One Night-Stand
After sweeping two straight in Rome, the Crimson journeyed to Gesetto for a one-night stand, winning a close game, 8-7. They left immediately for Bologna for a two-game set.
In Bologna, a city of 500,000 north of Florence, the team won 8-5 the first night, and came back the next night to win a slugfest, 11-6.
The squad took a day off to visit Florence, where Robert Watson, director of athletics, met them. After the Florence sidetrip, Harvard continued southward to Parma for a 3-0 shutout victory and then to Palerno for another slugfest, which they won, 13-10.
Having travelled the entire length of Italy, the batsmen then returned to the east coast for a four-team tourney at Rimini. The Italian teams there were class A clubs, the league which feeds the national team.
In this beautiful seacoast town, the Crimson completed the highly-successful series with 9-0 and 9-4 victories. Pitcher Mike O'Malley picked up the trophy as the outstanding American player.
Park was encouraged by the team's performance, particularly the sophomores. He said that he got a good look at the pitchers and at sophomore catcher Danny Williams.
Hawaii Trip?
The successful trip meant an invitation to return next year. Park said that Harvard is also considering a trip to Hawaii and Japan within the next two years. But it is unlikely that the batmen will get an audience with Japanese Emperor Hirohito as they did with Pope Paul.
Park gushed with enthusiasm when he spoke about the team's meeting with the pope. "They took pictures of my wife and I with the pope," he said. "And then he said in French before switching to English, 'I never knew we had a Catholic baseball team.'"