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Jan.2, 2005 - Jan.9, 2005 |
Bidini Bats 1000 with Baseballissimo!
Toronto writer and musician tackles Italy's baseball season with a winning new book
By Darby Macnab
Originally Published: 2004-04-18
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.
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