L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano E do Vanni was as feisty as they c o m e . S o m e c a l l e d h i m a firebrand; oth- ers, a hothead. His wife once said he could start a fight in an empty room. How much of that head- strong nature was just for show is hard to know. But no one disputes the fact that Edo Vanni was a talented athlete. Called the heart and soul of Seattle baseball, he is well-remembered for his time with the Seattle Rainiers during its early years. In fact, Vanni was a key member of the team when it won three straight pennants in the Pacific Coast League in 1939, 1940 and 1941 -- the y e a r s t h a t t u r n e d S e a t t l e into a baseball-crazed town. Vanni was born in 1918 in Black Diamond, Wash., to Raffaello and Esterina, who h a d i m m i g r a t e d t o W a s h i n g t o n s t a t e f r o m Garfagnana, Italy. Raffaello had found work as a coal miner in Black Diamond, a small town about 25 miles southeast of Seattle along a r i d g e o f t h e C a s c a d e s . A company town, it was built for, and named after, the B l a c k D i a m o n d C o a l C o m p a n y o f N o r t o n v i l l e , C a l i f . M o s t o f t h e e a r l y I t a l i a n i m m i g r a n t s w e r e from Sicily, Calabria and Basilicata, eager to escape the bone-wrenching poverty of their native land. Working conditions in the mines were extremely dan- g e r o u s , e x p l o s i o n s w e r e c o m m o n , a n d a c c i d e n t insurance was nonexistent. T h o s e w h o c o u l d e s c a p e were happy to do so. The V a n n i f a m i l y e v e n t u a l l y moved to Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood where Edo attended Queen Anne High School. A gifted ath- lete, he played both football and baseball. Vanni later reminisced about his stint as a young clubhouse attendant for the Rainiers predecessors, the Seattle Indians. He told sto- ries of cleaning the spikes f o r P a c i f i c C o a s t L e a g u e p l a y e r s , i n c l u d i n g J o e DiMaggio, and waiting on Babe Ruth who was in town for an exhibition tour. V a n n i a t t e n d e d t h e University of Washington on a n a t h l e t i c s c h o l a r s h i p , again playing both sports. B u t d u r i n g h i s f r e s h m a n year, he opted out of higher e d u c a t i o n a n d i n s t e a d signed a contract in 1938 with the Seattle Rainiers. E m i l S i c k , o w n e r o f t h e Rainier Brewery Company, had just purchased the ailing Seattle Indians ball club and renamed them the Rainiers. As part of the deal, UW football coach Jim Phelan had coaxed Sick into offer- i n g t h e t e e n a g e r 4 , 0 0 0 shares of Rainier Brewery stock at 25 cents a share. Those shares grew in value many times over and provid- e d V a n n i a n d h i s w i f e Margaret a financial cushion in their later years. Sales f r o m t h e R a i n i e r s t o c k allowed him to buy a house for his parents and an apart- m e n t b u i l d i n g o n Q u e e n Anne that he later managed. In June 1938, Sick con- s t r u c t e d a n e w s t e e l a n d concrete baseball stadium in R a i n i e r V a l l e y , s o u t h o f d o w n t o w n . S i c k ' s S e a t t l e Stadium hosted thousands of ball games over the years until it closed in 1976 (It was demolished in 1979). During the Rainiers glory days of 1939-1941, Vanni hit better than .300 and led the 1940 team with an amazing performance of .333. He missed most of his fourth season because of a broken leg. But at this point, there was no going back: baseball became his life. A f t e r t h e J a p a n e s e a t t a c k e d P e a r l H a r b o r , V a n n i e n l i s t e d i n t h e U S Navy at his father's urging-- a way to give back to their a d o p t e d c o u n t r y . V a n n i spent most of his four years o f s e r v i c e s t a t i o n e d i n Florida. After the war, in the late 1940s and 1950s, he moved a r o u n d t h e W e s t e r n I n t e r n a t i o n a l b a s e b a l l league, either as a player or m a n a g e r , o r s o m e t i m e s both, affiliated with teams in S p o k a n e , V a n c o u v e r , Victoria, Wenatchee, Yakima and the Tri-Cities. Starting with his debut as a rookie right fielder in 1938 with the first Rainiers team, it was only fitting that Vanni RITA CIPALLA r e t u r n e d t o t h e b a l l c l u b more than 25 years later as a m a n a g e r f o r t h e f i n a l Rainiers team in 1964. He was then general manager for the Seattle Angels from 1965-1968, and director of group ticket sales and spe- cial events for the Seattle Pilots in 1969, a baseball ambassador position which turned out to be a one-year g i g . H e s t r a y e d f r o m t h e Pacific Northwest only once, when he signed on with a team in Alabama. A s w i t h m a n y t a l e n t e d athletes, Vanni knew what t h e c r o w d s l o v e d a n d w o r k e d h a r d t o g i v e i t t o t h e m , w h e t h e r t r a d i n g insults with umpires or bait- i n g o p p o s i n g t e a m m e m - bers. He was famous for his fights and other theatrics on t h e b a l l f i e l d . " I s t a r t e d about 30 fights in one year," h e o n c e t o l d T h e S e a t t l e Times. "That was my job – stir up the ball club." He once wrestled a black bear before a game in Wenatchee t o d r a w f a n s t o t h e l o c a l ballpark. In his later years, Vanni became a diehard Seattle Mariners fan. The club was delighted with his enthusi- asm and support, rewarding him with a lifetime pass and his own parking spot. Edo Vanni died on April 30, 2007, at the age of 89. At t h e t i m e , M a r i n e r s t e a m president Chuck Armstrong expressed the club's sympa- thy to the Vanni family, call- ing Edo "a great personal f r i e n d o f m i n e a n d t h e Mariners, and a key link to the history of baseball in Seattle…We shall miss him at the ballpark and in the city of Seattle, and I shall personally miss all the won- d e r f u l a d v i c e h e g a v e m e over the years." The following day, May 1, 2007, the Mariners honored V a n n i ' s m e m o r y w i t h a moment of silence before a game against the Chicago White Sox. (The Mariners won, 5-2.) Vanni left behind h i s w i f e o f 6 0 y e a r s , M a r g a r e t , s o n E d o J r . , daughter Joanne and three grandchildren. Edo Vanni (1918-2007) was part of the legendary Seattle Rainiers baseball team when it won the Pacific Coast Championship three years in a row (HistoryLink.org) Edo Vanni at bat in Los Angeles in 1938 (MOHAI). Edo Vanni: the heart and soul of Seattle baseball SEATTLE ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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