Press release from Italian Baseball and Softball Federation regarding 2009 World Baseball Classic:
TEAM ITALIA ANNOUNCES COACHING STAFF
The Italian Federation disclosed the names of the members of Team Italy’s coaching staff who have Major League Experience. Mike Hargrove will be manager Mazzieri’s Bench Coach, while Mike Piazza will serve as the team’s hitting coach and Tom Trebelhorn will be Mazzieri’s third base coach.
Dudley Michael Hargrove (born 1949) has had a successful career as a first baseman in the Big Leagues (in 1975 was selected for the All Star Game) but will be mostly remembered as a skipper. He managed the Indians, the Orioles and the Mariners posting an overall 1187-1173 record. His best years where the ones with the Indians (1991-1999: 721-591); Hargrove led ‘The Tribe’ to 5 consecutive Division Titles (1995-1999) and 2 World Series appearances (1995-1997).
Mike Hargrove “It is a great honor to be a part of the Italian coaching staff. I met Marco Mazzieri when I was the manager for the Orioles and he attended our Spring Training Camp. He is a good friend of mine and a great baseball man. So I will do my best to help him. I think the World Baseball Classic is a great chance to give baseball more international visibility. It is just great to be part of it. I am looking forward to this new experience”.
Referring to his quote on his retirement ‘my passion has begun to fade’: “I may have been misunderstood. My passion for the game will never fade. I was just referring to dealing with the day to day commitment”.
Born in 1968, Michael Joseph Piazza is regarded as the best hitting catcher of all time. He holds the record for the most home runs (396) hit while catching and has appeared 12 times in the All Star Game while starring in the National League for the Dodgers and the Mets. He has also played for the Marlins and the Padres in the NL and for the A’S in the American League; for Oakland he played (September 2007) his last MLB game. His sparkling career (batting average .308 with 427 homers) was hardly predictable when he played for Miami Dade Community College. He was the last player drafted by the Dodgers in 1988. Mike Piazza’s family moved to the US from Sciacca (Sicily) and he is an alumnus for Team Italy, which he represented as a player in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Mike Piazza “As a player I retired last season and the 2009 World Baseball Classic comes for me at a perfect time. I served on Team Italy’s roster as a player in 2006 and I am willing to do my best to help as a coach. I will help manager Marco Mazzieri in whatever way he wants me to”.
Thomas Lynn Trebelhorn was born in 1947. A Minor League catcher and infielder, he served as a Major League manager for the Milwaukee Brewers (1986-1991) and the Chicago Cubs (1994). Before getting to the Big Leagues, as a manager he had won the Pacific Coast League with the Vancouver Canadians (1985), the top farm team of the Brewers’ organization. He has worked for the Baltimore Orioles since 1996. In 2007 he served as their Bench Coach in the Major Leagues. He has been the manager of the Class A Salem Keizer Volcanoes in the 2008 season.
Tom Trebelhorn “I am happy the Giants gave their permission for me to serve in the Italian coaching staff during the March World Baseball Classic. It’s a great opportunity for me to continue developing. I have worked with manager Marco Mazzieri here in the States and I am looking forward to this experience”
The complete coaching staff will be presented by the Italian Federation at the annual Coach Convention, to be held in 2009 on January 23rd, 24th and 25th in Perugia.
Contact FIBS Riccardo Schiroli riccardo.schiroli@fibs.it
About World Baseball Classic, Inc.
World Baseball Classic, Inc. is a company created at the direction of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) to operate the World Baseball Classic tournament. The tournament, which is sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), is supported by MLB, the MLBPA, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), their respective players associations and other leagues and players from around the world
About the World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic is the premier international baseball tournament, sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, and features the best players in the world competing for their home countries and territories. In March 2006, 486 players (235 of them from MLB organizations) representing 16 teams from across the globe competed in the inaugural event. More than 740,000 fans from 48 states and 15 countries attended games (16 of which sold out) and millions more watched on TV as Team Japan was crowned the first-ever World Baseball Classic Champion. The inaugural tournament was broadcast by 48 media outlets in 10 languages to 205 countries and territories around the world. Media members representing 25 different nations attended the 39 games in seven host venues across three countries/territories. The upcoming World Baseball Classic will be played from March 5 – 23 and will again feature 16 of the greatest baseball-playing nations in the world. The tournament will be held every four years thereafter, with plans in place to expand the participant field beginning in 2013.
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Contact: Richard Levin or Patrick Courtney, Major League Baseball, (212) 931-7878, Greg Bouris, Major League Baseball Players Association, (212) 826-0808
