Anyone that knows Milwaukee's Larry Baldassaro knows his book on Italian-American baseball players has long been in the works. Baldassaro, who has taught Italian and Dante at UWM and has written about Ted Williams, is not one to rush a good thing.
Every time I bump into Larry and we talk about the vicissitudes of his book.
Now, for those of us eager to see the results, the wait is over. "Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball" has now been published in hardcover by the University of Nebraska Press ($34.95) and it was definitely worth the wait.
Across more than 500 pages, Baldassaro chronicles Italian American contributions to America's game from Ed Abbaticchio to Mike Piazza. The book is not an encyclopedia of all Italian American players, but all the most influential guys are here, from Yogi to Lasorda to La Russa and Giamatti and beyond.
Baldassaro explores how the arc of Italian-Americans in baseball mirrored the acceptance and assimilation of Italian-Americans into wider American society and how folks like DiMaggio transcended ethnicity to become American icons.
Dom DiMaggio wrote the book's foreword.
You can get a copy of the book and have Larry sign it when he appears at Boswell Book Co., 2559 N. Downer Ave., on March 31. Admission is free, but your purchase helps keep great events like these coming to Milwaukee's independent bookshops.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
