Livorno: Robert Lucy, pillar of the amaranth diamond, died of a heart attack at the age of 62. The memory of his fieldmate: “He dragged the team to high levels”
LIVORNO. He was a crazy head, Bob. And he only knew one way to live: his way. With two compasses, the boundless love for sport and for his wife. Robert Lucy wrote the history of amaranth baseball. And now that world mourns him, huddling around his family. He died of a heart attack at the age of 62.
His friends and diamond “colleagues” will never forget the trips to Florence aboard that van that made history for them. “For a year we used to play at home in Florence – he says Stefano Secchi -. And we were moving in this van with the hatches on the ceiling. And who forgets it ».
Lucy was born in the United States, “where she had played with the Los Angeles Dodgers,” says Secchi. Then he arrived in Italy in the seventies, as a soldier of Camp Darby. And in Italy he continued to play baseball, in Livorno.
“Bob was a powerhouse. He also won the triple crown – continues Secchi -. And with him Livorno went to A. He played in two roles: external receiver and center. And he was truly a pillar of Leghorn baseball ».
Since he had stopped playing he had worked «as a manager for the Oli & gas yards – says his wife Lucia Costanza -. So he was away on business a lot. The world went around. I remember we met many years ago at the Bagni Pancaldi. It was Stefano (Secchi, ed) to introduce ourselves. Robert was a crazy head. An excess. But he also had a very good disposition. He was a loving man and baseball was his life. ‘
Secchi remembers it well, on the pitch. And he will never forget those years spent together chasing the dream of getting higher and higher with Livorno’s baseball. «This sport was his life. On and off the pitch. He knows how Americans are, they hold all the numbers (from baseball,ed) in mind. He was like that. And with Bob the team has grown a lot ».
He was a driver, Robert Lucy. One that everyone on the pitch followed. Those who knew him say that when he launched he was a champion. A player with a unique talent «one of the strongest Livorno has ever had».
He was an exuberant man. On and off the pitch. Explosive as a player and as a person. Friends loved spending time with him. And today they mourn that matchmate capable of dragging the team to the stars. And his name will forever be engraved in the golden years of amaranth baseball.
«He was a truly incredible person – continues Stefano Secchi -. And his disappearance is a great loss for us all. We will never forget it. We will never forget our Bob on the court. And on that colorful minivan that took us to another game. Goodbye Bob, you were a force. “
And the friends now hug, all together, in a big hug around his wife Lucia, who remembers with immense love that man in one piece who knew how to be, at the same time, so very affectionate. “We had been married for many years – he says -. Robert was a good man. ‘
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