Before DiMaggio, there was Lazzeri. A home run hero, Tony Lazzeri was essential to the Yankees’ legendary Murderers’ Row. A son of immigrants, he broadened the game’s appeal and gave millions of Italian-Americans a role model. He was a shy, serious gentleman who did this while enduring revolting bigotry and secretly battling a serious medical condition.

Lawrence Baldassaro’s “Tony Lazzeri: Yankees Legend and Baseball Pioneer” tells the story, and it’s one too many have forgotten. Lazzeri’s parents, Agostino and Giulia, left Genoa poor in 1903. On the ship’s manifest, Agostino’s occupation was listed as “peasant.” The couple settled in San Francisco, and by the end of the year, had a son.