ABSTRACT
Introduction: Lack of Identity In 1877 Cesare Orsini brought 14 professional players from Italy to New York to demonstrate “pallone,” a game similar to jai alai that he proclaimed to be the Italian national sport. The Italians expected a measure of wealth from their venture; but their efforts proved a dismal failure and left the players stranded until a series of fundraising events earned enough to send them home. That same year Lewis Pessano “Buttercup” Dickerson joined the Cincinnati baseball team in the National League. Although Dickerson’s Italian heritage is debated, the incidents present some historical questions as to the nature of sport and Italian identity.1 Orsini’s claim of pallone as the Italian national sport assumes an Italian national identity at that time, and the debate relative to Dickerson questions the role of sport in the transition to an American identity among Italians who had migrated to the United States.
