Beyond Dimaggio : Italian Americans in Baseball

by Baldassaro, Lawrence; Dimaggio, Dom

• ISBN13: 9780803217058
• ISBN10: 0803217056
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

Berra, Rizzuto, Lasorda, Torre, Conigliaro, Santo, Piazza. Casual baseball fans--in fact, even many nonfans--know these names, not as Italian Americans, but as some of the most colorful figures in Major League Baseball. Ever since future Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri became a key part of the Yankees' Murderers' Row lineup of 1926, Italian Americans have been among the most prominent and intriguing players in the game. The first comprehensive study of the topic,Beyond DiMaggiois also a social history of baseball, tracing the evolution of American perceptions toward those of Italian descent as it chronicles the baseball exploits that influenced those perceptions. Lawrence Baldassaro tells the stories of Italian Americans' contributions to the game, from Joe DiMaggio, who transcended his ethnic identity to become an American icon, to A. Bartlett Giamatti, who served as commissioner of baseball, to Mike Piazza, considered the greatest hitting catcher ever. Baldassaro conducted more than fifty interviews with players, coaches, managers, and executives--some with careers dating back to the thirties--in order to put all these figures and their stories into the historical context of baseball, Italian Americans, and, finally, the culture of American sports.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xix
Introduction: At Home in America	p. xxiii
The Pioneers
Ed Abbaticchio: Forgotten Pioneer	p. 3
The Boys from San Francisco	p. 19
Where Are the Italians?	p. 42
The Tony Lazzeri Era	p. 63
Arrival
The Turning Point: 1930-1935	p. 97
Viva Italia! 1936-1939	p. 120
The First MVPs: Lombardi, Camilli, and Cavarretta	p. 150
To War and Back	p. 170
Postwar Boom
Postwar New York: The Golden Age	p. 189
The DiMaggio Brothers: Realizing the American Dream	p. 202
Italian Yankees: Paesans in Pinstripes	p. 231
Interborough Warfare: Dodgers versus Giants	p. 263
Transitional Italians
The Last "Italians"	p. 307
The 1970s and Beyond	p. 335
From Labor to Management	p. 366
Executive Suite	p. 397
Notes	p. 423
Bibliography	p. 445
Source Acknowledgments	p. 455
Index	p. 457
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