Dan DiPace

Daniel Joseph DiPace

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 215 lb.

• Schools Oklahoma State University, Fork Union Military Academy, University of Southwestern Louisiana
• High School Martin County High School

• Born February 24, 1972 in New York, NY USA

BR Minors page

Olympics-Reference page

Biographical Information

Dan DiPace is the son of Danny DiPace; both peaked at AA. Dan also played in the Olympics.

DiPace was chosen by the Montréal Expos in the 68th round of the 1991 amateur draft. He went on to college as a quarterback, once ranking ahead of Jake (The Snake) Delhomme on the Southwestern Louisiana depth chart. He returned to baseball at Oklahoma State. In 1996, he hit .422 and slugged .745 in 102 AB, leading the #11 team in NCAA Division I in average (Jeff Guiel, another future Olympian, was second). The team made it to the 1996 College World Series. At age 24, he was undrafted out of college.

The independent Lafayette Leopards signed him but he was unimpressive in 1996 (.231, 5 HR in 104 AB). In 1997, he played for the Tyler Wildcatters (.287, .470 SLG) and Duluth-Superior Dukes (3 for 17, 2B). The Kansas City Royals signed the former football prospect. In 1998, he bounced between three of their farm teams, batting a composite .241/.365/.404 with 43 RBI and 7 homers in 80 games. He struggled with the 1999 Charleston Alley Cats (.224/.358/.313 in 65 G) and finished the year with the Milwaukee Brewers' Huntsville Stars affiliate (just 3 for 26, 2B).

DiPace was recruited by Italian national team manager Salvatore Varriale to come to Italy with a chance at representing his grandfather's nation in the Olympics. Dan hit .345/.409/.540 with 33 RBI in 36 games for Parma in the 2000 Serie A1. Now listed as "Daniele Di Pace", he went 0 for 7 in the 2000 Haarlem Baseball Week. He still remained with Italy for the 2000 Olympics, splitting first base with Luigi Carrozza and left field with Daniele Frignani. Dan hit .200/.310/.360; one highlight was a mammoth homer off Sun-dong Im off Bronze Medal-winning South Korea.

DiPace bounced around in 2001, appearing for Parma (.326/.453/.605 in 14 G), the Nashua Pride (.231/.388/.231 in 15 G) and Trenton Thunder (4 for 31, 2B, BB, 14 K in his last look at Organized Baseball). In 2002, he played for the Allentown Ambassadors (7 for 27, 2B, 3 BB). Dan was back with Parma for the 2003 season and put up a .295/.382/.446 line with 37 RBI in 52 games. His 15 doubles tied for 8th in the circuit. He was Italy's DH in the 2003 Baseball World Cup and hit .227/.292/.273 with 8 strikeouts in 22 AB.

Dan faded to .271/.366/.432 for Rimini in 2004, then wrapped up with the 2005 Long Beach Armada (.287/.363/.376).

Sources

• 2004 article on DiPace at raginpagin.com
• Italian Baseball and Softball Federation
• Baseball.it
• Defunct IBAF site
• 2000 Haarlem Baseball Week