Bruno Conti

He was known as ‘the mayor of Rome’ – and he was such a great player that later in his career the great Pele would go on to say that he was the best player in the 1982 World Cup. But Bruno Conti had a very humble start – his home village of Nettuno was actually known as the baseball capital of Italy. It was the site of a major US Naval Base during World War 2 – and the Italian boys would watch in fascination as the American GI’s would play baseball on the beach. Eventually they started to teach the locals and a small league formed. Bruno was so good as a lefty pitcher that he was scouted by – and offered a trial with the NY Yankees – which would be the right team for an Italian – being the club of: Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra. But he chose soccer and became a legend of both club and country. I met him at his AS Roma facility where he could not have been nicer. It was a real honor to sit with the man and hear his storied career. I hope you find it as interesting as I did – SoccerPod #19 – the great Bruno Conti. Thank you for listening! If you’d like to support the podcast, we invite you to visit our merch store at www.soccerpod/shop. Orders ship the next day, and we think you’ll love the gear.And hey - follow us on all things social!  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soccer.podFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/soccerpodTwitter: https://twitter.com/SoccerPod1