Davide Bassi

Davide Bassi

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born July 7, 1962
• Died May 2017

Biographical Information

Davide Bassi had a productive career in Serie A1, like his brother Federico Bassi.

Davide won the Gold with Italy in the 1980 European Junior Championship. He debuted in Italy's top loop in 1985 with Crocetta Parma, hitting .308/.395/.393 and fielded .956 at second base; he scored 43 runs and drew 31 walks in 60 games while rapping 16 doubles. This was during the aluminum bat era in Italy, so offensive numbers were high. He moved to Milano in 1986 and batted .312/.381/.418 as a utility infielder, stealing 7 bases in 8 tries. He switched clubs again in 1987 and batted .352/.410/.497 for Fortitudo Bologna with 31 runs in 38 games, fielding .952 at 2B and also seeing regular action at third. He was a utility infielder for Reggio Emilia in '88 and posted a batting line of .276/.364/.399.

Bassi was with Novara in 1989, hitting .340/.421/.353, scoring 29 times in 41 games and fielding .943 at second. He remained with Novara in 1990, for once not switching teams. He hit .350/.437/.515 with 70 runs and 64 RBI in 64 games while alternating primarily between 1B (.984) and 2B (.970). In the northern division, he was 6th in RBI, 6th in hits (91), tied Gianguido Poma for 10th in doubles (20) and 6th in runs. He was part of an Italian team that toured the US in exhibition matches. Back with his old Crocetta Parma club for 1991, he hit .319/.442/.445 with 31 runs in 32 games, fielding .947 at 2B.

The veteran excelled for Parma in 1992, hitting .424/.521/.669 with 47 RBI in 35 games as a utility infielder. He was third in RBI. In 1993, he slumped to .224/.336/.302 to end his career. He had hit .319/.408/.449 in 412 games overall, with 304 runs, 273 RBI, 200 walks and 112 doubles. He fielded .954 in 272 games at 2B, .863 in 83 at 3B and .984 in 54 at 1B.

Through 2015, Bassi was among Italy's career leaders in average (tied for 33rd with Francesco Casolari and Elio Gambuti), OBP (tied for 30th with his brother Federico and Salvatore Varriale) and OPS (47th, between Michele Romano and Carlos Guzmán).

Sources

• Italian Baseball and Softball Federation
• Obituary