by Pim van Nes
A former softball coach and a former baseball umpire are candidates for next week’s elections for presidency of FIBS, the Italian Baseball and Softball Federation. Don Porter, president of worldwide softball body ISF, last week ordered national softball federations to file divorce from their combined federations with baseball. IBAF president Harvey Schiller, hit and run husband for Porter, has not yet reacted publicly towards his partner’s surprise proposal. Italy, however, offers the first occasion to break up the family living and to start living apart in a member country.
On Sunday November 16, a week from today, delegates from 282 baseball and softball clubs from across the country, will travel to the four-yearly parliament meeting for the elections for the Italian federation council. The number of 282 means another set-back since the previous two meetings, where 365 clubs were invited in 2001 and 302 in 2004. Independent website Baseball.it reported that this decrease in clubs corresponds with the decay in numbers of playing individual members and international games and tournaments results by Italian representative selections and club teams since the begin of this century.
The 282 clubs can vote for a new president or for the same Riccardo Fraccari responsible for his present mandate of four years in the Rome federation office. Fraccari is a former baseball umpire, who started an international career off the field following Aldo Notari’s wake as a reputed Baseball diplomat representing CEB and IBAF. His opponent in next week’s elections is the former softball team coach Antonio Micheli, 62 years of age and since three years Hall of Famer nominated by International Softball Federation in 2005. Micheli knows team spirit by experience in both baseball as a player and in softball as a coach.
Micheli played Baseball in Rome during 17 years: the first eleven years as a catcher and then six years in various positions except those of pitcher and right fielder. In 1980 he started his career as a coach with the softball section of the multiple sports club Lazio in the Italian capital. He worked for Lazio during nine seasons, in which he conquered the national championship title six times and the European Cup for national champion clubs one time. In 1989 Micheli was appointed manager of the national softball team and during the twelve years of his term the Azzurre won the European championship titles in 1992, 1995, 1997 and 1999 and participated in three World Cup tournaments.
Besides the choice between two candidates for one presidency seat, the 282 clubs will also vote for a council to be composed by 13 club representatives, four players’ representatives and seven representatives for coaches, umpires and official scorers. For the 13 club seats in the council 33 candidates were registered, including one woman: Marina Cergol. Among the eight candidates for the players seats we recognize three famous names: first of all the beautiful softball pitcher Monica Corvino, second the reputed baseball infielder Massimo Fochi, each of them already active in the present Fraccari board and third baseball infielder Davide Rigoli.
The 282 clubs with voting rights originate from 18 Italian provinces, varying from north-west Aosta with only one club to Emilia-Romagna with sixty clubs. Two provinces are isolated by Mediterranean waters from the Italian continent: southern island Sicilia with 22 clubs and western island Sardegna with twelve clubs. Another densely populated province behind Emilia-Romagna is mid-northern Lombardia with 33 clubs. Approximately 20 to 23 clubs play in Toscane, Lazio, Veneto and Piemonte each. The real number of Italian clubs is even less than 282, because several big clubs have diversified their organization in sections each with their own voting rights in next week’s elections.
If the presidency elections appear to be a landslide victory for defending candidate Fraccari, no major changes are to be expected, but if voting scores are feared to stay close, there may be an option that Fraccari will try to conserve his presidency on behalf of his hosting a part of the World Cup of baseball in September 2009. Opponent Micheli may be appointed Softball president in Italy as the first ISF member country responding to Don Porter’s call for Softball independency for the sake of Olympic recognition. Regrettably the official websites of the Italian federation FIBS and of the world wide baseball body IBAF have not yet reacted at all on Porter’s softball uprising.
Photo: © FIBS
Pim van Nes
Baseball writer for
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