{"id":239787,"date":"2018-01-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/italian-american-baseball-ambassadors\/"},"modified":"2018-01-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T08:00:00","slug":"italian-american-baseball-ambassadors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/italian-american-baseball-ambassadors\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian-American baseball ambassadors"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Tom Cesarini<\/p>\n

\u201cItalians were once second-class citizens in the United States and invisible in baseball before players like Tony Lazzeri and Joe DiMaggio rose to prominence. Not having an appreciation of your heritage is like an olive tree without roots. Baseball is a part of mine.\u201d\u00a0\u2014<\/em>Roberto Angotti<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In his new, award-winning documentary, \u201cThe Italian American Baseball Family,\u201d filmmaker and baseball historian Roberto Angotti addresses the great American pastime by highlighting the Italian-American influence on the game.<\/p>\n

\"Italian-American
(l to r) Peter McEvilley (director of photography); Professor Lawrence Baldassaro (author of \u201cBeyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball\u201d); Basil Russo (president, Italian Sons and Daughters of America); and Roberto Angotti (Russo Brothers Italian American Film Forum Award winner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201c\u2018The Italian American Baseball Family\u2019 brings home the message that baseball allowed Italian-Americans to assimilate into popular culture,\u201d Angotti said, elaborating on the film. \u201cThe documentary honors the Italian-American baseball ambassadors that have etched their names into U.S. sports history, paying tribute to their invaluable contributions and their unique imprint on the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later this month, Convivio will be screening the film as part of a series of baseball and heritage programming leading up to Italian American Heritage Night on May 31, presented by the San Diego Padres, Petco Park, and Convivio.<\/p>\n

\"Italian-American
Christopher Paluso\u2019s works adorn the walls of the San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum\u2019s Brietbard Hall of Fame, now housed in the Western Metal Building at Petco Park; the San Diego Air and Space Museum Hall of Fame; and the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The May 31 event will highlight the Italian-American impact on baseball, by honoring its pioneer players as well as celebrating Italian-American heritage as an important part of our cultural landscape. Angotti, along with renowned illustrator and local Italian-American Christopher Paluso, will form part of the Convivio event committee, contributing their unique skills, knowledge, and passion to plan the series of programming, culminating in Heritage Night.<\/p>\n

Angotti recently won top honors for his film at the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) 42nd anniversary gala in Washington, D.C., receiving the inaugural Russo Brothers Italian American Film Forum Award.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Angotti curated an exhibit on Italian-American baseball players, \u201cArtists\u2019 Tribute to Italian Americans in Baseball,\u201d held at the Convivio Center in San Diego\u2019s Little Italy. Many Italian-American players were featured through illustrations, uniforms and other memorabilia, and Paluso had many pieces on display.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a privilege to be a part of this exhibit, highlighting the talent of these athletes that bring pride to our heritage,\u201d Paluso said.<\/p>\n

Among the many sports figures Paluso has illustrated over the years, Joe DiMaggio was a project that Paluso said was rather special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to him about the composition of the painting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Paluso also presented Tommy Lasorda with a painting in the dugout for the 1978 All-Star Game. Lasorda expressed to Paluso how happy he was to receive it from a fellow Italian-American.<\/p>\n

We will have more information on all our special programming leading up to Italian American Heritage Night online at conviviosociety.org.<\/a><\/p>\n

Stay connected with Little Italy\u2019s Convivo Society through Facebook<\/a> y Gorjeo<\/a> @convivisociedad.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tom Cesarini es el director ejecutivo de Convivio. llegar a \u00e9l en <\/em>tom@conviviosociety.org<\/a><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Tom Cesarini \u201cItalians were once second-class citizens in the United States and invisible in baseball before players like Tony Lazzeri and Joe DiMaggio rose to prominence. Not having an appreciation of your heritage is like an olive tree without roots. Baseball is a part of mine.\u201d\u00a0\u2014Roberto Angotti<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":239788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Italian-American baseball ambassadors","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}