Italy
From BR Bullpen
|
Italy is a country located in south-central Europe on the Italian peninsula.
Italy has long had an interest in baseball. The national baseball federation is called the Federazione Italiana Baseball & Softball. Serie A1 is the top league in the country and has featured dozens of former major league players.
Although few major leaguers have been born in Italy, a great many major leaguers of Italian ancestry have played in the majors. The most famous is probably Joe DiMaggio. Some players changed their names, so that their Italian ancestry is not obvious - an example is Ping Bodie, born Francesco Stephano Pezzolo.
Italy has produced several minor leaguers in the late 20th and early 21st Century - Andrea Castrì, Mario Chiarini, Claudio Liverziani, Giuseppe Mazzanti, Alex Liddi, Alessandro Maestri, Luca Panerati and Matteo Pizziconi.
