A mural was dedicated in Cuggiono, Italy, honoring four former Major League players, including the legendary Yogi Berra, whose parents emigrated to the United States starting from the municipalities of the “Cuggiono district.”
The installation recognizes Berra, Joe Garagiola, Jim Pisoni, and Frank Crespi. Their families all immigrated from Cuggiono to The Hill in St. Louis. The mural is located in a public park on the corner between via Manzoni and via San Rocco.
The following is an excerpt from Mario Salvini’s book, “Il diamante è per sempre,” published in 2021 about Italians in baseball.
In the early 1900s, families arrived at The Hill, especially from the western area of the province of Milan. In fact, the parish where Lawdie Berra played was and is called St. Ambrose. And there, with Yogi, was one of his best friends for life: Joe Garagiola, future starting catcher of the Cardinals.
The stretch of road in front of St. Ambrose Church today is called Hall of Fame Place because of Yogi and Joe, above all, and because at least two other kids, their peers from the neighborhood, ended up in MLB: Jim Pisoni and Frank Crespi.
Another friend of theirs also made a career, born in 1925 like Yogi: Benito Pucci, known only as Ben, tackle for the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Colts. And there is yet another stranger story of champions linked to the neighborhood. The story is about three kids with Italian, Milanese surnames: Frank Borghi, Charlie Colombo, and Gino Pariani. They also played baseball, especially Borghi, who, like Yogi, was himself born in 1925. In his last interview with ESPN Magazine, shortly before he died in 2014, Borghi said something sensational: “I wanted to play catcher.” Imagine: wanting to play catcher in the field where the future starters of the Yankees and Cardinals already had that role.
Luckily for him, baseball wasn’t just played in St. Ambrose. They were still Italian boys. Everyone, including Yogi, also played soccer on occasion. Borghi, Colombo, and Pariani made it to the U.S. national team. And they entered into one of the most incredible and extraordinary sports stories ever. It happened on June 29, 1950 at the Estadio Independencia in Belo Horizonte, at the World Cup played in Brazil. A crazy, unlikely match: United States-England. The USA was a team of amateurs gathered who knew how. It suffices to say that Borghi drove the death carts for his uncle’s funeral home by profession.
And there they were, challenging the English, the masters, who, due to arrogance and the rules on amateurism, had not played in the pre-war World Cup. And so they made their debut there in Brazil, magnanimously giving themselves to the rest of the world. England, with its allure, was the great favorite of the event. England’s odds to win the Cup was paid 3-1. That of the United States was 500-1. And indeed, as you may know, the United States won 1-0. Goal by Joe Gaetjens, a naturalized Haitian. But go and look for the lineup; five guys from St. Louis were on the field, three of whom had Italian surnames. Them: Borghi in goal, Colombo in defense, Pariani in midfield.
If you already knew this story, you may have heard what is often added about it. And that is that in England, the news broadcast late in the evening had not been believed. There is a tale of a telegrapher who said, “But they must have made a mistake; there must be a typing error in that USA-England 1-0”. And then he would cheerfully add a 1. So the next day, many British newspapers would come out with USA-England 1-10. But it’s not true. It’s just a beautiful legend.
The reason, however, is controversial because of the absence of the New York Times story. Some of the editorial staff didn’t believe it was possible. It’s true that, as is easy to imagine, the match’s hero was Frankie Borghi, the goalkeeper. Who saved everything and intercepted every cross. In particular, we remember one of his described flashes as miraculous in a conclusion by Jimmy Mullen, with the ball, which, to this day, is not known whether he crossed the ball or not the goal line.
Also left in everyone’s memory is a vigorous defensive intervention by Colombo, who brought down Stan Mortensen in the area. Borghi also revealed an amazing detail to ESPN in 2014. And that is that the referee, the Italian Generoso Dattilo, on that occasion said to Colombo: “Bono, Bono,” thus predicting preferential treatment between fellow villagers. However, we know that Dattilo had an idiosyncrasy for penalties, in his 265 goals in Serie A he conceded very few.
But back to baseball, the only real shame is that Berra and Garagiola never crossed paths at the World Series. And it’s strange, given that Yogi got there 14 times, always and only with the Yankees, and Joe twice, once with the Cardinals and once, in the last year of his MLB career, with the Giants, in 1954.
A World Series would have been amazing with the two catchers who were neighbors, who grew up on The Hill in St. Ambrose, originally from the same distant area near Milan, from Malvaglio and Cuggiono, two small towns two miles away. It didn’t happen. Yogi of his 14 won 10; Joe won with the Cardinals in 1946. But then they both entered the Hall of Fame, Joe, perhaps more for his ability as a television commentator than for the numbers he played. That, too, was a way to stay together with Yogi.
“Not only have I never been the best catcher in the MLB – Garagiola said one day – I haven’t even been the best catcher of my street.”
And they will forever immortalize the ball players in Cuggiono and The Hill.
With editing from Chris R. Vaccaro.
