Lawrence A. Baldassaro

A heartfelt tribute to Italian American Baseball Family hero Larry Baldassaro

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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

‘Tis the season for HOF’s Mike Piazza and La Befana

Roberto Angotti4 Comments

NIASHF Only second to Santa in holiday appearances, National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame spokesman Mike Piazza began early before Thanksgiving when he emceed NIASHF’s 37th Annual Awards Celebration and inducted John Andretti, Babe Parilli, Scott Pioli, Angelo Pizzo and Frank Zamboni at the InterContinental Hotel in Chicago.

Mike Piazza's popularity in Italy is second only Venezia's Santa Clause.
Mike Piazza’s popularity in Italia comes a close second to St. Nick but nobody can touch La Befana.

International baseball ambassador and Italian National team hitting coach Mike Piazza got a jump start on Babbo Natale, otherwise known as Father Christmas, when he traveled to Veneto, Italy last January to speak to an enthusiastic audience at the 29th Annual Coaches Convention. Piazza said, “We all overteach and overanalyze hitting. Everyone has their own opinion, but in actuality–just as Ted Williams explained in his book–The Science of Hitting–the number one rule is to get a good ball to hit. Gaining an understanding of the strike zone and what you can and can’t hit is the key. Simply spoken, you can’t hit what you can’t see.” Borrowing a page straight out of Ted Williams’ book, Rudolph the red nose reindeer leads Cometa, Ballerina, Fulmine, Donnola, Freccia, Saltarello, Donato, and Cupido so that Babbo Natale is able to see which homes to hit and deliver presents to millions of Italian children every year. However, La Befana, the elderly woman who delivers gifts on Epiphany Eve (January 5th), is a cultural folklore tradition favorite and reigns as the undisputed Italian holiday champion.

La Befana is one of Italy's oldest and most celebrated legends.
La Befana is one of Italy’s oldest and most celebrated legends.

La Befana is a nice old woman who some believe takes flight on her broom stick every year in the middle of the night in preparation of the arrival of Epiphany day on January 6th. She showers children with gifts to reward them for their good behavior. La Befana’s big sack on her back and basket is usually full of sweets and chocolates, which will make their way into the stockings of kids who have behaved on the day of the Epiphany. However, those children who didn’t do what they were asked by their parents and were naughty throughout the year will end up with a stocking full of lumps of coal. Yet, everyone loves La Befana. She is sometimes portrayed as having white or black hair with a long crooked nose, broken shoes and a patched dress. Unlike in America where children generally leave milk and cookies for Santa Claus, it is customary to have a nice glass of red wine waiting for La Befana upon her arrival to your house considering the long overnight journey she had to endure getting there.

Some believe the Mike Piazza soccer jersey handed out at Italian Heritage Night at Citi Field may have been the best Mets giveaway of all-time.
Attendees of Italian Heritage Night at Citi Field received a Mike Piazza soccer jersey to the delight the Azzurri.

Mike Piazza deserves more than just chianti for the seemingly endless journey he has had to experience to become enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The Mets Hall of Famer is a fan favorite, and anytime he is affiliated with a night at the ballpark it is an instant hit. The Mike Piazza soccer jersey giveaway at the 2014 Italian Heritage Night at Citi Field was considered to be best Mets promotion of the season.

Mike Piazza appears in a Norelco commercial.
Mike Piazza featured in Philips Norelco commercial

Commercial endorsements from Philips Norelco as well as special guest interview appearances on Complex News and TMZ Sports are just the tip of the iceberg of mass media that has spotlighted Mike Piazza recently. Expect nothing less than an avalanche of additional coverage in 2015 to follow with Piazza’s support of the National Italian American Foundation and the NIAF 40th Anniversary Gala.

Mike Piazza and friends at the National Italian American Foundation Gala
Mike Piazza and the Hollywood crowd at the NIAF Gala
Author and University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Emeritus Professor Lawrence A. Baldassaro summed up why this blogger believes Mike Piazza is Italian American of the Decade when he wrote: “Of all the younger Major League players I interviewed for my book, Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball, none was more in touch with, and interested in, his Italian heritage than Mike Piazza. And his commitment to baseball in Italy is unmatched among those his age.”

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