The First Italian American Baseball Pioneers

LEWIS PESSANO known as "BUTTERCUP" DICKERSON is a pioneer for Italian Americans. He is credited as being the first Italian American professional baseball player, paving the way for many greats to come after him. Due to the prejudice against Italians & Americans of European descent back in those early days, many people change their names to make them sound more American. (Very unlike today where people want to sound non American and get everything handed to them.) Pessano changed his to Dickerson, and was known by the nick name Buttercup. The origins of that name come from a character in the Gilbert & Sullivan play H.F.S. Pinafore.

Lewis Pessano was born on October 11, 1858 near Baltimore Maryland. He began his playing career back in 1878 as an outfielder with the Cincinnati Red Legs. He led the league in triples (14) in 1879 while hitting .294 the following season. He was mostly a part time player, also playing for the Troy Trojans & Worcester Ruby Legs batting .316 in 1881. After that season he was put on the National League's blacklist (probably because of his ethnicity) but did get reinstated the next year. In 1883 he went to play for the Pittsburgh Allegheny’s, who were known as one of the hardest drinking teams of all time. He went to play briefly with franchises in St. Louis, Buffalo, Baltimore & Louisville. Pessano played in 408 career games with 500 hits and a .284 batting average.

He died in July of 1920 in Baltimore, Maryland at age 61. He was inducted into the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 1979 as one of its first members.

___________________________________

EDWARD ABBATICCHIO, also known as “Batty”, is the second Italian American to play major league baseball, although many sources have him down as the first. One thing for certain, "Batty" didn’t change his name to sound more American. Not only is he a baseball pioneer, but he is also the first Italian American to play pro football.

Edward James Abbaticchio was born on April 15, 1877 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He came from a wealthy family and played for the love of the game, not for the money. After playing semi pro ball, he made his MLB debut in September 1897 with the Philadelphia Phillies. He played there briefly for two seasons, then moved on to the “beer & whiskey league”. Next he went to the Southern League where he led the league in hitting twice.

He came back to the major leagues playing short stop & second base for the Boston Bean Eaters from 1903-1905. Abbaticchio was a fine defensive player, leading the league in put outs, fielding percentage, and errors twice. He was a fast base runner, stealing over twenty bases five times. He led the American League with 610 at bats in 1905 hitting .270, with career highs in doubles (25) and triples (7) while stealing 30 bases.

After the 1906 season he retired from playing ball and ran a hotel in Latrobe, PA that was owned by his father. The Pittsburgh Pirates convinced him to return to baseball and in 1907 he became their second baseman. He played alongside the great Hounus Wagner for three years, and the two became good friends. By 1909 he was a reserve player, batting .230 with 12 RBIs & two stolen bases for the Pirates World Champion team. He made one pich hit appearance in the World Series, striking out. He finished his baseball career after nine seasons, playing in 855 games with a .254 batting average, 11 HRs, 324 RBIs, 43 triples and 142 stolen bases.

In 1895 Abbaticchio was a member of the first American professional football team, the Latrobe Volunteer Firemen Football Club. He was a star full back and kicker, who gets credit for developing the spiral punt. He was played a hefty $50 a game to play football in 1895.

After playing sports he continued to run his Hotel, the Latrobe House until his retirement in 1932. He moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and passed away there on January 5, 1957 at age 79. He was inducted into the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame as one of its first members.