Celebrating baseball’s Italian-American heritage

Posted Jan 31, 2010 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated Jan 31, 2010 at 06:14 PM

You don’t have to be Italian to love this set. But once you take a look at the Italian American Baseball Heroes collection, I believe you will agree that it is “molto bella” — very beautiful.

The National Ethnic Heritage Foundation and the Order of Sons of Italy in America have produced a special 100-card set that is entertaining, informative, candid — and very attractive.

The set only can be ordered through either organization’s Web site (www.nehf.org or www.osia.org). The cost is $49, which is tax deductible.

There are 97 cards depicting players of Italian ancestry, plus three cards that hail achievements like MVP award winners, career pitching and hitting leaders, and Hall of Fame inductees.

Each player card features an original oil portrait created by a team of artists supervised by noted photographer George Kotsovos. Every card is ringed by metallic gold foil with UV coating. The players’ names are etched in black at the bottom of the card front, set inside the gold foil.

The oil portraits make this set so special. Some of them are sharply detailed, while others rely on a soft focus. A look at Sal Maglie’s card, for example, shows “The Barber” at his intimidating best. Ed “Batty” Abbatacchio looks almost monk-like, dressed in the garb of the early 1900s when he starred for the Pirates. And Don Mossi’s card stays true to his classic 1966 Topps baseball card image (by the way, none of the players have any logos on display, since this product is not licensed by Major League Baseball).

The card image I chose to use with this blog entry is that of Dom DiMaggio, a nod toward my late, great Senior Little League Baseball coach in Boynton Beach, Bob Pimm (“I lived in an Italian neighborhood on Long Island, and every other family’s name ended in a vowel. My mail would come addressed to the ‘Pimmo’ family. …”).

After making a catch one night in center field, Pimm shouted that I “looked like DiMaggio out there.”

I puffed out my chest, thrilled to be compared to the immortal Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio, until he completed the sentence — “Dom DiMaggio.”

I was slightly miffed, until I did some research and realized that hey, Dom wasn’t such a bad outfielder.
Back to the card set.

There are the obvious names in this collection — the DiMaggio brothers, Frank Crosetti, Yogi Berra, Joe Garagiola, Tom Lasorda, Tampa native Tony La Russa, Rocky Colavito, Mike Scioscia and Joe Torre. But here are some oddities:

Andy Pettitte (he has Italian and Cajun-French ancestry); Roy Campanella (his father was of Italian descent); Mark Belanger (there is no explanation of his Italian roots); and Joe Ferguson (his mother was an Italian-American).
Ken Caminiti is an interesting choice, too, and the card-makers do not sidestep the fact that the late third baseman admitted his steroid use.

There also is a card honoring the first Italian-American to reach the majors. Lewis Pessano “Buttercup” Dickerson debuted in 1878 with the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

There are some fun facts, too. The best one concerned Ping Bodie, who in 1919 defeated an ostrich named Percy in a spaghetti-eating contest in Jacksonville. Reportedly, Bodie won when Percy passed out after his 11th plate of pasta.

Type-wise in the player facts on the card backs, some apostrophes are omitted where they should have been inserted (on the Campanella card, for example). And Al Gionfriddo’s last name is misspelled on the front of his card (one “d” is missing), although it is correct on the back. But overall, the errors are minimal.

This is a nice addition to any baseball card fanatic’s collection.