Do you know who Frank Crosetti was? He was the ultimate “True
Yankee.”
He was the starting Yankee shortstop from 1932 until Phil Rizzuto
came up in 1941. When Phil went into the army he got the job back until the war
was over and then became a bench player. More importantly he became a Yankee
coach being the third base coach for many, many years. They said he waved move
than 10,000 runner’s home during his tenure at third base.
Most importantly he was the guardian of the Yankee tradition.
He had seen how it was done since the days of Ruth and Gehrig through DiMaggio
up to Mantle and the dog days after the 1964 collapse. He was the guy who said “Yankees
don’t do that.” Smart alecks like Jim Bouton and Joe Pepitone hated him and
mocked him to his face. He had very few friends. He was rigid and unlikable. He
insisted on a pure inviolable code of conduct that you could not broach. You did
it the “Yankee” way or you were a piece of crap.
That was the reason he could never be a manager. He couldn't
work with people. He couldn't build a team and delegate responsibility to get
people to sacrifice to win. He could enforce the rules. He could be a rigid ideologue.
He was the ultimate “True Yankee.” Some people are great at being a symbol of rectitude
and consistency. The embodiment of a point of view. Cato springs to mind. Or
maybe as a negative example in American History we could point to someone like
John C Calhoun. Men who know one thing and know it to the depths of their soul.
But not people who can put together a government that will really serve the
will of the people and not be only at the service of a “tradition” or a “Philosophy.”
The “Yankee” way is a great way. I think it is the best way.
Everyone should aspire to do it the Yankee way. But I have lived long enough to
know that it is not the only way. That other ways work sometimes. The scruffy
Oakland A’s of Charley Finley’s time. The big money copycat ways of Theo
Epstein and those rat bastard Red Sox riding on the backs of steroid freaks
like Manny and Ortiz. Maybe not as traditional and honorable as the “Yankee”
way but still effective. Sometimes you have to go with something that works.
Even if it doesn't scan the way you want it to go. Joe DiMaggio and Mickey
Mantle and Derek Jeter don’t come around all that often. Sometimes you have to
try and win with Carlos Beltran and a bunch of Japs to be named later. Still
you have to be in the game.
You just don’t pick Frank Crosetti to be the manager.
9 comments:
I can see Trooper York posts just by reading the headline of the thread and the photos.
Crosetti has that immigrant stare. A look like that and you keep moving if you know what's good for you. Or maybe he was first generation. Second generation in America and they lose the stare. Also the stricter than strict code of conduct.
I would of done him. I love the dark, brooding, dangerous look.
I am not attractive to pale white guys who look like they grew up on a farm in Wisconsin.
tits.
Yeah, sometimes you have to hire someone like Jerry Tark or Larry Brown to coach your team, even though you'd like Bob Knight or John Wooden.
We used to disabuse the immigrants in my neighborhood of those stares. Remind them that they need to stop looking like immigrants lest they be put upon by the more ignorant of the area. But then again, people can't help but look dopey.
Tell that story to the Cruzadores, Troop.
It's a meataphor.
It might also be a new series.
I read the Richard Ben Kramer bio of Joe DiMaggio. It's hard to be great. Joe had an innate sense of dignity. He would send his roommate out to buy the comic books that were his preferred reading matter. He only had an 8th grade education, but he looked like he had mastered all the secrets of life.......His brother Dom was actually the smart one. He became a successful manufacturer after his playing days were over. He also had a happy marriage, and his kids did ok......But Joe DiMaggio is the stuff of legend....... Someone should do a movie about the DiMaggio brothers. Their immigrant experience is far more typical than that of the Corleones and makes for a better story.
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