Interviews with Italian American major leaguers added to SABR Oral History Collection
NOVEMBER 20
, 2023 — SABR is pleased to add more than 40 interviews with baseball figures of Italian descent to the Oral History Collection.
The interviews were conducted by SABR member Lawrence Baldassaro, author of Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball and Baseball Italian Style: Great Stories Told by Italian American Major Leaguers from Crosetti to Piazza. His most recent book, Tony Lazzeri: Yankees Legend and Baseball Pioneer, was honored with a 2022 SABR Baseball Research Award.
Baldassaro’s interviews were recorded between 1993 and 2017, and they include eight Hall of Famers: Yogi Berra, Craig Biggio, Tony La Russa, Tommy Lasorda, Mike Piazza, Phil Rizzuto, Ron Santo, and Joe Torre. The rest of the lineup includes MVP award winners (Ken Caminiti) and All-Stars (Anthony Rizzo, Joey Votto, Barry Zito), as well as coaches, managers, umpires, and front-office executives.
The grandson of Italian immigrants, Baldassaro is a professor emeritus of Italian and former director of the Honors College at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The SABR Oral History Collection now includes nearly 800 interviews conducted with ballplayers (Major Leagues, Minor Leagues, Negro Leagues, AAGBBL), executives, scouts, authors, writers, broadcasters, and other figures of historical baseball significance. Learn more at SABR.org/oralhistory.
Originally published: November 20, 2023. Last Updated: November 20, 2023.