by Riccardo Schiroli-FIBS Communications manager
I am honestly surprised (and almost worried) by the obsession that amateur writer Pim Van Nes seems to feel for Italian Baseball and Softball Federation President Riccardo Fraccari. But this is not why, as the same Federation’s Communication Manager, I need to answer his article “Rome dreaming about happier future” posted by Mister-Baseball.com on Easter Day. I need to answer because the inaccuracy of the article is embarrassing.
Let me try to follow a pattern
1) Italy won’t go to the ‘Haarlem Week’. Participating to a tournament should be up to Italy (and we are willing to negotiate with Mr Frits Mulder Italy’s participation in future editions). As Mr Fraccari explained to Mr Esselman, we decided not to interrupt our season in the best month for Italian fans because of a friendly tournament that is not preparing Team Italy to anything, since we were eliminated from the Olympic Games. Furthermore: Italy is against International Baseball in July and will do what possible to avoid interrupting national championships during that month.
2) Italy has always considered a privilege playing games against Holland. We will be proposing to start over the European Baseball Series to the Dutch Federation as soon as we are sure they try to communicate with us directly and not through the confused writing of Mr Van Nes
3) Mr Fraccari proposed a format for the 2009 World Cup to the International Federation (IBAF). In his vision this format should be helpful to gain visibility to the game in Europe, where the next IOC Congress (Copenhagen, October 2009) will be held. Mr Fraccari, as IBAF Continental Vice President for Europe, is asking to his co members of the IBAF Executive to make a final decision of the World Cup. The rest, including the calling of meetings, is up to IBAF. It could be useful to Mr Van Nes to know that Italy, as well as Holland, was not invited to the meeting that took place in Frankfurt. That meeting involved only the countries that were interested in organizing games of the first round of the 2009 World Cup.
4) The idea of a baseball stadium in Rome came from Major League Baseball (for reasons that could seem obvious even to Mr Van Nes) and FIBS has been involved in opening a dialogue with the Municipality of Rome about the project. It’s not clear where other details Mr Van Nes writes about come from. For truth’s sake, and to help Mr Baseball’s readers understand, I would simply state that the citizens of Rome will elect their new Mayor later this year. I am not sure if the Mayor can be described as a “a generally competent authority in the Roman municipality”, but at the moment (“Mayor” or “Generally whatever”) does not exist. So, who told what to Mr Van Nes? A writer should be able to quote the origin of his information’s. I am curious to know where this came from.
5) If a newly built baseball stadium is not available in 2009 in the City of Rome, the area of Rome will be ready to host the medal game in the modern and comfortable “Steno Borghese” stadium in Nettuno (60 kms south of the Capital of Italy, with convenient rail transport from the central “Termini” station in Rome), a facility that was built in 1991 and can seat some 7500 fans. This should make of the “Steno Borghese” the biggest baseball stadium in Europe.
On a final note: as an affectionate reader, I would expect Mr Baseball to write about baseball. And not fairy tales.
As a long time baseball fan, I would expect Holland to concentrate on their own business at home, instead of caring about Italy’s program.
Can surely agree with mr Schiroli that the tone of the news that mr Van Nes writes are often critical and degenerating towards Italian baseball in general and especially towards mr Fraccari. And that needs to change unless MRBB is to be a ground for “he said, she said” mentality and blackballing in all directions.
HAVING SAID THAT (like Simon Cowell in American Idol) one would demand that a person like mr Schiroli, working for FIBS, should know that a amateur writer like mr Van Nes is not working for the Dutch Federation, so if the FIBS officially is going to accuse the Dutch Federation of doing its business through the writing of mr Van Nes, one better have some ground for that.
OR perhaps the FIBS would be able to have some good, solid, and continous communications with the Dutch Federation over the season, for the good of overall European Baseball (and softball) development, to avoid these kinds of accusations and problems.
But that (to actually talk and discuss the sport between them) is perhaps to ask for too much from the “two greats”?????