(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Nettuno BB Club, FIBS/Italian BB&SB Hall of Fame & Baseball.it)
IN MEMORIAM
...Alfredo Lauri...
(1935 - 2023)
(© Photo: Nettuno Baseball Club) |
 Italian pitching-legend, Hall of Famer and Nettuno-icon Alfredo Lauri passed away
Nederlands
 NETTUNO (Italy) -
Alfredo Lauri, who since the fifties played in three decades for Nettuno Indians and is one of the club-icons, passed away on Sunday, December 31, at age 88.
The lefthanded pitcher also played in the Italian National Team and was elected into the Italian Baseball and Softball Hall of Fame in 2012.
Alfredo Lauri was born on August 7, 1935 in Nettuno, where he would be active almost his entire life.
Lauri played baseball in 25 seasons, 24 of them with the popular local club in Nettuno, which is known as 'The City of Baseball'.
At age 18, in 1954, Lauri made his debut in the main-team of Nettuno for whom he would play almost his entire career through 1978.
The lone exception was 1957 when he played for Calze Verdi in Casalecchio di Reno (near Bologna), which back then also played in the Serie A.
Through the years, Nettuno had been one of the leading and most successful teams in the highest Italian league.
With Nettuno, Lauri captured the Championship-title eight times (1954, 1956, 1957, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1971, 1973), including three in a row (1963-1965).
He also won two European Cups with Nettuno in 1965 and 1972.
After having been a regular player through 1976, Lauri appeared in one more game each in the 1977 and 1978 seasons.
Besides being a pitcher, Lauri also played at first base and in the outfield.
In his long career, Lauri won 102 games and lost 32.
In 1,200 innings pitched, the lefthander struckout 759 batters.
Lauri led the league in Wins (13) in 1968 and in ERA (1.51) in 1969.
He earned his most Wins during the 1970 season (14).
From 1967 through 1973, Lauri underscored his dominance on the mound.
In this seven-year span, he won 81 games and lost only 23.
Amongst his teammates through the years are some familiar names and wellknown players.
Throughout his entire 24-season career at Nettuno, Giampiero Faraone was a teammate of Lauri each year.
Faraone, who comes from a baseball-family, later became the wellknown and successful Manager of Nettuno and the Italian National Team.
From 1972 through 1978, Faraone was Player/Manager of Nettuno and he would led the team through 2001.
Faraone was Manager of the Italian-squad in 1982, was coach in 1985-2000 and Manager again in 2002-2007.
Other longtime teammates were Alfredo's brother Enzo Lauri (also a pitcher), Aldo Cannucciari, Franco De Renzi, Lorenzo Masci, Giampaolo Mirra, Pietro Monaco and Carlo Tagliabocshi.
Other teammates for several seasons included Andrea Caiazzo, Fausto Camusi, Mariano Casali, Giorgio Costantini, Bruno Laurenzi, Giovanni Macrì and Antonio Marcucci.
In his first seasons with Nettuno, Giorgio Alberto De Carolis was a teammate of Lauri.
The playing career of De Carolis was brief, but he would become the longtime and leading administrator of the club since the sixties as General Manager or Technical Director.
Under his leadership, Nettuno won ten Championship-titles, as well as nine different European Cups (Champions, CupWinners, CEB or Super Cup).
Later, De Carolis would become a member of the Board of the Italian Baseball and Softball Federation (FIBS).
Legendary Giulio Glorioso is the most known and successsful Italian pitcher with an impressive career.
Glorioso is the All-Time leader with 195 wins and also is the All-Time Strikeout-leader with 2,525, a record that appears to be unbreakable.
Glorioso has 93 more wins than Lauri, but based on pitchers who have thrown 1,000 or more innings, it is Lauri who is the All-Time leader in Won-Loss Percentage with .761.
Glorioso is in fifth place with a .722 percentage.
Also, Lauri finished his career with an 1.70 ERA, which is the lowest All-Time amongst pitchers who threw 1,000 or more innings.
The second-best ERA belongs to Luigi Consonni with 1.71.
Consonni pitched for Milano in 1958-1971.
Glorioso's career-ERA is 1.82, which puts him in third place.
Giulio Glorioso played in the highest Italian league in 1956-1974, mostly for Lazio Roma.
But in 1963-1965, Glorioso and Lauri are teammates, when both play for Nettuno.
As dominating pitching-ace Glorioso played for Nettuno in 1963-1965, the team didn't need much other pitching.
Alfredo Lauri didn't pitch in these three seasons, instead he played at first base and in the outfield.
In the 1963 season, Glorioso even was the lone pitcher, as he threw all 18 games that were played then.
...The Championship-team of Nettuno in 1956...
...Alfredo Lauri is standing third from left...
...Standing at far right is Giampiero Faraone...
(© Photo: Nettuno Baseball Club) |
In 1978, Alfredo Lauri plays in his final game for Nettuno.
That also is the debut-season for infielder Ruggero Bagialemani, who would have a long and impressive career for both Nettuno and the Italian Team.
Bagialemani, who also would become Manager of Nettuno, would be the All-Time Basehit-leader for many years.
Since 1974, Lauri also played with another wellknown player, who would have a successful (international) career, being first baseman Guglielmo Trinci.
When Lauri plays in one more game during the 1978 season, Giampiero Faraone also plays in his last game of his career.
Enzo Lauri also would retire after the 1978 season.
Giampaolo Mirra had played in his final full season in 1977, but plays in a few games during 1978 and 1979.
Pietro Monaco, another veteran in the team, concluded his career in 1984.
As mentioned, Alfredo Lauri played in one game in both the 1977 and 1978 season.
In these two seasons, American David Daniels also played for Nettuno as a catcher/infielder.
Later, Daniels would play in the Dutch big league for Haarlem Nicols and Amsterdam Pirates.
He also coached for ten different Dutch clubs, eight of them in the highest Dutch league.
In the fifties,sixties and seventies, Alfredo Lauri played in the Italian National Team.
With the Squadra Azzurri, he participated in three European Championships (1956, 1964, 1965) and one World Championship (1970).
During the 1965 Championship, he played at first base.
In the 1956 European Championship in Italian capital Rome, Lauri is 1-0 and strikes out sixteen batters.
He throws a complete game and is the wining pitcher in a 7-3 win against what then was West-Germany.
Amongst the players in the German-squad are Claus Helmig, Jürgen Helmig, Roland Hoffmann and Hans-Norbert Jäger.
Hoffmann later became a Technical Commissioner for the European Baseball Confederation.
Amongst Lauri's teammates in the Italian Team were Luigi Cameroni, Giulio Glorioso, Giancarlo Mangini and Carlo Tagliaboschi.
Mangini later became a wellknown baseball-journalist, covering Italian baseball for newspapers and being a commentator during television-broadcasts.
Manager of Italy then was American Jimmy Strong, who later would move to the Netherlands, where he would become active as a coach for Amsterdam Pirates, Giants Diemen and Schoten.
Italy finishes in third place.
In September 1961, the National Team of Italy plays two friendly games against the Netherlands.
In the first game, in Turin, the Netherlands wins 8-1, the next day, in Parma, Italy takes revenge and wins 11-3 in what is the first-ever international European game played under artificial lights.
In the second game, Romano Lachi and Giulio Glorioso are pitching for Italy, Rob Hoffman, Nico Brands, Herman Beidschat and Bert Paalman do the pitching for the Netherlands, which takes a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning of off Lachi.
Italy scored once in the fifth inning, then rallied for six runs in the sixth to turn the game around.
In the sixth, with one out, Brands gives up two basehits and walk Lauri.
With the bases loaded, Beidschat takes over, but he is greeted with a single, walks two batters, uncorks a wild pitch and saw his defense commit an error.
...Alfredo Lauri (left) and Bruno Laurenzi with Nettuno in 1971...
(© Photo: FIBS / Italian Baseball & Softball Hall of Fame) |
In 1964, Luigi Cameroni is Manager of the Italian baseball-team, which then finishes in second place in the European Championship in Milan (Italy).
Alberto Lauri is back as pitcher.
Glorioso also is back with the team, which also includes wellknown players as Umberto Calzolari, Roberto Gandini, Giovanni Paschetto and Alberto Rinaldi.
Offensively, Lauri contributes with two doubles.
In 1965, Rinaldi would become the first Italian-raised player to play professionally in the American Minor Leagues.
In that year, the third baseman played in Single-A for Baltmore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds.
In the deciding game against the Netherlands (there were no Finals back then), Italy loses 3-1.
Halfway the eighth inning, the Netherlands leads 3-0.
At that moment, aces Herman Beidschat (since the 5th inning) and Giulio Glorioso (since the 6th) are pitching in relief.
In the third inning, the Orange-squad opened the score when Leo Kops led off with a single, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by Han Urbanus.
In the sixth inning, two runs were added on a single by Boudewijn Maat.
In the bottom of the eighth, Italy got a chance to come back.
With one out, Andrea Balzani singled, then a grounder by Alberto RInaldo ended in an error.
With runners on first and third base, powerhitter Roberto Gandini delivered a runscoring single.
After a strikeout accounted for the second out, Alfredo Lauri was the next batter.
Lauri, who already had singled, drove the ball into the outfield, but was caught.
In the ninth inning, Beidschat retired the side, striking out two pinch-hitters.
In the following year, Cameroni again is the Italian Manager when the 1965 European Championship is held in Madrid (Spain).
Amongst Lauri's teammates now are Luigi Consonni and his Nettuno-teammates Giulio Glorioso and Pietro Monaco.
Lauri only is used as first baseman and he is a leading hitter with a .438 batting average (7-for-16).
In 1970, Alfredo Lauri plays in his next major international tournament when he is selected for the Italian Team for participation in the World Championship, which is held in Colombia.
American Chet Morgan is the Manager and other players include Glorioso (of course), Giorgio Castelli, Ivan Cavazzano, Giovanni Lercker, Alfredo Meli and Nettuno-teammates Giampaolo Mirra and Pietro Monaco.
In 1973, Lauri again had a chance to play for Italy in an European Championship when the event was held in Haarlem (Netherlands).
However, new American Manager Bill Arce has a big problem.
Lauri is one of many players who are unavailable due to an injury or other reasons, as are pitchers Giacomo Bertoni and Giovanni Lercker and infielder Carlo Passarotto.
...Alfredo Lauri in 2012 with his...
...Hall of Fame-plaque...
(© Photo: Baseball.it) |
In 1972, Alfredo Lauri is the winning pitcher for Nettuno against in an 8-1 win against Sparta from the Netherlands in the First Round of the European Cup.
Nettuno would win the Cup later in the year.
A year later, the teams face each other again in Rotterdam in the Semi-Final for the European Cup, which in those years was not played in a tournament-format, but in separate games.
This time, Sparta wins 2-1.
Sparta erased an 1-0 deficit when Hamilton Richardson homered in the fifth inning off of Alfredo Lauri with Hans Augustinus (walk) as baserunner.
Enzo Lauri later completed game for Nettuno and threw the final two innings.
Ade Fijth goes the distance for Sparta, dominates and strikes out eight batters.
Two months later, in a best-of-three Final against Bologna, Sparta ends up short and the Italians capture the Cup.
In 1974, Alfredo Lauri again reaches the European Cup Final with Nettuno, where Giampiero Faraone then is the playing coach.
This time, the team faces Haarlem Nicols from the Netherlands.
In the best-of-three, which was played in Nettuno, the home-team was the favorite, but Nicols wins the opener 3-2 in 14 innings, then with a 5-4 score to win the Cup for the second time.
In those days, all games were played.
Nettuno won Game 3 with a 6-0 score.
In the first game, Nicols played a tough game and saw both starting pitcher Jan Dick Leurs (5th inning) and short stop Leo Naaktgeboren being ejected after arguing with the umpires.
Leurs was relieved by Harry van der Vaart, who did great.
In the seventh inning, Nicols comes alongside (2-2) via a single by Boudewijn Maat.
The deciding run is then scored in the 14th inning.
Joop Peeters leads off for Nicols with a single, advances on a single by Ton de Jager and scores on a following error.
The next day, Alfredo Lauri is the starter for Nettuno and is supported in the top of the fifth with a homerun by Sergio Morville.
In the bottom of the fifth, Nicols was the home-team, Belgian umpire Coppens halts the game for a rain-delay.
When the game resumes, Nettuno adds a run in the sixth when Alfredo Lauri (walk) scores on a double by Giampiero Faraone.
But Nicols then strikes with three runs in the sixth inning.
The team comes alongside when Wade Jensen (walk) and Harry van der Vaart (single) score on a double by Fokke Jelsma.
Moments later, Jelsma scores on a double by Leurs, which ends Lauri's stay on the mound.
Nettuno ties the score in the eighth via a single by Giampaolo Mirra, but Lauri's reliever Claudio Scerrrato gives up a 2-run homerun to Arnoud Blom in the bottom of the eighth.
Bouke Vakkers is the starting and winning pitcher for Nicols.
Leurs, who was the leftfielder, takes over with two runners on base in the ninth and secures the win.
Nettuno is able to score once on an error, but fine defensive plays by Joop Peeters and Harry van der Vaart prevent more runs.
In 2012, Alfredo Lauri was elected into the Italian Baseball and Softball Hall of Fame, alongside his brother Enzo, softball-infielder Maria Rubano, executive Giulio Ripani and official scorer Silvano Sojat.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Alfredo Lauri's family and friends and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(January 4)
|
