Baseball in Bologna

It's a little known fact is that this song is actually about Bologna's infield defense (I've also been on a Rolling Stones binge the last week or so).

I have two religions: actual religion (which I touch on here) and baseball. I follow one. I'm a slave to the other.

Like many of life's best experiences, this one started by following through with a crazy idea. I knew, thanks to the World Baseball Classic, that Italy has somewhat of a baseball program going, so I looked into it when I got to Rome for study abroad. Unfortunately, all the teams were based in Northern and Central Italy, with the closest to me being about 200 miles away. Fortunately, I'm really committed, so I booked a train trip to Bologna to see a game between Bologna and San Marino. (I also added a leg in Florence to make myself feel like this was more than a single purpose trip).

The stadium, named Gianni Falchi after an Italian baseball writer, was located about 3 miles from the center of town; a 30 minute bus ride away. I had to double check the sign to make sure I was in the right place when I got there. The station looked like just another stop along a residential street. There didn't seem to be anything that resembled a stadium nearby. There was a park down the street Google Maps led me towards, but that was it. No huge parking lot or bustling metro station. I probably would've walked right by it had I not known it was there.

As I approached the park, I saw a small, unassuming concrete building with the words, "Stadio Baseball" on it, so I knew I was in the right place. This was the ticketing office. There was no assigned seating, so you bought a ticket for a section instead. I bought a ticket for lower level, though I planned to move around a bit to get different angles of the stadium. I apologize in advance for the subpar picture quality later in the post. The only camera I had was my phone.

The outside of the stadium

I arrived about 7:30, half an hour before game time, since I wanted to make sure to got a seat. When I got there, I was one of about 30 people max, most of whom were huddled around the grandstand eating food. I was a bit worried. What if the entire crowd was here and I came all this way for a really boring experience?

Gianni Falchi is the smallest baseball stadium I've ever seen above the high school level. Two levels of seats wrapped around home plate between the two dugouts, and then there was a single set of bleachers on the side of either dugout down the line. The inner seats and those beyond the dugouts were your typical metal bleachers. They're not very comfortable, but bleachers like that are pretty common at non-professional games. The upper level of seats was made out of big concrete steps except for a single section behind home plate on the upper level with traditional stadium seats, but I don't know what you'd have to do to sit there. I spent a majority of the game in the upper concrete seats because I thought they were more comfortable, warmer, and had a better view.

There was only one place to get food. It was removed from the seating area and was part of an eating terrace down the third base line. There were several tables and a patio with picnic tables that overlooked left field. The grandstand had the traditional fare: hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, candy, and beer, plus a couple local specialties like paninos with porchetta. I couldn't bring myself to order a hot dog in Italy even though it's tradition, so I got a panino with porchetta.

My Panino <3

When you order, you go off to the side and the worker puts the semi-cooked meat on the grill with vegetables of your choice. I love my Dodger Dogs, but if given the choice between a Dodger Dog and a porchetta panino, I'd pick the panino almost every time. It wasn't even the best sandwich I had in Italy (go to a place called Sandwichic in Florence), but it was so much fresher and tastier than anything you can get at a baseball stadium of any level in the US. Satisfied, I wandered back to the bleachers to watch the beginning of the game.

Though it wasn't the first game of the season, both teams were introduced as if it were opening day, with the players and coaches lining up along the baselines when their names were read. The Italian national anthem was played and the players took off their caps and faced the flag and then dispersed into their dugouts.

Like in soccer, there was advertisements all over both teams' uniforms. Even their naming rights could be bought out, as neither team had a name like "Eagles" or "Pirates." Bologna went either by UnipolSai or Fortitudo B.C. (I'm still not sure which is the official name) and San Marino went by T&A. Bologna wore yellow uniforms and San Marino wore blue.

Play Ball!

-Top of the 1st: Bologna's starter was a lefty with a big black, Matt Shoemaker-esque beard named Mattew Zielinski. In his delivery, he would turn a bit and then throw it short arm style roughly over the shoulder. I remembered how much I missed the cracking sound of a wood bat hitting a ball. It was the first time I'd heard it live since September.

-Bottom of the 1st: San Marino's starter was an average-looking righty named Carlos Quevado. I was eating when they announced the lineups, so I didn't hear them. Bologna's #3 hitter was announced and I swore I heard "Ronny Cedeño." No, that couldn't be right. The former utility infielder for the Cubs and Pirates? Nah, it couldn't be. I went to get a program between inning, and OH MY GOD, IT IS HIM. They even take out a whole page to do a feature on him, because apparently his coming to play in Italy is a big deal. This was his third game with the team, apparently, and he was so far 1 for 8. He was DH-ing. Of all the things I expected to find at the game, a former major leaguer was not one of them. This was probably the most excited anyone has ever been after learning Ronny Cedeño is in the lineup. After looking at the rosters, I also found out that former Indians and Padres pitcher Justin Germano plays for San Marino, though I didn't see him pitch.

Ronny Cedeño

-Bottom of the 2nd: With runners at the corners and one out, a grounder was hit to the right side and San Marino tried to turn two. The lead runner beat the throw to second, but they got the out at first. I don't think I've ever seen that happen before. He was scored on a base hit through the hole on the left side. Infielder Francesco Fuzzi then lined it just fair down the right field line and scored another. 3-0. At this point, Quevado was clearly rattled. He walked the next two batters and loaded the bases for Ronny Cedeño, but he hit into a force out at second to end the inning.

By the time the game got going, the crowd had filled in. It wasn't packed by any means, but I'm guessing there were probably about 150-200 people in attendance. I was surprised at how invested the crowd was too. The team's fanbase is obviously small, but it seems very loyal. Most of the crowd seemed to know what was going on and was paying attention to the game, and they cheered accordingly when something happened in the game. This is more than can be said about a lot of US crowds, who start drunken chants of "Let's Go Dodgers" in the second inning when the other team is batting. It felt like most of the people there were there because they loved the game and not just because a friend or coworker invited them or because they were looking for something to do on a Friday night.
        A majority of them were older and middle aged men. Other than me, children in families, and two groups of teenagers, there really wasn't anybody who looked younger than 35 in the crowd. It makes sense because the older generation was probably around when the American GI's brought the game to the country after World War 2. Therefore, the younger Bolognans didn't grow up with it. It made me worried that baseball in Italy might die with the older generation.

Home run shot!

-Top of the 4th: San Marino's Mario Chiarini clearly didn't like the umpire's strike zone and complained after a pitch pretty high in the zone was called a strike. He turned to the ump and motioned with his hands like,"what the hell?" and said a few things, but didn't get tossed. After grumbling, he got back into the batter's box and rocketed a line drive home run to straight away left on the next pitch. 3-1. This threw Zielinski out of his groove. The next batter hit a long fly ball that was caught at the warning track. The batter after that ripped a double in the gap in left center. He reached third after the third baseman misplayed a grounder and had a tough hop eat him up. With runners at the corners, Luca Pulzetti struck out after a great at bat, but the ball got away from the catcher, everybody was safe, and a run scored. 3-2.

-Bottom of the 5th: Catcher Marval Osman launched a home run to right center. 4-2 Bologna. It had gotten dark, there was a slight breeze, and the temperature was dropping rapidly, so I decided to warm myself up by getting a coffee and walking around a bit.

Mattew Zielinski

-Top of the 6th: After 5 innings, Zielinski was taken out of the game and replaced by righty Brent Buffa. After a one out double, the runner moved to third on a grounder, but rounded third and was caught. As the shortstop threw the ball to the third baseman, the runner decided to break for home. The third baseman's throw hit the runner. The defense couldn't recover in time and he came home safely. 4-3 Bologna.

Carlos Quevado

Defense seemed to be the biggest competitive difference between the minors and the Italian League. The players all ran, hit, and pitched like I'd expect from college or low level minor league players, but the defense was poor. The fielders didn't play their positions very well, there were a lot of misplayed balls, and were poorly positioned if there was a defensive play being set up. At times, if you told me I was watching a minor league game, I would've totally believed you. Other times, especially when watching the defense, it was clear why these guys aren't playing in the US.

-Bottom of the 6th: Bologna hit back to back doubles to add an insurance run and knock Quevado out of the game. 5-3. It was really interesting to see home fans cheer Quevado as he walked off, even though he played for the opposing team. The crowd seemed a lot friendlier than those in the US that either ignore or boo the opposing pitcher.

-7th Inning Stretch: This was honestly kind of a letdown. I and about 10 other people stood up and they played a country version of "take me out to the ballgame" over the PA, but nobody sang. I guess that's to be expected because the song isn't in Italian, but I was still disappointed.

Proof that I'm not kidding

-Bottom of the 8th: I actually missed this half inning. I needed my phone because I had no idea when to get off the bus and how to get to my hostel from there without it, and the battery had dipped to below 10%. I didn't want to leave early, so I went on a desperate search for an outlet. It's a baseball stadium, so it's not crawling with outlets to begin with, but the minimalism of Gianni Falchi made it worse. The only outlet I could find was on the face of a control panel in the bathroom. Have you ever been so desperate that you're willing to stand in a public bathroom with your phone plugged in 5 feet up on a wall on a control panel you're pretty sure you shouldn't be using? I have. While I was here, Bologna scored one more. I heard a lot of cheering, but I couldn't tell what happened. 6-3.

-Top of the 9th: With my phone now at acceptable battery levels, I decided to watch the final inning, assuming the game would be over soon with Bologna's comfortable 3-run lead. Little did I know I was about to witness the most epic defensive meltdown I've ever seen. Bologna brought in a big, hard-throwing righty named Scott Patterson, who, according to Baseball Reference, appeared in 4 major league games with the Yankees and Padres in 2008. The inning began with a single that fell just in front of the Bologna center fielder. The next batter hit a pop fly to short left center. The shortstop moved under the ball as it came down, but he dropped it, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. A wild pitch moved them to second and third and one was scored a sharp single to left. 6-4. The next batter looped a fly ball the opposite way down the left field line that landed for a double and scored another. 6-5. With first base open, the next batter was intentionally walked and Patterson was taken out. Despite the rough outing, the crowd cheered for him as he walked off the field.

Not directly relevant, but this was taken in the 9th

          Bologna's new pitcher Filippo Crepaldi (there's an Italian name for you) battled back from 3-1 and struck out the first batter he faced. The next batter hit a fly ball to left and the runner at third tagged up and scored the tying run, just narrowly missing a tag from the catcher. 6-6. With first and second and two outs, Crepaldi threw back to second and got the lead runner caught in a rundown. The infielders went through the motions, but nobody was covering the bag at second and the runner was able to get back safely, as the defense threw away a gift out. The stadium was upset. The next batter hit a routine ground ball up the middle. It was snagged by the second baseman and flipped to the shortstop, but the flip pulled him off the bag.
           The crowd was livid. There was a lot of shouting and it was probably the loudest I heard the stadium. Interestingly, this was the only negativity I saw from the crowd the whole game, but it was totally justified considering the inexcusable level of defensive play.
           Crepaldi finally got a second out, but the bases were still loaded. Next, a grounder was hit to short, but the shortstop took too much time, everyone was safe, and the go-ahead run scored from third. 7-6 San Marino. They finally got out of the inning after that. The inning and the game could have ended many times, but the infield defense kept giving it away. The RBI single was the hardest hit ball of the inning. Everything else was either misplayed or a stroke of bad luck.

Ronny Cedeño digging in.

-Bottom of the 9th: The inning started with Ronny Cedeño, who was hit on the shoulder after falling behind in the count. He didn't look very good at the plate the whole game. He ended up 0-4 with 2 strikeouts and a hit by pitch. He swung at everything and wasn't working the count at all. The two pitch he was able to put in play were weak ground balls.
          The next batter reached on a 4 pitch walk and the runners were moved up on a sac bunt. An intentional walk then loaded the bases to create a force out. The next batter hit a ground ball to first, which was taken to the bag for the out, but they couldn't turn two at second, so the tying run scored. 7-7. With 2 outs and the winning run 90 feet away, San Marino once again decided to intentionally walk the batter with first base open. I didn't understand why the teams kept doing this. Not that this isn't a legitimate strategy--it is--but not one that seems like it should be used almost automatically like it seems to be in Italy. Anyway, it didn't matter because Francesco Fuzzi came up to bat and struck out on 3 pitches to send the game to extra innings.

By this time, I was freezing cold (it wasn't that freezing, but I'm from LA. Give me a break), it was almost midnight, I didn't want to have another phone charging session in the bathroom, and I had a 9 AM train to Florence to catch the next morning, so I decided to leave. According to the team's Facebook page, the final score was 12-9 San Marino in 10 innings. I missed a lot unfortunately, but it was the right decision.

The score when I left. It goes runs/errors/hits instead of the traditional runs/hits/errors.
Yes, Bologna had 6 errors. They had restarted the line score because it was the 10th.

I was a little skeptical at first, but going to an Italian League Baseball game was an awesome experience. Despite the small scale and lack of national interest in the sport, the crowd had a lot of energy. It also was just a fun, exciting game, and at the end of the day, it's baseball, and in my book, it's really hard to go wrong with baseball, especially when it's part of such a unique experience. Let's just hope Bologna plays better defense next time.