Dave Bidini Plays Ball

Having taken to the road with his band (the Rheostatics chronicle On A Cold Road) and explored unusual nations on skates (Tropic of Hockey), author Dave Bidini stays put for his third literary effort, landing in Nettuno, Italy where he chronicles a season with third-tier Italian baseballers the Peones in Baseballissimo: My Summer In the Italian Minor Leagues. It’s a combination of sport enthusiasm (the Peones are a team more flushed with love than talent for the game), Italian history (baseball arrived with American soldiers at the end of World War II), and an exploration of his own Italo-Canadian heritage. Bidini’s easy style and eye for anecdotal detail will make for delightful porch reading when the ice melts on that other sport our nation is obsessed with. But what’s next Dave, the rise of lacrosse in Brazil?