Before Di Maggio, hadYankeesthe Lazzeri

oe Di Maggio Frankie Crosetti Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto.

JBY JOE GUZZARDI

My Sicilian-born father, Giuseppe, grew up in the Bronx. Like most other Italian immigrant kids during the early 1920s, Papà soon fell in love with the New York Yankees. Since his family lived within walking distance of Yankee Stadium, Papà saw all the great Italian ballplayers – Joe Di Maggio, Frankie Crosetti, Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto. But before there was Di Maggio, the Yankees had Tony Lazzeri.

“Poosh ‘em up, Tony,” as Lazzeri became widely known among Yankee fans, was Papà’s favorite player. Lazzeri was part of the 1927 famous Murderer’s Row, a slugging group that included the Yankee lineup’s first six batters: Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Bob Meusel.

Some clarification is in order on the Murderer’s Row’s nickname origin. Thought to be derived from a row of cells in New York’s prison known as The Tombs, a jail that was reserved for the most heinous criminals, researchers uncovered the true origin. The Tombs had four tiers of cells. Convicted prisoners occupied the ground floor, and those awaiting