City of Baseball

Christopher Ralph
U.S. / ITALY, 2007
English/Italian
55 minutes • Color / Black & White
Cinematography: Geoffrey Douville, Christopher Ralph
Principal Cast: Charles Butte, Dave Bidini, Paolo Faccendini, Rolando Belleudi

SHOWTIMES:
Mon Apr 30 3:30pm WTTS Screening Room (Landmark)

Tues May 1 5:30pm (Key Cinemas)

In the city of Nettuno, Italy, it is said that every boy is born with a mitt on his hand. City of Baseball follows the path of America’s pastime and how it reached the shores of this small Italian resort city.

When American GIs landed there during the liberation of Italy in World War II, they brought with them these unusual gloves, balls, and wooden sticks. The locals became fascinated with this unique game and eventually adopted it as their own.

From its origins, to its heyday (including a visit to the town by the legendary Joe Dimaggio), to its present decline, baseball became intertwined with the community’s identity. Christopher Ralph (who produced the feature documentary A Player to be Named Later about the Indianapolis Indians) captures not just a sport, but a community. Like many seaside resorts, Nettuno is a little bit past its prime, and we meet the locals who revel in its peak of interest (including an amazing streak of national championships) and regret its eventual submission to the new national sport of soccer. It’s a film that is filled with nostalgia and past glory – and a view of the future