Claudio Liverziani

Claudio Liverziani

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 185 lb.

• Born March 4, 1975 in Cupramontana, Ancona Italy

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Claudio Liverziani is an outfielder/first baseman from Italy. He was a minor league infielder in the Seattle Mariners organization and is currently one of the top players in the Italian Baseball League. In the 1995 European Championship, he hit .286/~.444/.393 for the runner-up Italian team. He was 3 for 14 in the 1995 Intercontinental Cup but drew five walks and his hits were a double, triple and homer. He started his career with Novara before moving to Juventus Torino '48 for a year in 1996. From 1997 to 1998 he played in the Seattle Mariners organization for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the class A Midwest League. He and David Rigoli were the first Italians to play in the US minors since Alberto Rinaldi in the 1960s; the Italian baseball establishment had fought against players going to the US in the interim, keeping them amateurs to play in the Baseball World Cup and later Olympics. They put in a rule banning players for five years if they signed with a US team; when international competition was opening up for professionals, they eliminated the rule, allowing players like Liverziani, Rigoli, Andrea Castri, Giuseppe Mazzanti, Francesco Imperiali and Mario Chiarini go to the US in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In 1999, Liverziani returned to Italy with Semenzato Rimini, with whom he won two Italian championships. He was the All-Star left fielder in the 1999 European Championship, hitting .467/.720/.667 with 10 walks and 10 runs in five games. In the 1999 Intercontinental Cup, Liverziani hit .417/.533/.667 to earn All-Star honors in the outfield alongside Yobal Duenas and Yuan-Chia Chen. He was second to Akinori Iwamura in the event in batting average, beating out several major leaguers. He was given the Max Ott Award as the Best Player in the Italian Baseball League in 2000, 2003 and 2014, the first three-time winner. He transferred to Italeri Fortitudo Bologna where he won two more championships.

Liverziani has played in three Olympics (1996, 2000, 2004). He has represented Italy in three Intercontinental Cups, three European Championships and the 2001 Baseball World Cup (.318/.444/.364, 7 RBI, leading Italy in average, OBP and RBI). He hit .208/.441/.375 in the 2001 European Championship, drawing 10 walks and scoring 8 runs in 8 games. He was Italy's top player in the 2002 Intercontinental Cup, batting .286/.375/.536. In the 2003 European Championship, Liverziani hit .333/~.500/.400. His 9 walks in 8 games led the tournament. He is also the chairman of the Players Commission of the IBAF. In 2006 World Baseball Classic he played for Italy in the first World Baseball Classic, appearing in two games going 0-1 with a walk.

In 2007, Liverziani won a Gold Glove in the outfield. He was 1 for 12 with a walk, two runs and two RBI for Bologna in the Matino phase of the 2009 European Cup. He was 1 for 7 with a double, run and RBI in the final phase of the Cup.

On April 30, 2009, Liverziani collected his 1,000th hit in Italy, off Abe Alvarez. He became the 7th player to accomplish that, following Giorgio Castelli, Giuseppe Carelli, Roberto Bianchi, Ruggero Bagialemani, Riccardo Matteucci and Roberto De Franceschi.

Liverziani was named MVP of the 2009 Italian Series, hitting .571/.680/.857. Later that month, it was revealed that he tested positive for amphetamines. He was suspended by the Italian Baseball Federation and did not play in 2010-2011. He returned in 2012 and won his third MVP two years later thanks to a .349/.481/.587 batting line in the semifinals with 21 runs and 15 RBI in 18 games.

Liverziani currently works as an advertising space salesman.

Career Stats

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG
1991	Novara (ITA-A1)	19	48	5	8	1	0	0	4	4	15	0	0	.167
1992	Novara (ITA-A1)	34	124	17	35	7	1	2	16	9	23	4	3	.282
1993	Novara (ITA-A1)	36	142	40	50	3	3	2	20	27	24	20	3	.352
1994	Novara (ITA-A1)	48	188	57	64	13	3	3	23	33	25	25	6	.340
1995	Novara (ITA-A1)	54	202	46	59	10	2	3	31	34	29	20	4	.292
1996	Torino (ITA-A1)	46	166	62	74	16	2	11	46	47	23	7	4	.446
1997	Wisconsin (MWL)	108	346	73	88	22	4	5	31	68	93	11	4	.254
1998	Wisconsin (MWL)	106	355	43	88	20	4	3	33	30	67	16	3	.248
1999	Rimini (ITA-A1)	48	172	54	64	12	3	7	38	50	25	25	3	.372
2000	Rimini (ITA-A1)	48	188	61	76	17	2	9	42	36	29	29	7	.404
2001	Rimini (ITA-A1)	54	209	61	65	17	2	3	33	57	43	19	6	.311
2002	Bologna (ITA-A1)	54	190	66	67	18	2	12	61	61	20	11	2	.353
2003	Bologna (ITA-A1)	54	190	67	70	18	2	11	50	56	38	8	1	.368
2004	Bologna (ITA-A1)	53	171	59	56	12	1	1	35	62	26	14	6	.327
2005	Bologna (ITA-A1)	54	189	38	63	14	2	2	36	52	25	6	3	.333
2006	Bologna (ITA-A1)	45	150	21	38	5	0	1	16	39	31	6	5	.253
2007	Bologna (ITA-A1)	42	157	24	49	14	3	2	25	25	28	2	0	.312
2008	Bologna (ITA-IBL)	36	125	34	44	11	0	5	27	32	9	0	1	.352
2009	Bologna (ITA-IBL)	42	141	31	42	12	0	4	33	41	30	5	0	.298
2012	Bologna (ITA-IBL)	42	150	26	42	4	0	6	32	25	34	1	0	.280
2013	Bologna (ITA-IBL)	36	133	37	40	7	2	2	27	33	25	3	2	.301
2014	Bologna (ITA-IBL)	20	64	9	15	3	0	1	14	23	18	1	0	.234
Italian Serie-A1/IBL Totals		1,016	3,628	951	1,196	249	32	103	704	887	613	236	65	.330
Minor League Totals		214	701	116	176	42	8	8	64	98	160	27	7	.251

Related Sites

• BR olympics page
• Minor League Stats at baseballcube
• "Baseball: For some, a tiny taste of the superstar life" by John Vinocur, International Herald Tribune, March 13, 2006, retrieved April 4, 2006.