Italian American Baseball Family filmmaker Roberto Angotti and baseball historian Professor Lawrence Baldassaro won the Russo Brothers Italian American Film Forum Award at the National Italian American Foundation 42nd Anniversary Gala in Washington, D.C.
In honor of the late and great Larry Baldassaro (June 25, 1943 — September 8, 2026), we pay tribute to the unsung hero of the National Italian American Foundation Russo Brothers Film Forum award-winning Italian American Baseball Family. Throughout the hour-long documentary, which is based on Professor Lawrence Baldassaro’s Beyond DiMaggio: Italian American in Baseball, the renowned-author is prominently featured in the film as he takes viewers on guided history lesson on how Italians assimilated into American popular culture through the game and highlighted the many Italian Americans’ contributions to baseball.
The grandson of Italian immigrants, Lawrence Baldassaro grew up in Chicopee, Massachusetts, where he played high school, American Legion, and semi-pro baseball as a devoted fan of Ted Williams and the Boston Red Sox. Baldassaro was a professor emeritus of Italian and former director of the Honors College at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He circled back into the game by writing about it for the Milwaukee Brewers – and eventually recognized a void he could fill. He said, “I discovered at that time, very little had been written about Italian Americans in baseball, in spite of an incredible history that goes back to the 1920s.”
Roberto Angotti and Chris Colabello (interviewed and featured in Italian American Baseball Family) with a signed copy of Baseball Italian Style by Professor Lawrence Baldassaro
Immediately following the release of his book, Beyond DiMaggio: Italian American in Baseball, in 2011, Professor Lawrence Baldassaro was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Award of Excellence by the Order Sons of Italy in America Grand Lodge of Illinois and Wisconsin. His follow-up, Baseball Italian Style: Great Stories Told by Italian American Major Leaguers from Crosetti to Piazza (2018), used first-person accounts from Italian-American baseball players. Baldassaro’s interviews were conducted from 1993-2017 and included conversations with players from a variety of different generations. Not only did these audio recordings provide a look at the human side of the game, but they also examined the many ways in which life as a big leaguer changed over time. Included in the invaluable collection are eight Hall of Famers: Yogi Berra, Craig Biggio, Tony La Russa, Tommy Lasorda, Mike Piazza, Phil Rizzuto, Ron Santo, and Joe Torre. Also featured is MVP award winner Ken Caminiti, MLB All-Stars Anthony Rizzo, Joey Votto, and Barry Zito as well as coaches, managers, umpires, and front-office executives.His final book, Tony Lazzeri: Yankees Legend and Baseball Pioneer, earned him a 2022 SABR Baseball Research Award for “outstanding research projects that have significantly expanded our knowledge or understanding of baseball.”
Roberto Angotti, Pier Piancastelli, Loredana Auletta, Larry Baldassaro, and Tom Cesarini at Amici House following a screening of Italian American Baseball Family and a presentation by Professor Baldassaro in San Diego’s Little Italy
Baldassaro was also the editor of Ted Williams: Reflections on a Splendid Life, The Ted Williams Reader, and co-editor of The American Game: Baseball and Ethnicity. In addition to writing about baseball, he published essays on Italian literature, film and politics in American and Italian journals and served on the Executive Council of the Dante Society of America. Perhaps one of his greatest joys was serving as interpreter for Team Italy in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic. He will forever live in the hearts of many here in America and abroad. He had a profound influence and impact on the lives of thousands, including mine…grazie mille Larry! We will never forget our mentor. Forza #Italia!!!
Italian American Baseball Family with Italian subtitles was submitted by Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball (FIBS) and later selected as a finalist for the FICTS (Fédération Internationale Cinéma Télévision Sportifs) Worldwide Championship of Television, Cinema, Sport, Culture and Communication in Milan, Italy
Garagiola went on to do television broadcasts for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 2004. The beloved Italian American from “The Hill” was also given his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. He retired from broadcasting in 2013 and was named as the 2014 recipient of the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, presented once every three years by the National Baseball Hall of Fame for positive contributions to Major League Baseball. Garagiola passed away at age 90 in 2016. The Arizona Diamondbacks wore a patch, a black circle with “JOE” written in white in the center with a catchers’ mask replacing the O, in his memory on their right sleeve for the 2016 season.
