"(Tony) not only was a great ballplayer, he was a great man. He was a leader. He was like a manager on the field." Yankee teammate, shortstop Frankie Crosetti.

Tony was part of the famed "Murderers' Row" Yankee batting lineup of the late 1920s (most notably the legendary 1927 team), along with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Bob Meusel.

South Market Street in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow district was a rough neighborhood at the turn of the century. Living there at the time was an Italian born boilermaker named Augustine Lazzeri. On December 6, 1903, his wife Julia (Cheasa), also from Italy, gave birth to a son – Anthony (Tony) Michael Lazzeri. Growing up in Cow Hollow, Tony often got into fights. “I guess I was a pretty tough kid,” recalled Lazzeri.

After playing in minor league baseball from 1922 through 1925, Tony joined the Yankees in 1926. He was nicknamed "Poosh 'Em Up" by Italian-speaking fans, from a mistranslation of an Italian phrase meaning to "hit it out" (hit a home run).

Tony was voted onto the very first All-Star Game in 1933, in which teammates Babe Ruth homered and Lefty Gomez got the win for the AL.

Lazzeri is one of only 14 major league baseball players to hit for the natural cycle (hitting a single, double, triple and home run in sequence) and the only player to complete a natural cycle with a grand slam. He also holds the American League record for the most RBI in a single game, with 11 on May 24, 1936. In that same 1936 game, he became the first major league player to hit two grand slams in one game. Lazzeri was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1991.

Unfortunately, he is sometimes remembered for striking out vs. Grover Cleveland Alexander of the Cardinals in the 1926 World Series 7th game with the bases loaded and two out, quelling the Yankee's threat and giving the Cardinals the Championship.

(excerpted from SABR, BR Bullpen & Wikipedia)