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The new year is officially upon us, but for Gary Perone 2017 was a year to remember. Perone, the assistant general manager for the Brooklyn Cyclones, was named the Italian American baseball executive of the year by the Italian American Baseball Foundation. "I was humbled and grateful," said the Tottenville resident Perone. "Very humbling because wh...

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“Italians were once second-class citizens in the United States and invisible in baseball before players like Tony Lazzeri and Joe DiMaggio rose to prominence. Not having an appreciation of your heritage is like an olive tree without roots. Baseball is a part of mine.” —Roberto Angotti. In his new, award-winning documentary, “The Italian American Ba...

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They came, they met, they left. What they talked about only they know for now. But Pawtucket Red Sox Chairman Larry Lucchino certainly appeared to be in a good mood as he made his way from the Levi Lincoln Room in City Hall to the elevator a little after 1 p.m. Friday. Lucchino, accompanied by two men he did not identify, was in Worcester for what...

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Imagine a great Sunday Italian feast, only this time with 100 members of your extended family. And at the helm, sits the incomparable Bobby Valentine. For those in attendance Thursday evening at Carmine’s in Brooklyn, this epic gathering was a reality, led by the former New York Mets manager in support of the Italian American Baseball Foundation. V...

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Past and present MLB players and executives as well as a traveling delegation from Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball (FIBS) celebrated everyting Italian and embracedBobby Valentine premiato alla cena IABF 2017 (Chris Heider) the challenges that lie ahead for the 501(c)(3) charity, the Italian American Baseball Foundation (IABF), at the second...

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With 15 WPIAL football championships and 11 boys basketball titles, Aliquippa High School is known as a two-sport school. But Natalino Palombo represented a different era. As a senior in 1946, he helped lead the Quips to their second — and last — WPIAL championship as an infielder. It preceded a long and fruitful career as both a baseball player an...

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Since I began writing for this blog, my articles have dealt mainly with famous indigenous inhabitants of Southern Italy/Sicily. It behooves me to mention, though, since the destruction of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1861, the majority of the members of our ethnos were born outside the borders of the modern state of Italy in what I like to te...

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Kicking off its inaugural event last year honoring National Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Piazza at Carmine’s Restaurant and Sports Bar in Brooklyn, New York, the Italian American Baseball Foundation (IABF) has set out to make this year’s festivities better than ever by presenting guest of honor Bobby Valentine with a commissioned portrait of the Ita...

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The lights had switched off at Jalisco Stadium when Roberto Angotti ’84 finished writing an article about Team Italy’s comeback to beat Mexico in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. “It was 4 a.m.,” said Angotti, the English language reporter for Federazione Italiana Baseball e Softball. “The team shuttle had left and I was stranded on the outskirts o...

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November 30, Thursday, 5:30 .pm. Stony Brook University, New York 11790. Center for Italian Studies/ Book Presentation: “Dinner with Di Maggio” with co-author Dr. John Positano. Books will be available for purchase and autographing by Dr. John Positano. Location: Center for Italian Studies in Stony Brook University's Frank Melville Memorial Library...

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