China. In his new book, Baseballissimo, he brings his well-informed insights and good humour to bear on Italian minor league baseball.
In the summer of 2002, Bidini took his family - wife Janet, daughter Cecilia, 2, and baby Lorenzo - to Nettuno, an ancient coastal town south of Rome that has been Italy's baseball capital since 1944 when the game was introduced by American soldiers. Baseball is tradition in Nettuno, so much so that kids here are given gloves and bats on their first communion. Joe DiMaggio even visited once, driving down from Rome to hit countless balls out of the local park and into the surf.
Bidini sets out to follow Nettuno's Serie B team, the Peones, through their season, bringing his readers right into the dugout with him. Sharing pastries, espressos and plenty of bawdy humour with the players, Bidini reveals a quirky cast of characters, all in it for their love of the game. From the highly respected coach, Pietro Monaco, retired after playing 27 years for the Serie A Indians, to Chencho the pitcher, who holds the ballpark earthworm-eating record, Bidini colourfully portrays each player, warts and all.
And while he may not know too much Italian at first, (he tends to pronounce penne so that it means penis), Bidini does know baseball. As he takes us through the emotional rollercoaster of the Peones' season, he reveals not only what distinguishes Italoball from the North American game, but what is universally recognizable about it as well. He takes us beyond professional ball, right into the heart of the game that is loved all over the world.
Reading Baseballissimo is the next best thing to spending a summer on the coast of Italy. It's a great read, whether or not you're a fan of the game.
Tandem had a chance to chat with Dave Bidini recently.

You've written books about rock 'n roll road trips, and about finding hockey in unlikely places. How did the idea for Baseballissimo come to you?
"Actually, my agent helped me out. I'd been thinking of writing about the Italian Canadian experience, and I knew I wanted to write a baseball book, but it hadn't been clear how to get into it. So I researched it on the web, and the whole story of Nettuno was there. Then my wife Janet and I went over to see if it was a town that we would want to live in for awhile - and it was. So it was easy."

Living in a picturesque town on the Tyrrhenian coast for the summer sounds like a pretty good gig.
"There were some amazing moments. When I was alone in my writing room, I'd look out on the ocean and see the little fishing boats, and lights flickering on the horizon... Also we were only an hour from Rome, so we went there a lot. We'd just hop on the train and go. I went with my [2-year old] daughter, too, and had a great time just hanging out. And of course, the baseball was great. When I was out there playing with the team, or shagging flies, it was amazing."

Tell me about the Peones. Why did you choose to follow them, as opposed to the Serie A Indians?
"It would have been hard to write about the Indians. Some guys I met over there were trying to do a documentary about them and they found it hard to make it exciting because there were so few fans. There used to be fans until the league started to bring in imported players, and now, all the glory positions are held by Latin and American players. So while before, an entire town could go and watch their brothers and cousins play ball, now there's not that connection anymore. I wanted to write about Italian ball players. The Peones, being Serie B, are just a lot more real. They are all local players. Also, I had better access to the team. When I went to meet Pietro [the Peones manager], I explained that I just wanted to hang with the team, and he was okay with that. The Indians' manager was a little more guarded."

So you followed them around for a season - but initially, at least, you didn't speak the language. How did that work?
"It was hard. I did have my translator, Paolo, who was great, but I had to realize that my role was kind of the Team Stooge. I was amusing to them, because I would try to speak, and would inadvertently butcher the language. But when I did learn to speak a little, they were really proud. In a way, their success as a team was paralleled by my progress. They were trying to win the title, and I was trying to speak in sentences."

Sounds like all that bawdy humour in the dugout helped to forge relationships.
"Yeah, well, genitalia is a big topic in sports. Not just in Italy, but all over. Plus, in baseball, there's a lot of sitting around... [hence the fellating of bananas, etc.]. But for me, the most absurd thing was that during a really intense part of the game - bottom of the 7th, couple of runners on - someone would come up to me and say, 'Hey, Dave, I've got this cake. Try it.' They'd be forcing sweets on me, you know? And then during the end of one game in the playoffs, everyone was really down, and one of the players' fathers brought this big bucket of grapes - the first harvest of the grapes - and suddenly they forgot all about the game and just fell upon the fruit like they were worshipping it. It was amazing, how this was as important as what was happening on the field, even though they were fighting for their lives out there. They have a lot of respect for food."

How do they get away with eating pastries and drinking espresso in the dugout, anyway?
"Well, they still work really hard to stay fit, running and lifting weights. But they are not going to give up that other part of their lives that's just so fulfilling, you know, the two-hour meal in the middle of the day. And also, the ingredients of their meals are all simple and pure and really good. Every evening is a walk around the old town. People are active in that way. It's slower paced. We are so uptight here in North America. We try too hard. There, it's a little more free."

You mention the legacy of WWII a fair bit in the book. At one point, the team bus drives past a town called Campo di Carne, or Field of Flesh, where 8,000 soldiers had been slaughtered. What did that feel like?
"Living in Canada, we never have to think about that. But in Italy, baseball was one of the good things that came out of the war. It was a symbol of a new beginning. They are respectful of those times, conscious of it, but they have a pretty positive outlook. Because their society has been there for thousands of years, I think they have a different perspective on things than we do over here. The scale is so much different than ours."

One of the Peones tells you "Without baseball, I'd probably be dead." Are Italians more passionate about their ball than their counterparts in America?
"I don't think so. I think with people who play sports at that level, their love for the game is pretty much universal. Italians are dramatic, though, which is maybe why he said that the way he did. I guess over there, because baseball isn't huge, it really does mean a lot to them. It defines them. Italians, on one level, are not afraid to bare it all, but I think that's often kind of a defense mechanism that prevents you from really knowing their true souls. The flare for theatre often masks something. There were a lot of times when I'd ask someone a real question - about their family or something - and they wouldn't want you to know about it. But if you get them into an argument, they'll argue forever. There would be an argument about parking in the street, say, and it would get very dramatic, but you know it would never come to blows. Presentation is so important. But basically, there will never be a revolution in Italy because the whole country shuts down for three hours every afternoon, you know?"

It seems as though you got to know the players pretty well.
"Yeah. This book gave me a great opportunity to study human nature, because sports reveal people at their weakest and their strongest, their most fallible, most euphoric, most disappointed. That's pretty great, getting into their head. There's a real intimacy."

What was it like practicing with them?
"Well, I'm about 15 years older than most of these guys, so spiritually and mentally, I was right there, but physically, it was taxing for me. Even though I am pretty physically active, it was a challenge. But, you know, I wouldn't have wanted to have gone in there and been a really strong player. I had to gain a certain trust. I led the team in raking. That was my big thing. They might've hit the ball farther than me, but they could not rake as well as I could. Once I had a bit of a memorable moment catching for [pitcher] Chencho. No one was around, and he wanted to warm up. I had caught for many years, so it wasn't hard for me. We had a great time. Chencho wanted so badly to be in this book. It was important to him that he be an important part of the book. That was the case with most of these guys. If you asked them over, they would involve themselves. They were very inclusive."

Did they realize they had a musician as well as a writer in you?
"Not really. The only CD I had with me was a children's album, so I played it for them, and they said 'Dave, this is music for babies!' Also, the concept of my being a writer was a mystery to a lot of people over there. This one guy, the baseball administrator, finally asked me after two months what kind of book I was writing, and when I told him, he said, 'Oh, I thought you were writing a historical romance.' So sometimes it felt like they had no idea of who I was or what I was doing. And when I'd say that I was doing a book about baseball, to some people, it was like, 'The reason he's here writing about Italian baseball is because he's not good enough to write about American baseball'. As my wife Janet said, I think they thought my book was going to be a photocopied, sirlox-bound thing, you know? Now that the book's out and they have copies of it, they truly understand. And that feels good."

Are you working on another book?
"I have a kid's book coming out in the fall called For Those About to Rock. It's about being in a band, starting a band. And I have another book in the works, modeled on my first book, On a Cold Road. That one was about a band on the road. This one is about hockey - Men's B Level Hockey. So instead of a band, it follows my hockey team, and instead of quoting older bands and artists, I quote old hockey players. Should be a fun read."

With three books under your belt and two in the works, do you feel more like a musician or an author these days?
"Both. Always, both. One day, it's rock, next day it's words. You know, if it's happening for you, you've just got to go with it. McClelland and Stewart have been very supportive, and True North is supportive, and my band members are all great guys, so, yeah, I'm busy, but it's good."
Dave Bidini's Baseballissimo: My Summer in the Italian Minor Leagues is published by McClelland and Stewart, and is available in bookstores.

Publication Date: 2004-04-18
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3879