Frank Peter Joseph Crosetti (October 4, 1910 – February 11, 2002) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

. Nicknamed "The Crow", he spent his entire seventeen-year

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

playing career with the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

before becoming a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

with the franchise for an additional twenty seasons. As a player and

third base coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisio ...

for the Yankees, Crosetti was part of seventeen World Championship teams and 23

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

participants overall (1932–1964), the most of any individual.

Early years

Crosetti was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, and grew up in North Beach, which was something of a hotbed of

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

talent on the

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during the 1920s and 1930s (

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Charlie Silvera Charles Anthony Ryan Silvera (October 13, 1924 – September 7, 2019) was an American Major League Baseball player and coach. Nicknamed Swede, he was part of six World Series championships with the New York Yankees. Early years Silvera was born ...

and the three DiMaggio brothers also hail from the same neighborhood). Before joining the Yankees, Crosetti played four seasons with the San Francisco Seals of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

New York Yankees

Crosetti joined the Yankees in , and batted .241 with five

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 57

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

at the bottom of the Yankees' batting order. He was part of a World Series championship his first year in the big leagues as the Yankees completed a four-game sweep of the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

in the 1932 World Series two days shy of Crosetti's 22nd birthday. The finest year of Crosetti's career came in , when he batted .288 with fifteen home runs, 78 runs batted in, and 137

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls ...

, all career highs. Batting lead-off, he was named an

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

All-Star for the first time in his career, and reached the World Series for the second time. Crosetti batted .269 in the Yankees' six game victory over the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

in the 1936 World Series, and drove in the winning run in the Yankees' 2–1 victory in game three. The 1936 season was the first of a string of four World Series titles for Crosetti and the Yankees. After a poor season, he lost his starting shortstop job to

Phil Rizzuto Philip Francis Rizzuto (September 25, 1917 – August 13, 2007), nicknamed "The Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career with the New York Yankees (1941–1956), and was elected to th ...

in . He was given back the starting shortstop job when Rizzuto joined the

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for battle in World War II; however, he became a reserve once again when Rizzuto rejoined the club in . Crosetti then became a player/coach for the club through the season.

Career stats

In 29 World Series games, Crosetti batted .174 with one home run, 11 runs batted in, and 16 runs scored. His only World Series home run was a two-run shot off

Dizzy Dean Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974), also known as Jerome Herman Dean (both the 1910 and 1920 Censuses show his name as "Jay"), was an American professional baseball pitcher. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) career ...

in game two of the 1938 World Series that gave the Yankees a 4–3 lead over the Cubs. Perhaps Crosetti's second most memorable moment in postseason play occurred in game three of the 1942 World Series when he shoved

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

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, an act for which he received a $250 fine from Commissioner

Kenesaw Mountain Landis Kenesaw Mountain Landis (; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his ...

and was suspended the first 30 games of the season. He led the American League in

plate appearances In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner ...

twice ( and ), stolen bases once (1938), strikeouts twice ( and 1938) and in being hit by pitches eight times (, 1936–40, and ). Crosetti was known as the weak link in the Yankees batting order, but he was also known as a slick fielder and for his ability to pull off the

hidden ball trick A hidden ball trick is a play in which a player deceives the opposing team about the location of the ball. Hidden ball tricks are most commonly observed in baseball, where the defence deceives the runner about the location of the ball, to tag out t ...

. He earned eight

World Series ring A World Series ring is an award given to Major League Baseball players who win the World Series. Since only one Commissioner's Trophy is awarded to the team, a World Series ring is an individual award that players and staff of each World Series ...

s as a player, and was a two-time All-Star (1936 and 1939).

Coaching career

Crosetti became

with the Yankees in 1947 and was part of an additional nine World Series championships as a coach with the franchise after he retired as a player following the 1948 season. He was said to be the "perfect coach", because he had no ambition whatsoever to manage, turning down numerous offers over the years to do so. After 37 years, longing to be closer to his family in Northern California, he left the franchise to join the expansion

Seattle Pilots The Seattle Pilots were an American professional baseball, professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington during the 1969 Major League Baseball season. During their single-season existence, the Pilots played their ho ...

in . He moved to the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

from to , after the Pilots (who became the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

) didn't renew his contract. It has been said of Crosetti that he has waved home 16,000 runners in 25 years in the third-base coaching box.

Death

Crosetti died in 2002 at age 91 from complications of a fall in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

and was entombed at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma. He was survived by his wife of 63 years, Norma, his son, John, and his daughter, Ellen. He was the last surviving member of the 1932, 1936, 1937, and 1939 World Champion New York Yankees.

References

External links

, o
Baseball Almanac
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Baseball Biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crosetti, Frankie 1910 births 2002 deaths Baseball coaches from California American sportspeople of Italian descent American League All-Stars American League stolen base champions Baseball players from San Francisco Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California) Major League Baseball shortstops Major League Baseball third base coaches Minnesota Twins coaches New York Yankees coaches New York Yankees players Sportspeople from New Rochelle, New York San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Seattle Pilots coaches Deaths from falls