Steven Rum

Steven Rum

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 180 lb.

• School Ohio State University, Georgia Southern University
• High School Bishop Riley High School?

• Born October 22, 1956 in Italy

Biographical Information

Steven Rum played in both Italy and Japan.

Rum was born in Italy and moved to the US, where he went to school. After playing ball at Georgia Southern, he returned to Italy to play for Novara in 1978. That year, he hit .323/.432/.615 with 20 runs and 11 steals (in 13 tries) in 17 games, going 5-3 with a 3.39 ERA as a pitcher. In 1979, he improved to .395/.538/.679 for Novara with 25 runs in 22 contests, with a 4-6, 3.16 pitching record. He moved to Nettuno in 1980 and did very well, producing at a .384/.480/.630 clip with 53 RBI, 43 runs and 8 home runs in 36 games. He also was 13-4 with a 2.82 ERA on the mound. He was two RBI behind Serie A1 leader Clement Sanders and was two wins behind leader Luigi Colabello. Overall, he hit .373/.486/.640 with 88 runs, 85 RBI, 17 home runs and 26 steals in 75 games in Italy.

With the Italian national team in the 1980 Amateur World Series, he was one of the top performers. He hit .459/.615/.973 with 6 home runs and 15 runs as Italy's starting left fielder. Rum was one home run behind Series leader Antonio Muñoz and Luis Casanova and was three runs behind leader Il-kwon Kim. In terms of batting lines, his stats compared very well with the Cuban stars and future major leaguers.

Rum then signed with Nippon Pro Baseball's Hanshin Tigers, becoming the first Italian-born player in NPB (it would be 31 years before Alessandro Maestri became the second). In 1981, he hit .269/.333/.409 in 57 games in the Hanshin outfield. He was 1 for 12 in 1982.

After baseball, Rum became head of development and alumni relations at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Sources

• Japanese Wikipedia page
• http://www.japanbaseballdaily.com/foreignbattingRaabe-Schwarz.html
• Hopkins Medicine
• Italian Baseball Federation