Crosetti spent 37 years with the Yankees as a player and then coach, but wanted to be closer to his family in Northern California, so he took the coaching gig for Seattle before working with the Minnesota Twins in 1970 & 1971.
Crosetti was a part of 17 World Champion Yankee teams between 1932 and 1962, and 23 American League Champion squads up to 1964.
As a player he was a two-time All-Star who scored 100+ runs four times, with a high of 137 for the juggernaut 1936 team when he had his finest year, hitting .288 with 182 hits, 35 doubles, 15 homers and 78 RBIs.
It wasn’t until a young new shortstop named Phil Rizzuto came along that he’d lose his starting position, though he did fill in as regular shortstop when Rizzuto was in the military during World War II.
He hung up the cleats after the 1948 season and went right to coaching, never having an interest in managing as he turned down numerous offers over his coaching career.
Crosetti lived a wonderful long life, until the age of 91 before passing away from complications from a fall in 2002.
A true baseball institution.
