Umberto Calzolari

Umberto Calzolari
(Professore)

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born June 4, 1938 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna Italy
• Died July 29, 2018 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna Italy

Biographical Information

Umberto Calzolari is a member of the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame. He led the league once apiece in RBI, ERA and wins.

Calzolari debuted with Bologna in 1960, going 9-7 with a 1.80 ERA and hitting .215/.301/.385. He tied Riccardo Rimini for 4th in Serie A in wins. He was third with 116 K, behind Giulio Glorioso and Giuseppe Buschini. In 1961, he batted .222/.317/.292 and went 10-for-11 in steals; on the mound, he was 11-6 with a 1.92 ERA and .187/.251/.279 opponent batting line. He was third in wins behind Glorioso and Luigi Consonni. He was 7-3 with a save, 1.43 ERA and .179/.260/.247 opponent line in 1962, allowing only 2 homers in 101 IP; he also hit .258/.324/.414. He was .16 behind ERA leader Glorioso.

In 1963, Calzolari began playing the outfield regularly as well as pitching. He hit .403/.493/.645 with 21 RBI in 17 games and was 5-1 with a 3.71 ERA. He was second in RBI, six behind Roberto Gandini. He was well back of batting champ Giampiero Faraone's .464. He had a 9-4, 1.18 record in '64 and batted .301/.352/.530 with 6 HR, 26 runs and 27 RBI in 18 games. He led the league in RBI, one ahead of Leonardo Carmignani, was second in runs (one behind Oscar Maccaferri) and tied for second in homers (one behind Carmignani). He tied Buschini and Consonni for second in wins, 6 behind leader Glorioso; Glorioso also led in ERA at 0.84. He was also 4th with 94 K. He played for the Italian national team in the 1964 European Championship when they finished second to the Netherlands. He struck out twice and drew a walk at the plate. On the mound, he allowed six hits but only one earned run in 3 2/3 IP, fanning seven; his 2.45 ERA was the highest of Italy's six hurlers. Surprisingly, it was his lone major tournament for Italy given his strong career.

Umberto was 7-5 with a 2.83 ERA in 1965 and hit .292/.449/.494 with 5 homers, 25 walks, 25 runs and 28 RBI in 25 games. He tied for third in dingers, was 4th in RBI and 5th in walks drawn. In 1966, he was 10-5 with a save and a 3.08 ERA and produced at a .250/.371/.354 clip. He was third in wins behind Glorioso and Gianfranco Paschetto. During 1967, he hit .284/.409/.471 with 28 RBI in 31 games and was 7-7 with a 3.18 ERA. He was 7th in Serie A in RBI that year.

Calzolari was 8-3 with a 1.35 ERA and .203/.249/.278 opponent batting line in 1968 while hitting .272/.362/.337 himself. He tied Giuseppe Reverberi for 4th in wins and was .23 behind ERA king Buschini. In 1969, the veteran won his first title with Bologna. He was 6-3 with a 4.16 ERA and hit .286/.376/.417. The next year, he improved to 15-4, 2.03 with a save and hit .369/.435/.563 with five homers in 37 games. He was 4th in wins.

Umberto posted a 8-3, 1.98 record in 1971 and produced at a .289/.387/.408 clip. In 1972, he was unbeaten in 16 decisions and had a 1.41 ERA and allowed opponents to hit .203/.244/.246. His batting line was .298/.450/.393 and he helped Bologna win the pennant. He tied Giacomo Bertoni for third in wins and led the loop in ERA. He was 18-2 with a 1.81 ERA in 1973 and opponents hit .216/.256/.287 while batting .380/.460/.470 with 37 RBI in 32 games. He led in wins by five over Giovanni Lercker and Alfredo Lauri and was .30 behind ERA leader Claudio Scerrato. He also placed 10th in RBI.

In 1974, Calzolari went 10-4 with a 2.41 ERA and hit .241/.388/.304. He was 7th in the league in victories; Bologna won the title that year. During '75, he hit .295/.404/.364 and had a 5-2, 1.65 record while walking only 7 in 60 IP. He wrapped up his playing career in 1976, going 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA in five games and going 2 for 10 with two walks and a double.

For his career, Calzolari was 152-59 with four saves and a 2.16 ERA in 268 games pitched, completing 131 starts. He held opponents to a .213/.272/.290 batting line and whiffed 1,092 in 1,864 IP. Offensively, he hit .292/.397/.430 with 32 homers in 1,303 AB; he had 273 runs, 305 RBI and 228 walks and stole 69 bases in 84 tries. He fielded .927 as a pitcher, .946 in LF and .850 in RF. Through 2014, he was among Italy's career leaders in wins (6th, between Radaelli and Daniel Newman), ERA (14th, between Aristalco Tirado and Enorbel Márquez), games pitched (tied for 18th with Walter Cossutta), complete games (2nd, 42 behind Glorioso), innings (8th, between Paolo Cherubini and Maurizio De Sanctis), strikeouts (18th, between Cipriano Ventura and Jesus Matos) and WHIP (1.12, 18th, between Martin Sanchez and Stefano Manzini).

His number 8 was the first number to be retired by Bologna. Calzolari helped Alfredo Meli start baseball for the blind in Italy. In 2014, Umberto was inducted into the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame; Elio Gambuti was the other former player inducted, though Calzolari went in as a coach.

Source: Italian Baseball Federation