| Beyond Dimaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball Contributor(s): Baldassaro, Lawrence (Author), Dimaggio, Dom (Foreword by) |
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ISBN: 080324620X ISBN-13: 9780803246201 Publisher: University of Nebraska Press OUR PRICE: $26.96 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2013 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Sports & Recreation | Baseball - History - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - General - Biography & Autobiography |
| Dewey: B |
| Physical Information: 1.26" H x 6.12" W x 8.97" (1.68 lbs) 520 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - Italian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Berra, Rizzuto, Lasorda, Torre, Conigliaro, Santo, Piazza. Casual baseball fans-in fact, even many nonfans-know these names, not as Italian Americans but as some of the most colorful figures in Major League Baseball. Ever since future Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri became a key part of the Yankees' Murderers' Row lineup of 1926, Italian Americans have been among the most prominent and intriguing players in the game. The first comprehensive study of the topic, Beyond DiMaggio is also a social history of baseball, tracing the evolution of American perceptions toward those of Italian descent as it chronicles the baseball exploits that influenced those perceptions. Lawrence Baldassaro tells the stories of Italian Americans' contributions to the game, from Joe DiMaggio, who transcended his ethnic identity to become an American icon, to A. Bartlett Giamatti, who served as commissioner of baseball, to Mike Piazza, considered the greatest hitting catcher ever. Baldassaro conducted more than fifty interviews with players, coaches, managers, and executives-some with careers dating back to the thirties-in order to put all these figures and their stories into the historical context of baseball, Italian Americans, and, finally, the culture of American sports. Lawrence Baldassaro is a professor emeritus of Italian at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the editor of Ted Williams: Reflections on a Splendid Life and The American Game: Baseball and Ethnicity. Dom DiMaggio, youngest brother of Joe and Vince DiMaggio, made his Major League debut on April 16, 1940, for the Boston Red Sox. He died in 2009 at the age of ninety-two. |