In countless cities and towns across the United States, baseball season is gearing up. Little
League teams are holding tryouts and lining up practices. Parents in Italy, however, need not
despair: baseball is alive and well, albeit Italian style, right here in Tuscany. Baseball in Italy
appeals to a small group of athletes but those who are passionate about it are devoted. Rules
and regulations generally follow American conventions but there are some differences. In Italy,
basepaths are measured in meters rather than feet or yards, creating subtle differences in distances; Little League players are grouped by year, not by month, creating situations where 11-year-olds born in January play against 11-year-olds born in December; and an extra division called Allievi (ages 13 and 14) helps players make the transition from regulation Little League distances (60-
foot basepaths and 46-foot pitcher’s mounds) to college-level and professional distances (75-foot
basepaths and 54-foot pitcher’s mounds). Another difference is that in the US, Little League games
for players through the age of 12 last six innings;games for older players last nine innings. Interestingly, despite Italian preferences for drawn-out lunches and the poetic licence taken with meeting times, a time limit is imposed in baseball: after two hours, no matter what inning the game has reached, it has officially ended.
Little League for boys of the Italian summer
Although fundamental concepts remain the same, parents should be aware that there are slight differences in Little League age groupings: The Ragazzi division encompasses ages 9 through 12; next comes the Allievi division; the Cadetti division (ages 15 and 16), in which fi eld measurements are moved up to professional distances (60-foot, 6- inch pitcher’s mounds and 90-foot basepaths); and the Under-21 division where, in a rare instance of Italian clarity, ages are specifi ed in the name of the division. There are some noteworthy differences in the equipment used in the various levels.
In the Under-21 division, players begin to use wooden bats. And although US teams use standard hard, stitched, leather-bound baseballs after T-ball (ages 5-6), Italians use ‘kenko-balls’ (made
of soft rubber without stitches) through to age 12. Finally, in Italy pitchers are limited to three out of
six inings per game in the Ragazzi division, four innings out of six in Allievi, and fi ve out of seven
in Cadetti. In the Under-21 division, limits are seven innings per nine-inning game until the age
of 19, after which there is no limit. In the United States, begining with the ‘majors division’ (ages
10-12), one pitcher can throw the entire game.
Prospects for fame and fortune: the trickle-down effect
In Italy, without the flood of players who show up every season for American Little League tryouts, there are at best one to three teams per city. In sharp contrast to the lucrative and action-packed future awaiting the most talented American youths, the top Italian professional baseball division (Serie A) is the equivalent, perhaps, of American AA baseball – with markedly diminished fans, fame and income potential. Little League differences multiply proportionately: with baseball
pulsing in its veins, the US produces more competitive Little League teams because youngsters grow up watching baseball on national television, hearing it on taxi radios and reading about it in all
the major newspapers. These days, they can even play in televised national Little League tournaments. In Italy, however, only a select few follow baseball and most interested youngsters have not been widely exposed to the game before actually starting to play it.
Tourney time
With fewer teams, tournaments generally take place between, rather than within, cities and
regions. Following the regular Italian Little League season running from April to June, tournaments
often stretch out over a few days. Complete with tents, barbecues and pick-up soccer games, tournaments include two to three games each day. The highest level of play is during the Torneo delle Regione – the All-Star Tournament played by 15 teams representating about 12 different regions. This year it will be held in Nettuno. (Incidentally, it was American soldiers stationed
at the military base in Nettuno during World War II who fi rst introduced baseball to Italy.) In
2005, the stellar Citta Di Nettuno Tournament, which takes place the fi rst week of August, pitted
three Nettuno-based teams, one Roman team, a team from Livorno, the Tuscan champions, the
Macerata team and two separate Italian national teams (Northern and Central) against one another
in a high-stakes battle of baseball wits. With the exception of the Regional All-Star tournament,
this was the highest-level tournament of the Italian Little League year.
Play ball!
The Florence region offers several opportunities for playing and helping coach Little League baseball: near the Campo di Marte, a professionalsize stadium houses the Junior Firenze baseball
club and the Florence Serie A2 team. In Antella, a highly-competitive club promotes teams in the
Ragazzi, Allievi and Cadetti levels. In Chianti, an Under-21 team combines athletes from Florence,
Antella and Chianti. The best of all of these teams make up a post-season Tuscan All-Star team which plays against the other regional teams of Italy.
Italian baseball may not be an exact replica of the American tradition, but the love of the game
exists just the same – and Yanks are always welcome.
Contacts:
Antella (15 minutes south of Florence):
Telephone/Fax: 055-656-5238;
Florence:
Junior Firenze Baseball:
Tel- 055 60 74 73;
Chanti (30 minutes south of Florence):
Tel . 335-352-175
