Outfielder James Buccheri has signed with the Italian Baseball League (IBL)club Danesi Nettuno. His new manager Giampiero Faraone hops that the 41-year-old together with Manny Alexander will form a productive duo at the top of the lineup.
Buccheri was born in Brooklyn, New York and was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 24th round of the amateur draft in 1988. He stayed in the A’s organization until 1994 before he joined the Montreal Expos, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and New York Mets. His minor league career, as high as AAA, ended in 2000 after 13 seasons overall. He has a career batting average of .268 (OBP .325/SLG .330) in 1,268 games.
In 2002 Buccheri came out of retirement to join Rimini in Italy. Besides not playing in 2003, he stayed with the club until the 2006 season. In 2007 and 2008 he played for T&A San Marino. He won the Italian championship 2002, 2006 and 2008. Overall he has a batting average of .314 (OBP .392/SLG .425) in 312 IBL games so far. He also was on the roster for the Italian national team during the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Photo: © Ferrini/FIBS