The roots trips organized by the community of the American city in which he lived testify to the great popularity of the character of Abruzzo origins.
In Abruzzo every village has its own more or less well-known “testimonial”. Coincidentally, two very close towns in the province of Chieti both link their names to great sports champions: we are talking about Ripa Teatina and Tollo. While the first is linked to the greatest boxing champion in the history of America, Rocky Marciano, the second, thanks to Tommy Lasorda, has become the cradle of baseball and softball in Abruzzo. In fact, in the early 1900s, Sabatino Lasorda, father of the greatest baseball testimonial in the history of the USA, left Tollo. Player, coach, manager. His historic career as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers established him as one of the greatest baseball players in American history.
On Sunday 10 October, the meeting with the American community in which Lasorda lived was sealed for the third time: for the third consecutive year, the Fullerton Sister City Association (FSCA), twinned with Tollo (CH), organized a tour in Italy, from 3 to 12 October 2024.
The visit to the Chieti municipality it took place on 10 October, when the delegation went to the municipal building of Tollo, where it was received by the Mayor Angelo Radica. Tommy’s daughter, Laura Lasorda, was already in Tollo and continues to cultivate the bond that linked her father to Abruzzo and Tollo. After the usual exchange of gifts between the American delegation and the highest municipal representatives, the entire delegation went to the area of the town’s stadium where a baseball friendly was taking place between the youth teams of Macerata and Tollo. In the evening there was the inauguration of the room in the town hall dedicated to Tommy Lasorda: a room full of memorabilia, symbols and memories linked to the great sportsman who loved his father’s town so much. A place that, although small, will tangibly represent a piece of history of a character who personified the American dream without ever forgetting his roots. Tommy, in fact, was deeply linked to his Abruzzo roots, he last visited Tollo in 1980, greeted by an exceptional enthusiasm, which inspired the birth of baseball in the country and throughout the region. Now a huge mural in the town’s stadium, in the part reserved for baseball, commemorates this great character, arousing interest and curiosity even on the part of the youngest who decide to take up this particular team sport. In the wake and in the name of Tommy, the American from Abruzzo.
