The Italian Scout: Baseball and the Center of the Pandemic

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2020

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Major League Baseball's season went on indefinite hiatus last week in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In parts of the world beyond the US, that chaos had already brought life and work to a halt. ESPN's Jeff Passan brings us the story of René Saggiadi, a Red Sox scout based in the Italian city of Bari. As his country deals with increasing contagion, we hear what happens when life and baseball pause, and how he's staying connected to the sport he loves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	So yeah, in Italy we have noticed that after a while it gets to young people as well.
0:10.0	Patient 1 is a super fit, 38 year old who that same week had been running a marathon and then he reported to the hospital.
0:18.0	He was attached to a breathing machine for 19 days.
0:21.7	He survived, but that made it obvious that it wasn't just about weak people or people with preconditions or old people,
0:29.3	who obviously all need to be protected anyway. These cases actually end up getting everybody.
0:36.5	I am in southern Italy, Badi is the name of the place, it's on the Adriatic Sea.
0:42.3	It's basically the heel of the boot, just to give you an idea.
0:46.3	It's a place that hasn't been hit hard yet by the contagion, but we're all staying inside to prevent it, of course.
0:57.9	It's a beautiful day, actually, here.
1:00.6	The sun is out, and there's not a cloud in the sky.
1:04.1	It would be a perfect day for a baseball game if we could have one.
1:07.9	It would be great to be going outside.
1:09.9	We just cannot do that.
1:12.8	The coronavirus pandemic led Major League Baseball to hit pause in the United States.
1:18.4	But in other parts of the world, change and tragedy arrived even more abruptly.
1:25.5	Today, MLB insider Jeff Passon brings us the story of a Red Sox Scout living in Italy,
1:33.1	where baseball and life have come crashing to a halt.
1:38.8	I'm Mina Kimes.
1:40.1	It's Friday, March 20th.
1:42.3	This is ESPN Daily, presented by ADT.
1:50.1	Today, I am turning the interview mic over to ESPN senior writer Jeff Passon,
1:54.8	who you've heard on ESPN Daily from the start.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from ESPN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of ESPN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.