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Mathieu Silva could barely contain his excitement. His father, Christian, had gathered the family together in their hometown of Bollate just outside of Milan to share an announcement. One which detailed an opportunity unlike any young Italian baseball player had ever experienced. Mathieu -- a 13-year-old outfielder who represented Italy in th...

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Terry Francona, a.k.a. Tito, admitted that in his grandfather's language he cannot express a single concept. He does remember four words, though: "In the name of the father." Because the priest would say them in Italian, precisely, and when that moment came it meant that the liturgy was ending, "and it was almost the moment when you could finally p...

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The Mets, like every other team, are looking to improve this offseason but with New York they are hoping to bounce back from a disappointing 2023 campaign. Following a 101-win season, the Mets finished below .500 and missed the postseason resulting in sweeping changes including to their manager. With newly hired David Stearns as the team’s Presiden...

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National Baseball Hall of Famer and Team Italy manager Mike Piazza shared his insight after the Azzurri squad missed out in the hunt for a medal at the 2023 European Baseball Championship in the Czech Republic due to recent losses to Sweden (8-3) and Great Britain (11-10) in Trebic.  While the Azzurri squad was practicing at the Trebic Nuclears bal...

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I have always thought, perhaps driven by my love for the Italian American community and the history of its achievements, that the greatest American athlete of all time is Joe DiMaggio, who belonged to that community. There is obviously no official ranking, everybody has their own, mine sees there at the top a very great Italian American. Someone wh...

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Perhaps the best moment of Mike Piazza's career was his home run in the New York Mets' first home game post-9/11. With his Mets down 2-1 to the Atlanta Braves, Piazza drilled a no-doubt two-run homer that proved to be the game-winner.  It's now considered one of the greatest home runs in Mets history, allowing New Yorkers to forget for just a momen...

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After suffering a 2-0 shutout to Panama the day prior at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, the Italians returned for a win-or-go home game under the lights against Kingdom of the Netherlands on Sunday, March 12, 2023 and punched their ticket to the second round of the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo after defeating the Dutch 7-1. Before t...

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"Mission Classic," a three-part docuseries featuring an inside look at the Italian National Baseball Team before and during the 2023 World Baseball Classic, is now LIVE! Part 2 is about a Team Italy mini camp and send-off dinner in Arizona. This piece was produced in partnership by the Federation of Italian Baseball and Softball and the Italian Ame...

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Making their WBC Pool A debut against Cuba at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taiwan on Thursday night, March 9, 2023, the Italians defeated Cuba 6-3 in 10 innings. Having lost to the Kingdom of the Netherlands 4-2 the day prior, Cuba needed to beat Team Italy in WBC Pool A, but the resilient Italians put the winless Cubans in the cel...

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For the first time in his life, Vinnie Pasquantino slept through an alarm. This was in November, and Pasquantino and his fiancée, Ryann, were in Italy on a trip that Team Italy manager Mike Piazza organized before the World Baseball Classic. It was a trip he called “Mission Classic,” bringing some of the American players with Italian heritage ove...

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