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Beyond DiMaggio

Italian Americans in Baseball
by Lawrence Baldassaro
Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball. Univ. of Nebraska. Mar. 2011. c.520p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780803217058. $34.95. SPORTS
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This is an almost encyclopedic study of the role performed by Italian Americans in organized baseball in the United States, a story conveyed in a largely chronological fashion, enlivened by vignettes involving some of the game's greatest and most colorful figures. Baldassaro's sweep ranges from Ed Abbaticchio, one of the first Italian Americans in the game, and Ping Bodie, who, born Francesco Stephano Pezzolo, was the first Italian American who came close to baseall stardom, to general managers, team owners, commissioner Angelo Bartlett Giamatti and, most movingly, the rise and fall of Red Sox slugger Tony Conigliaro. He also offers enjoyable accounts of Tony Lazzeri, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, and Roy Campanella. For all baseball fans.—R.C.
Reviewed by Robert Cottrell , Feb 01, 2011
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