Last Thursday David Sheldon of T&A SAN MARINO appeared in his 1,000th Italian Baseball League game, going one-for-three with a run scored in a 5-2 win over TELEMARKET RIMINI. He became the eleventh player in the history to reach that mark. The all-time leader is Roberto De Franceschi with 1,339 games (currently DE ANGELIS GODO), who is also the only active member of the top ten.
Sheldon was born on May 13, 1963 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He attended the University of San Francisco, before being drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 14th round of the 1985 draft. He signed and stayed in their farm system for two years. Then he came to Italy and never left. He joined FIRENZE in 1987 and played for nine different teams since. He received the Italian passport in 1999 and played for Italy in the 2000 Olympics. Sheldon is the second foreign-born player after Michele Romano to have played that many games in the IBL.
All-Time Games Leaders in Italian Baseball League:
- Roberto De Franceschi 1339
- Paolo Ceccaroli 1196
- Alberto D’Auria 1056
- Michele Romano 1047
- Elio Gambuti 1026
- Marco Mazzieri 1022
- Riccardo Matteucci 1020
- Massimo Fochi 1015
- Guglielmo Trinci 1008
- Ruggero Bagialemani 1003
- David Sheldon 1002
All-Time Leaders in Italian Baseball
Photo: © Ferrini/FIBS
