1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #86 Frank Crosetti

Sunday, December 3, 2023

#86 Frank Crosetti - New York Yankees

Frank Peter Joseph Crosetti

New York Yankees

Shortstop

Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5'10" Weight: 165

Born: October 4, 1910, San Francisco, CA

Major League Teams: New York Yankees 1932-1948

World Series Appearances: New York Yankees 1932, 1936-1939, 1942-1943

Died: February 11, 2002, Stockton, CA (91)

Frankie Crosetti, nicknamed The Crow, spent nearly four decades working in the infield for the Yankees, between 1932 and 1946 as a player, and then until 1968 as the team's third base coach. Crosetti was a two-time All-Star and won seven World Series rings with the Yankees between 1932 and 1943. He'd win another 10 rings as a coach between 1947 and 1962. Occasionally accused of being the weak link in a powerful Yankees' line-up, Crosetti made up for his light hitting with steady fielding up the middle. Offensively, his best season came in 1936 when he reached career highs in all three Triple Crown categories, batting .288 with 15 home runs and 78 RBIs. He led the league with 27 stolen bases in 1938, and he also had a penchant for getting hit by pitches, leading the league in that category in eight different seasons. He batted .245 during his career with the Yankees, with 1,541 hits, 98 home runs and 649 RBIs.

Crosetti took on a player-coach role in 1947, and switched to full time coaching in 1949. He'd stay with the Yankees through the 1968 season, leaving to join the expansion Seattle Pilots in 1969 in order to be closer to his West Coast home. When the Pilots moved to Milwaukee in 1970, Crosetti joined the Twins, where he'd coach for two more seasons, finally retiring in 1971.

October 20, 2023 - Brown University
Building the Set

October 23, 2023 from Old Saybrook, CT - Card #93

On Friday, October 20th, Doug and I made a four-hour drive for a campus visit at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut. Following the tour, we drove a few more hours to Providence, Rhode Island, as he was participating in a baseball camp at Brown University that Saturday. These are exciting times, and I'm excited to be making these trips with him as he whittles down his college choices. The camp at Brown was all indoors, as it was pouring rain outside, and there were long stretches of time I couldn't see what he was doing whenever his group was stationed at the far end of Brown's indoor facility.

I scrolled social media, I did several New York Times crossword puzzles, and I browsed eBay for baseball cards. I clicked Buy It Now on this card at some point that Saturday, as Doug was in the midst of fielding drills, and the card arrived at our house a few days later. Ironically enough, the seller (ehazuka) is located in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, which is between Providence and New Haven. Had I known, I could have picked up the card on our way home!

Variations Available

1 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1936 copyright

The Card / Yankees Team Set

I found this great SABR article covering background cameo appearances in the Diamond Stars set, in which there's a loose theory put forward that the two Yankees behind Crosetti are none other than Lou Gehrig (#130) and Babe Ruth (#109). The source photo can be found on a 1933 Worch Cigar card of Crosetti - shown below. As is the case with these later series cards, the baseball tips have been replaced with some short background information on the player. The back of the card observes how Crosetti is among many young Italian-Americans who have recently entered the majors. Crosetti's double play partner, Tony Lazzeri (#74) also gets recognized as a fellow Italian-American. Everett Scott gets mentioned as well, and Scott was a shortstop who played for the Yankees between 1922 and 1925.

Finally, the double play combination of Crosetti-Lazzeri is compared to the Tigers' current double play combo of Bill Rogell (#76) and Charlie Gehringer (#77).

1936 Season

As mentioned above, this was Crosetti's strongest year offensively. He played in 151 games for the Yankees, starting at shortstop in all but four games in late August. In the World Series, won by the Yankees over the Giants in six games, Crosetti batted .269 (7 for 26).