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The Marlins have added switch-pitcher Pat Venditte on a minor-league deal, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. He had been with the organization during Spring Training. Venditte, 35, has long been one of the game’s quirkiest players due to his ability to work off the mound with either arm, depending upon the handedness of the hitter. It’s m...

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When asked again about who is going to start for the White Sox in Friday night’s season opener, manager Rick Renteria answered without actually giving an answer. “I don’t know,” he said on a Zoom call with reporters before the Sox played an exhibition game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. “I’ll let you guys kind of figure it out.” With that, Rent...

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Team Italy and Colorado Rockies catcher Drew Butera homered off left-handed pitcher Jake McGee in the first intrasquad game at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado on July 11, 2020. In his first at-bat in the game while hitting eighth in the lineup for Team Purple against the Pinstripes, 36-year-old Drew Butera drilled the third pitch offered by relieve...

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For millions of Americans, hope springs eternal every April when baseball returns!  In this craziest of years, fans of the national pastime are gearing up for the first-ever July opening in baseball history. We’re so excited to have baseball back that in this week’s episode our entire team is taking YOU “out to the ballgame” with our special guest,...

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The latest biography of Yogi Berra, “Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask,” could be titled “Beyond the Witty Quips and Rings.” Author Jon Pessah discloses many obstacles the entertaining New York Yankees Hall of Fame catcher overcame from his childhood in “The Hill” neighborhood of St. Louis to skeptical perceptions about his talent to eventually settling...

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I am honored to have been recently elected president of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame. It is a 45-year-old organization of which I have been greatly involved. The founder and former president, George Randazzo, died unexpectedly. I was chosen to lead the group, charged with fostering his legacy and his dream. Now, one of my dream...

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After the successful launch of the Italian American Baseball Foundation (IABF) Facebook Livestream with 2019 IABF Achievement Award winner Frank Catalanotto, IABF Spaghetti and Baseballs co-hosts Chris Colabello and IABF Executive Board Director Natalie Spedaliere did not disappoint last week with Chicago Cubs coaches Mike Napoli and Anthony Iapoce...

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Phil Villapiano wasn’t entirely sure about his transition to the NFL despite a stellar career as a defensive end at Bowling Green. Then came the 1971 Senior Bowl and a performance that got him inducted into the legendary game’s Hall of Fame. “I get invited to come to Mobile, Alabama,” he said during his induction. “I didn’t even know where Mobile,...

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Italian baseball jerseys lined the Council Chamber of the Municipality of Nettuno in celebration of the newly-launched virtual Baseball Museum, a website created by the 'Il Bar del Baseball' Association on June 9, 2020. Building upon the initial groundwork of Enciclopedia del Baseballby Giorgio Gandolfi and Enzo Di Gesù 35 years ago, the online Bas...

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After a successful launch last week with special guest Frank Catalanotto, the Italian American Baseball Foundation (IABF) Spaghetti & Baseballs Facebook Livestream hosts Chris Colabelloand Natalie Spedaliere welcome Chicago Cubs coaches Mike Napoli and Anthony Iapoce on Thursday, June 4, 2020 at 2 pm (EDT).  Mike Napoli has been a friend of the IAB...

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