Some American Azzurri

After all the stories in American papers profiling U.S. minor leaguers playing for Greece, these two stories about American-based pitchers for Italy makes a change.

The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel writes up local boy Mike Marchesano, a 28-year-old who will be pitching for Italy in Athens.

Another story about an Italian pitcher appears in the Providence Journal of Rhode Island, this one focusing on 27-year-old former Johnson High School hurler Fabio Milano, who is now the closer for Italian league power Fortitudo Bologna. The interview provides American readers some rare information about the state of baseball in Italy:

About the level of play in the Italian league, Milano says, "I never played pro ball in the States, so I can't compare, but we have a lot of players who played AA, AAA, even a few ex-major leaguers, and they compare the game here to a good AA level. Our team, for example, has some top players who could play AA in the States if they had the opportunity.

"Baseball is not a big sport in Italy, although in Bologna, my city, more kids are starting to come out to play the game."

A game between two professional clubs in Italy may attract about 2,000 spectators.

Last year, Fortitudo won the league championship for the first time in 20 years. The playoffs attracted about 4,000 fans. When the national team plays, up to 9,000 will attend a game, and a European championship game will draw as many as 30,000.

During the season, each professional team is allowed three foreigners, generally a pitcher and two position players. Teams play every Friday night with a foreign pitcher. Every Saturday, a doubleheader is scheduled with local pitchers. Milano has dual citizenship, so he counts as an Italian on the roster, but as a foreigner on the payroll.

"Foreigners are the highest-paid," he says. "It starts at around $800 a month, but some of the foreigners, some of the ex-major leaguers, will make $4,000 to $5,000 a month."

Milano, one of nine pitchers on the Italian staff in Athens, will be a middle reliever for the Azzurri