Giuseppe Carelli

Giuseppe Carelli

• Bats Left, Throws Left

• Born August 14, 1958 in Pescara Italy

Biographical Information

Giuseppe Carelli was one of the top Italian hitters of the 20th Century and is a member of the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Carelli helped Italy win the European Junior Championship in 1972 and he was named the best hitter in the 1975 European Junior Championship. In 1975, Carelli debuted in Italy's Serie A, hitting .218/.324/.265 for Milan. He also pitched regularly that season, going 2-5 with a 2.62 despite 64 walks in 89 innings. He would pitch 11 more games during his career, finishing off 2-6 with a 3.39 ERA overall as a hurler.

After not playing in '76, Carelli joined Rimini in 1977 and would stay with them for many years. He would play right field primarily until his final season, 1994, when he moved to first base. He helped Italy to the 1977 European Championship, going 4 for 7 with two doubles, three runs and four RBI as the backup to Salvatore Varriale. During 1978, Carelli hit .243/.311/.414. In '79, his batting line was .268/.393/.680 with 12 homers in 26 games.

Carelli hit .375/.456/.664 in 1980 with 10 home runs in 33 contests. He hit .316/.409/.474 with 8 RBI in the 1980 Amateur World Series; he was 3rd on the team in RBI behind Riccardo Spica and Steven Rum. In 1981, he batted .333/.434/.824 with 15 HR, 27 runs and 43 RBI in 28 games. He led the league in homers. He hit .261/.414/.391 as Italy's starting right fielder in the 1981 European Championship. In the 1982 campaign, Giuseppe's batting line was .363/.474/.708 with 12 home runs and 39 RBI in 28 games.

Carelli kept it up in 1983 by hitting .538/.671/1.115 with 28 runs and 30 RBI in 16 games. In the poul scudetto, he homered 30 times in 42 games, driving in 70, leading in homers.

Carelli helped Italy win Gold in the 1983 European Championship, hitting .385/.448/.731 with 3 homers, 11 runs and 8 RBI in six games while starting in right field, where he had six putouts and no assists or errors. He tied Pietro Rovezzi and Roberto Bianchi for the team lead in dingers. He hit 21 home runs between the Serie Nazionale and poul scudetto in 1984. He played for Italy in the 1984 Olympics. In the 1984 Amateur World Series, he batted .308/.349/.513 with 10 runs and 9 RBI in 10 games, an almost identical line to that produced by a Team USA outfielder named Barry Bonds.

Carelli hit .385/.488/.701 for Rimini in 1985 with 21 homers, 61 runs and 84 RBI in 62 games. In the 1985 European Championship, he produced at a .394/.444/.576 clip with 6 runs and 6 RBI in 9 games for the Silver Medalists. He had 16 putouts in right field with no errors. His four doubles led the team. He even pitched two innings, allowing two hits, one walk and one run while fanning three. In '86, he batted .350/.441/.645 with 52 runs and 65 RBI in 48 games. He was one of the big stars of the 1986 Amateur World Series, leading in average (.478) and tying Luis Casanova for the most RBI (19). He beat out Cuban superstars Omar Linares and Antonio Pacheco by .022 for the batting lead.

In 1987, Giuseppe's batting line was .348/.471/.542. He batted .393/.500/.750 when Italy won Silver in the 1987 European Championship, with 8 runs and 9 RBI in 8 games, though he made two errors as their starter in right. He was also with Italy for the 1987 Intercontinental Cup. He hit .407/.479/.772 with 12 home runs, 40 runs and 56 RBI in 1988, leading the league in RBI. In the 1988 Baseball World Cup, he hit .389/.477/.611 with 9 runs and 9 RBI and had two outfield assists as Italy's top position player.

Carelli batted .426/.554/.746 with 40 RBI in 36 games in 1989 to take his first batting title; he had now won all three legs of the Triple Crown but in different seasons. In 1990, he hit .336/.459/.490 for Rimini. He hit .304/.407/.522 for Italy in the 1990 Baseball World Cup.

In 1991, the Pescara native batted .341/.471/.512. In the 1991 Intercontinental Cup, he hit .217/.357/.391. He hit .442/.532/.752 with 32 runs and 44 RBI in 36 games for Rimini in 1992 to take his second batting title. Despite his success, he was left off Italy's team for the 1992 Olympics.

Carelli kept it up in 1993, when the old-timer hit .333/.438/.496. He finished up in 1994, hitting .351/.460/.479 with 25 RBI in 26 games for Rimini.

Overall, Giuseppe batted .353/.446/.630 in Italy with 220 homers, 736 runs and 926 RBI in 873 games. He was the second player to get 1,000 hits in the Italian league, following similarly-named Giorgio Castelli. Through 2009, he is second all-time in Italy in homers and RBI, trailing Bianchi in both. He was voted into the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Sources

• Defunct IBAF site
• Italian Baseball and Softball Federation