Welcome to Baseball Amore! Celebrating Italian American MLB players & cards

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Click “Search Players” or “Browse Players” below to tour all players on this site. Click Jac’s card to visit his page

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In the News: Read the Houston Chron article featuring Baseball Amore: “Website tracking Italian Americans in baseball adds Astros rookies“!

My research has uncovered 863 total Italian American MLB players/umpires/managers, each of whom have their own page on this site. Of these, I have acquired 769 individual player’s cards.

Every card on this site is a card I own!

“Kudos to Ralph Russo for creating Baseball Amore, an impressive and extensive compilation of information about Italian American Major Leaguers.”
     Lawrence Baldassaro, author of ‘Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball‘, and ‘Tony Lazzeri: Yankees Legend and Baseball Pioneer‘

Visit a Random Player:

Jack Banta*: Beat the Phillies to send Brooklyn to the 1949 World Series

All-Time Italian American MLB Team:

View our All-Time Italian American MLB Team

New Theme Tour: Visit the Great Italian American MLB Player Nickname Tour

Recent site player additions: Joe Castiglione, Andre Pallante, John Brebbia, Jackson Holliday, Spencer Arrighetti, Nick Nastrini, Ricky Vanasco, Joey Loperfido, Kyle Manzardo, Brady Basso, Kyle Nicolas, David Festa, Hunter Feduccia, Gordon Graceffo, Zach Dezenzo, Samuel Aldegheri, Thomas Saggese and umpire Phil Cuzzi

We are proud to partner with the Italian American Baseball Foundation (IABF). The IABF is dedicated to to the future of baseball & softball for Italian & Italian-American youths on the high school, college and professional levels. While we move forward, IABF – and this site – help us remember those who paved the way.

Visit their homepage and learn more about the scholarships, events, awards, games and other ways in which the IABF enriches and honors IA baseball professionals and youth.

Visit player pages who have been honored by IABF here

Site Contributor Shout Outs:

Site Contributor Shout Outs:

Thank you to site fan Sam Law, who has provided regular check-ins on emerging players, including pointing out that John Brebbia, Andre Pallante and David Festa were missing from the site... they have been added!

Thanks to Gino Bianchi who, as a Nichols family friend, informed us that Kyle Nichols' mother is of Italian descent. He has been added.

Thanks to Michael Marsh, SABR.org researcher, who sent along the list of Italian American MLB Managers who have won an MLB league pennant... I've added that information to the site and also included the photo he sent from his card collection of these 14 pennant-winning managers.

Thank you to Daniel Serafini, who donated 9 new player cards to the site, including Joe DiMaggio, Rocky Colavito, Craig Biggio, Joe Pepitone and two Tommy Lasorda cards. Your contribution has made the site better!

As always ... thanks to Italian American baseball researcher Gene Leggitt for his continuing support of this site!!

Thank you Nina LiPetri, who remembered her "wonderful Uncle" Angelo LiPetri

Thanks to JC, who alerted us the heritage of Mark Teixeira, Matt Holliday, Mike Yastrzemski, Josh Towers and more, and the site EthniCelebs.com

Thanks to Merv Williams who remembered watching Joe Brovia play for LA in the PCL

Thank you to John Manis for his memory of getting to go to a Tarpons game in '77 as a reward at school and watching Frank Pastore interact with fans

Thanks to Michael Abatemarco who corrected the high school attended by Sal Campisi, which we were able to confirm on Baseball Reference...

Welcome to the site Linda DiLodovico, who is the niece of Wedo Martini - she is excited to share the site page with Wedo's children!

Thanks to Bernard who reached out to BA to inform us that Bob Giallombardo, who was his next door neighbor, passed away on Wednesday October 10/19/22 saying “Very nice guy. So sorry for his passing.” Thank you for letting us know Bernard.

Great comment by Jeff Torricelli about his family relationship to the great Phil Cavarretta

Thank you to Damon for pointing out Sam Haggerty's Italian heritage; he was prompted to contact us after hearing Sam's walk-up song ("The Godfather Waltz").

Great to hear from visitor Paul Tennihan who remembers going to Essex Catholic High School with Bob Molinaro - thanks for sharing!

Mille Grazie to Herb Tamres who posted about his time at Lafayette High School together with Bob Aspromonte, Sandy Koufax and Al "The Bull" Ferrara.

Thank you to Michelle Ceccarelli for her memories of her father-in-law's brother, Art Ceccarelli.

Big thanks for the info on Justin Verlander's Italian Heritage from Twitter user @Shawn_Spradling - it seems that Justin's maternal grandmother is Italian-American, with both her parents from Italy.

Thanks to site visitor C. D'Angelo for alerting us to Gerrit Cole's Italian heritage!

See additional contributors on our "Shout Out" page

All-time Italian American MLB Player Positions:

Take a “Theme Tour”

Theme Tours are Direct links between thematically-related players/cards:

Current MLB Italian American Players

Visit Italian American National Baseball Hall of Fame Players

View all Topps Cards Designs (1951 to Present) thru IA Players

Tour all Italian American MLB All-Star Players

MVP/Cy Youngs: Players who have won either a Cy Young or MVP Award

The Great Italian American Player Nickname Tour

Visit all the MLB players that were Born in Italy

See players Born in New York City (and LI)

Browse Italian American MLB Players Born in San Francisco/Oakland/Sacramento CA

Players who were Born in NJ

Players born in Chicago

View all the Italian American Players in the Jazz song: "Van Lingle Mungo"

Military Service during Wartime: IA Players who served during a War for the US

Italian American Sports Hall of Fame members

Italian American MLB Managers

Italian American MLB Umpires

Brooklyn/LA Dodgers

New York Yankee players

New York/San Francisco Giants players

St. Louis Cardinals players

Chicago Cubs players

Boston Red Sox players

Chicago White Sox Players

Cleveland Indians/Guardians Players

Cincinnati Reds Players

Philadelphia Phillies Players

Detroit Tigers Players

Atlanta/Milwaukee/Boston Braves Players

Pittsburgh Pirates Players

Phila/KC/Oakland Athletics Players

MLB Players interviewed by historian Lawrence Baldassaro on his podcast "Baseball Italian Style" You can visit the Baseball Italian Style website here

Women in Pro Baseball/AAGPBL

Pacific Coast League (PCL) Hall of Famers

Italian American Baseball Foundation (IABF) Award Honorees

Italian Heritage Unsure: Players on this site that may/may not have Italian Heritage

Take the Baseball Amore MLB player Nickname Quiz

Request Player Additions:

If you notice any players that are missing from this site, please drop me a note through my suggest a player form and I will update.

Report Site Corrections

If there’s a player listed here that you don’t think has Italian American heritage, or you spot an error of any type, please let me know through my contact form.

Download Excel Sheets for All Italian American Players, and Tour Lists

Further Reading

If this topic interests you, you might want to check out these books:

Check out “Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball” by Lawrence Baldassaro, Dom DiMaggio (forward). I read it, and it was very interesting, from both the sport and cultural points of view.

Another great read is Larry Baldassaro’s latest book: “Tony Lazzeri: Yankees Legend and Baseball Pioneer”

Another great book is “Reaching for the Stars: A Celebration of Italian Americans in Baseball” by Larry Freundlich (Editor)

…and another… “Baseball Italian Style” by Lawrence Baldassaro

Love New York, baseball and fiction? Check out award-winning Bronx-born author Mike Delucia‘s work on Amazon:

Being Brothers tells the story (screenplay style) of young Jackie Amato, a kid from the Bronx, growing up during the seventies
“What do a 4 foot 5 inch eccentric billionaire, a Japanese karate master, and a rogue Hall of Fame pitcher have in common? They create the greatest baseball player of all time… And her name is Ryan.”
Madness is the intriguing story of Hank Luisetti, the predawn of March Madness, and how modern basketball was born.

Other Great Sites

ESPN MLB News:

Visit some of our favorite non-Italian-American Players:

Navigate This Page: All Time Team | Theme Tours | Books | Links | MLB News

”Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball” (Jacques Barzun)

Visit the BaseballAmore imagined 1970’s Beatles Albums Page

39 thoughts on “Welcome to Baseball Amore! Celebrating Italian American MLB players & cards”

  1. Reply
    Stoney Gaddy says:

    Joe and Joe on the art of on-deck preparation and showmanship. A couple of my favorite baseball personalities growing up. Joe Garagiola was one of the most prolific voices of baseball in the 1970s and 1980s. Of course, Joe Torre was a great ball player and an even better manager.
    Here’s a great pre-game video clip from the 1975 All-Star game in Milwaukee.
    https://youtu.be/1ej809nJH5E

  3. Reply
    Sam Law says:

    He’s on his way!!!

    And he better be Italian, or else I don’t know who an Italian is.

    The Astros are promoting Spencer Arrighetti.

    He’s scheduled to make his Major League debut tomorrow in Kansas City.

  5. Reply
    Sam says:

    Room for one more today?

    The Dodgers are planning to recall right-hander Ricky Vanasco.

    And, according to the Italian American Baseball Federation he’s Italian, too!

  6. Reply
    Sam Law says:

    Joey Loperfido will reportedly be called up for Houston’s Tuesday game against Cleveland.

    I can’t remember an Italian player being as anticipated as he is, including Piazza.

  7. Reply
    Sam Law says:

    Kyle Manzardo will be recalled by Cleveland today.

    He should be Italian, as according to the Italian American Baseball Federation they have information on him.

    Manzardo is ranked the #52 prospect overall by MLB.COM.

  9. Reply
    Sam Law says:

    Just a quick question:

    Could Jack Alu be Italian-American?

    He played 51 games for Washington last year.

    He may never play MLB again, but Alu is a Sicilian name.

  10. Reply
    Sam Law says:

    The Oakland A’s have called up Brady Basso for the third time this year.

    He has yet to get into a game, but if he does it will be his MLB Debut.

  12. Reply
    Sam Law says:

    A right handed pitcher with the surname of Festa is on his way to the Show.

    But it isn’t Team Italy alum Matt Festa, who is currently shoving for the Mets AAA team.

    It’s David Festa, the Twins #5 prospect according to MLB.com, who is scheduled to make his big league debut Thursday against Arizona.

  13. Reply
    Sam Law says:

    Hello again!

    One day after Festa, another right-handed pitcher could make his Major League debut today.

    CBS Sports is reporting that the Cardinals are calling up Number 8 prospect Gordon Graceffo.

    He may not play immediately because he’s being added to their bullpen. But, he’s going to the Show.

  15. Reply
    Richard Robbins says:

    What would baseball in America be without the influence and contributions of the Italians?

    From Joe DiMaggio to Yogi Berra to Tommy Lasorda, the impact of these hundreds of players and coaches on the sport here where it originated is a representation of America’s status as a melting pot that gives and takes from lots of different cultures.

  18. Reply
    Sam Law says:

    I know he’s on the site, but I have to post about the beautiful start—and W—by Samuel Aldegheri against the defending champions.

    What a performance.

    And there is reason to believe other Italian players may join him at the highest level someday.

  19. Reply
    Sam Law says:

    I know he’s on the site, but I have to post about the beautiful start—and W—by Samuel Aldegheri against the defending champions.

    What a performance.

    And there is reason to believe other Italian players may join him at the highest level

      1. Reply
        Sam Law says:

        Hey Paesan!

        Bryce Teodosio is on his way to Anaheim.

        All season I have wondered if he has Italian heritage, and could be added to this page, but it didn’t matter because he remained in AAA.

        The surname Teodosio can be Italian. Hopefully he is.

    1. Reply
      BaseballAmoreRR says:

      I haven’t found anything to suggest that Bryce Teodosio has Italian heritage…
      I also can’t find anything on Ryan Gusto’s heritage, and the surname has a large footprint in the Philippines, double that of Italy. I will be keeping an eye out for more info on these two…
      In the meantime, I finally got a page up for Phil Cuzzi, longtime MLB umpire.

  21. Reply
    Sam Law says:

    You’re welcome.

    Now, it certainly isn’t ironclad, but if you do a search for “Bryce Teodosio” and “Italian” his name should come up on a page for the Italian American Baseball Foundation for Italian players who participated in the Arizona Fall League a few years back. But I’ll keep looking for he and Gusto.

    Thanks for the reply.

  22. Reply
    Sam Law says:

    Just a question: the Italian American Baseball Federation lists Alex Faedo (Rays) as a paesan but you do not.

    Did you find he is NOT Italian?

    Also, any chance Jonathan Pintaro (Mets) is Italian?
    I’m guessing that he is Spanish or Portuguese.

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