Claudio Liverziani collects Hit Number 1,000 in Italian Baseball League

Claudio Liverziani of FORTITUDO BOLOGNA collected his 1,000th hit in the Italian Baseball League last Thursday in a game against former Boston Red Sox’ hurler Abe Alvarez of PALFINGER REGGIO EMILIA. The 34-year-old joins Giorgio Castelli, Giuseppe Carelli, Roberto Bianchi, Ruggero Bagialemani, Riccardo Matteucci and Roberto De Franceschi as the only players in Italian Baseball history to reach that mark. The 44-year-old De Franceschi of DE ANGELIS GODO is like Liverziani still an active player and is the all-time leader with 1,514 hits.

Liverziani was born on March 4, 1975 in Cupramontana, Italy and made his Serie A1 debut at the age of 16 for Novara. He later joined the Seattle Mariners organization and played for their Class-A affiliate in the Midwest League between 1997 and 1998. After his return to Italy the outfielder/first baseman won four Italian championships, two each with RIMINI and BOLOGNA. Liverziani also represented Italy in three Olympic Games (1996, 2000, 2004), three European championships, the Baseball World Cup in 2001 and the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

Photo by FIBS