Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

Isotope and Triple-A All-Star Valentino Pascucci

Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

Isotopes first baseman Valentino Pascucci smiles at his 5-month-old daughter, Giovanna, as his wife, Kate, tickles her with a stuffed toy. The family has a home in Baton Rouge, La., but Kate and Giovanna travel to Albuquerque to be with him during long homestands.

Photo by Erin FredrichsTribune

Tribune

Isotopes fan Max Schwartz, 8, leans over first baseman Valentino Pascucci as they search for Pascucci's baseball card for an autograph. Pascucci was one of three Albuquerque players selected to play in Wednesday's Triple-A All-Star Game at Isotopes Park.

Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

Valentino Pascucci (right) swings a bat while waiting for his turn in the batting cage during a recent practice. The Isotopes slugging first baseman leads the team with 21 homers and 71 RBIs.

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The Albuquerque Isotopes' Valentino Pascucci envisions his 5-month-old daughter, Giovanna, one day running through the hilly countryside of Guardia Di Lombardi, Italy.

Maybe she could roll balls of dough through thinly cut wires to make authentic Italian pasta, like Pascucci's Uncle Gaetano or Aunt Giovanna used to do.

She could drink water out of ®MDIT¯cantinas®MDNM¯ and pick tomatoes from the gardens outside of the family cottage.

She could meet relatives like Uncle Rocco or cousin Carmine.

This was Pascucci's experience as an 8-year-old. It was then that his father, also named Valentino, was reuniting with his family after 28 years of false connections and lost hope.

When the elder Valentino was 8, his family shipped him to the United States because that was his best chance to receive an education in the late 1950s.

The younger Valentino, a starting outfielder in Wednesday's Triple-A All-Star Game at Isotopes Park, has worn No. 53 all season for the Albuquerque Isotopes. But No. 8 represents an Italian state of mind that taught this 6-foot-6, 240-pound giant how to care.

This is why Pascucci would like Giovanna to view her heritage for the first time when she turns 8.

"Here, we can throw our clothes in the laundry room," Pascucci said. "They had to wash everything by hand in like a 7-foot freshwater spring that was a mile from their house. But it didn't matter. Everyone was happy, and the kids were running around. They were happy to be family. That taught me a lot about life."

To understand the younger Valentino and his gentle ways is to hear his father's life lessons, the type of lessons taught through experiencing the depths of pain.

The Italian way in Guardia, a small town in southern Italy outside of Naples, is to put family first.

The elder Valentino missed the Guardia hillside when living in Pueblo, Colo., with a foster family he didn't know and a culture that required adjustments. He lived what he calls a rough upbringing until he left the house at age 21 to attend Southern Colorado University.

Italian pride had the elder Valentino determined to get a job, find a wife and cultivate a loving environment for his children.

He received a new start in Cerritos, Calif., where he met his wife, Gina, Pascucci's mother, and earned a living by moving heavy equipment for a California department store.

It was enough to support their two children, Valentino and Stephanie, who is two years younger.

Despite Valentino's expansive frame since youth, he learned not to bully others.

"I tried not to go into detail about what happened to me," Pascucci said. "But I knew we were going to be different. If you respect people, they'll respect you back. You have to approach things a different way. You have to be loving."

Now a 28-year-old father of one with a wife, Kate, Pascucci has a soft touch that would make his dad beam with pride.

Pascucci might take his eyes off the ball when he strikes out, but he can't seem to take his large eyes off his tiny daughter.

Giovanna makes a father who rides motorcycles and sports ®MDNM¯®MDNM¯®MDNM¯®MDNM¯leather-tough facial hair seem as tame as a lamb.

At a recent lunch with his wife at an Albuquerque restaurant, Pascucci grabbed his daughter's waist with two hands and lifted her, smiling from ear to ear with excited eyes.

"Whaaat urr yoooou doing?" Pascucci asks her.

On the baseball field, his demeanor is all business.

And business is good for Pascucci.

Almost 4,000 fans voted Pascucci into the Triple-A All-Star Game. A fan favorite at virtually every stop, Pascucci used to have his own cheering section of Japanese fans at his games for the Chiba Lotte Marines.

But that's business.

For Pascucci, Giovanna is his emotional refuge.

"It doesn't matter if I struck out three times or had the worst day," Pascucci said. "When I look into my daughter's eyes, it's like there are no problems. Everything's all right. That's really changed my life."

Changing diapers and singing Giovanna to sleep is an image Pascucci was missing five years ago. Pascucci was always the fun-loving Italian who wanted to play baseball, have a little fun after the game, drink a little beer.

You know, the life of a ballplayer.

But a fight inside Pascucci raged that he couldn't ignore.

The bars got old. So did the baseball life without a family to ring on the cell phone after a big victory or crushing defeat.

These days, he's swinging a cradle every time he's home.

"This is what he's always wanted," Pascucci's father said. "He's going to be a great dad. Now he can't wait to have a son."

Pascucci's hopes of a family intersected with fate at a karaoke bar in Pennsylvania while on the road. That's where he met Kate. The two hit it off and decided to date long distance while Pascucci was traveling with Triple-A Edmonton, the Montreal Expos' former affiliate before the Washington Nationals took over.

Pascucci has 62 major league at-bats, all with the Montreal Expos in 2004. He hit .177, with two home runs.

Kate realized early on in their relationship that Pascucci was destined for family life because, well, it seems everybody wants to be in his family.

He greets fans with a smile while signing hats and balls with a Sharpie. Japanese fans called him "The Italian Bazooka" while he helped Chiba to Japan's Pacific League title.

The Isotopes Media Relations Department said there's a since-lost YouTube video of a group of 50 fans chanting "Pass-cu-chi" while he bats. Pascucci enjoyed Japanese celebrity status until he was cut after the 2006 season, but his .222 average that year didn't deter fans on the street from hawking him.

"He's just so laid-back and approachable," said Kate, a former schoolteacher who now takes care of the family's four-bedroom home in Baton Rouge, La., while Pascucci is on the road. "There aren't any pretenses with him. He's just who he is, a good guy who cares about people. Just by watching him interact, I knew he'd be a good father."

Channeling the emotional side is nothing new for Pascucci because of his father's emotional high that came on a September day in the mid-80s. That's the day the elder Valentino saw his father, Antonio, and the rest of the Pascucci family in Guardia after 28 years in the United States.

One of Valentino's nine siblings found an agency, the Adoptees' Liberty Movement Association, to organize what became a tear-filled reunion.

Pascucci acted like he was born and raised in Italy, playing with the kids on the hillside and throwing rocks through the windows of abandoned buildings.

(It seems he's always been good a throwing things. Pascucci could chuck a baseball 93 mph in college.)

As the family visited Italy two more times, Pascucci started imitating his father's personality.

All those fatherly lessons came into play once pain fell flat on Pascucci's doorstep as a 21-year-old.

Dad knew pain, so Pascucci knew how to face it, too.

After his mother, Gina, got a breast cancer diagnosis in 2000, Pascucci didn't panic. He took care of her, overseeing her daily medicine intake and meals out of their California home.

He loved as he had learned. Gina survived the cancer.

"That was one of the toughest things I went through," Pascucci said. "But once you go through those things, it really does make you stronger. I'm thankful she's alive."

As much as the Pascuccis value family, one thing is certain away from home Í the oldest son belongs on a baseball field almost every day.

Some of the first things Pascucci saw the day of his birth were a baseball and a Yankees jersey his father, Valentino, brought to the Bellflower, Calif., hospital.

Pascucci, who became an Atlanta Braves fan, said he knew he was destined for home-run hitting when as a youngster he practiced hitting baseballs over the roof of his house.

Over time, baseball became part of the family. So did Giovanna.

"I always knew this was kind of supposed to be my life, to raise a family the right way," Pascucci said. "That's our way."