Fortitudo Baseball Club retires number 33 of Riccardo Matteucci 2011 Bologna 1

Fortitudo Baseball 1953, commonly referred to as Fortitudo Bologna, also known as UnipolSai Bologna for sponsorship reasons, is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

club based in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

that competes in Serie A1,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

's professional baseball league. The team plays at

Gianni Falchi Stadium Gianni Falchi Stadium is a baseball stadium located in Bologna, Italy. It is the home ballpark of Fortitudo Baseball Bologna in the Italian Baseball League. History The baseball stadium was opened in 1969, becoming the new home of Fortitudo Bolog ...

and has won 13

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

and 6 European Cups.

History

The club was founded in 1953 when the Società Ginnastica Fortitudo (Fortitudo Gimnastics Society) established its baseball section. In 1963, the team merges with ACLI Labor from the baseball Serie A and joins the top level of Italian baseball. That same year, the baseball section becomes autonomous under the presidency of Pietro Leoni and with Jimmy Strong as manager. Fortitudo Baseball has won thirteen Italian championships in 1969, 1972, 1974, 1978, 1984, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020, and the European Championship six times (1973, 1985, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2019). In 2013, Fortitudo was the first European team to be invited to participate in the

Asia Series The Asia Series was an international club baseball competition, contested by the champions of all four of the professional leagues that are associated with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) — Australian Baseball League (ABL), ...

, placing sixth overall after losing to

Samsung Lions The Samsung Lions () are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982. They are based in the southeastern city of Daegu and are members of the KBO League. Their home stadium is Daegu Samsung Lions Park. They have won the Korean Champ ...

(5–2) and

Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, stylized as Uni-President 7-ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇn Lions, also known as Uni-Lions (), are a professional baseball team playing in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). The Lions are based in Tainan City, Ta ...

(10–0).

Roster

References

External links

*
Official site
Baseball teams in Italy Sport in Bologna {{Europe-baseball-team-stub