Utente:Alexwaldsmith/Fortitudo Baseball Bologna
| Index |
|---|
| Fortitudo Baseball Bologna | |
|---|---|
| European Champion | |
| Italian Champion | |
| Holder of the Italian Cup | |
| Distinctive Signs | |
| Team Colors | Blue and White |
| Team Data | |
| City | Bologna |
| Country | Italy |
| Confederation | CEB |
| Federation | FIBS |
| Championship | Italian Baseball League |
| Founded | 1953 |
| President | Stefano Michelini |
| Coach | Daniele Frignani |
| Facility | Stadio Gianni Falchi
2 500 seats |
| Achievements | |
| Championship Badges | 12 |
| National Trophies | 11 Italian Cup
1 Italian Super Cup |
| European Titles | 6 Champion's Cups |
| www.fortitudobaseball.it | |
Fortitudo Baseball Bologna, known simply as Fortitudo, is an Italian baseball company based in Bologna, founded in 1953 and competing in, the Italian Baseball League, the top profession baseball league in Italy.
History
The Beginnings
The company was founded in 1953 by Orfeo Spada who, became president in 1956.
Initially the team was a branch of Società Ginnastica Fortitudo, a sports club, from which it separated a few years later. In 1957 it made its debut in the National Serie C Championship, earning third place. In the same year Aldo Furlanetto became president, a position he would hold until 1962. Under Furlanetto's presidency, Fortitudo was promoted to Serie B. 1963 was the year of the merger with ACLI Labor, that competed in the Serie A. This was the year in which it became an Independent Section. [2] The presidency passed to Pietro Leoni, who named Jimmy Strong as technical director. In 1969 Fortitudo won its first championship.
European success
In the early seventies, under the presidency of Lamberto Lenzi, the Bolognese team won two championships (1972 and 1974), a European Cup (1973) and an Italian Cup (1973). Two Italian champion titles followed in 1978 and 1984, together with the second European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1985. In 1982 at the Del Monte Bologna and Juventus Torino, the Coppa Italia was awarded in a tie.
Recent years
In 1997, twelve years after the last trophy, Bologna won the second Italian Cup. Between 2003 and 2005, two other championships and two other Italian Cups followed. In 2004 they won the first Italian Super Cup of baseball. On September 20th, 2008, they beat Danesi Nettuno in the second game and won their sixth Italian Cup and in 2009 they qualified for the European Champions Cup the highest European club competition After a brilliant run they were defeated in the final by Danesi Nettuno 1 to 0. An excellent 2009 ended with the Italian championship victory, the eighth scudetto, for the club. They won the last game in San Marino with the score of 16 to 2, in a series that ended 4 to 1.
In 2010 Fortitudo obtains the sponsorship of Ugf Assicurazioni. The new president Stefano Michelini start a new cycle for the team focusing on the development of young players. The first success comes with the qualifications to the Barcelona final four (champion cup). The team was not among the favorites for the championship but played the season consistently, improving from game to game. They made the playoffs coming in fourth during the regular season. The playoffs reveal a strong Fortitude that is able to reach the most prestigious goal: the team makes it to the final against Cariparma. The first two games, played at the ducal house, are won, but Parma does not give up and come back. Fortitudo wins the first two away games, but Parma does not give up and comes back tying the score. Fortitudo goes on 3 to 2, but when the series moves again to Parma they lose. The championship goes from the biancoblu jerseys to the yellow and blue ones. (In Italy a title holding team wears the championship symbol on their jerseys)
Fortitudo still played for the Italian Cup final, and against Nettuno Fortitudo won the title and simultaneously qualified for the 2011 Champions Cup.
On September 26, 2010, Fortitudo Baseball Bologna won their third European Cup by beating the Germans of Heidenheim in the final in Barcelona for 2 to 1. The hero of the game was Victor Moreno, a formidable Venezuelan pitcher who saved a practically hopeless situation in the 10th inning and started the comeback. The winning run is scored by Juan Pablo Angrisano, who struck a hard hit ball to the right badly played by the outfielder Pali.
On August 30, 2012, at the end of an interim season, Fortitudo, sponsored by Unipol Assicurazioni, won its fourth European Cup by beating Danesi Nettuno in the final in Nettuno. The game is won in the bottom half of the last inning when Leonardo De Donno, Neptunese by birth, with two outs brought home the winning run.
At the beginning of the 2013 season the team won the Italian Cup by beating Rimini baseball. On the 1st and 2nd of August they won again the Champions Cup for the fifth time by defeating the samePirates of Rimini 10-0 and 2-1.
They won the 2014 Italian title, the ninth, still defeating the Pirates of Rimini in the final series: the victory was achieved in the last two games of a series in which they had never been ahead. The outcome of the following season was different, as Rimini won the title by winning at the Bologna Gianni Falchi stadium twice and closing the series 4-0 at home. In 2018 they won the Italian Cup and the title, defeating Parma in the final in 4 games, winning the double. 2019 sees Fortitudo win its sixth Champions Cup at home: beating Rotterdam in the semifinals by 10-3 and Amsterdam 8-0 in the final, in a sold-out Falchi stadium.
Organizational Chart
Board of Directors
- President: Stefano Michelini
- Honorary President: Gianni Guizzardi
- Vice President: Marco Macchiavelli, Luciano Folletti, Federico Corradini
- Sports Director: Christian Mura
- Press Agent: Claudio Adelmi
- Advisors: Augusto Giuliani, Pierluigi Bissa, Domenico D'Angelo, Cesare Leoni, Giovanni Ferri, Pani Gianluca
Assistants
- Secretary: Renzo Moretti, Arrigo Calzolari
- Team Manager: Christian Mura
- Classifier to the Team: Roberto Caramelli
- Stadium Speaker: Federico Frassinella
- Web Site Curator: Giacomo Bollini, Giulia Zambonelli
- Photographer: Renato Ferrini