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What do Yogi Berra, Joe Garagiola, Frank Crespi and Jim Pisoni have in common? The four baseball legends have been immortalized on a mural in Cuggiono, Italy! All four were born during the period 1918 to 1929 on “The Hill”, the Italian American neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, to parents who had emigrated from western Lombardy. During the late...

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The world seems more upside-down than usual. War in the Middle East and Ukraine engulfs our senses. In the United States, both political parties always appear on edge while the country struggles to find its international role, and our foes keep a watchful eye. These troubling times require an immediate escape and a semblance of order. In my pursuit...

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It has come to my attention that this is Italian Heritage Month. OK, it came to my attention via an email from my boss. So, you know what that means? Yep, time for another list. I pondered what list − great Italian-American inventors (DaVinci, Marconi, Mr. Noodle), great Italian-American singers (Bennett, Sinatra, Johnny Fontane), great Italian-Ame...

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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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The affectionate documentary "It Ain't Over" has a split personality. Longtime baseball fans can revel in black-and-white archival footage showing Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra in his prime at bat and behind the plate in that era's baggy flannel uniforms. The universe of non-fans can savor Berra as a pop-culture legend, thanks mainly to his trove...

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When Lindsay Berra was in college in the late ’90s, she would call her grandparents nearly every night at 11:28 p.m. Her friends at North Carolina found it a bit odd. Berra would explain that her grandparents’ social schedule could rival any student, but Grandpa Yogi and Grandma Carmen made it a point to be home at 11 every evening so they could wa...

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On a certain street in Montclair, New Jersey, once you arrived at the fork in the road… Just take it, as Yogi Berra might have said. At some point, Edgewood Road splits, and both sides lead to Highland Avenue. That’s where Yogi and Carmen made the home Lindsay Berra recalls from her earliest memories, with summer backyard Wiffle Ball games and gran...

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As you may know, Italy has played the World Baseball Classic with a national team composed mainly of Italian American players. If the WBC had existed say roughly 75 years, we would have been a kind of DREAM TEAM. I looked a little bit at all those faces of Italians who are no longer there. I saw the Italy of 1948 and told about it on Che Palle! blo...

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Sony Pictures Classics has landed worldwide rights to “It Ain’t Over,” a documentary about baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra. Sean Mullin directed the doc, which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The specialty studio has yet to detail any release plans for the movie. Described as “an intimate portrait of a misunderstood American icon,...

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Yankees fans who want to enjoy a Double-A game Friday night on Aug. 5 need to head to TD Bank Ballpark. The Somerset Patriots are holding Yogi Berra Day. The first thousand fans receive a Yogi Berra Bobblehead. Gates at 6:00. Around 6:40, a pre-game ceremony will have Berra family members including his sons Dale and Larry and his granddaughter Lind...

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