During his playing career, he was an infielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball, appearing in 614 games over eight seasons, from 1962 to 1969.

[2] Tracewski was born in Eynon, Pennsylvania to Polish immigrant parents, the youngest of four children.

Tracewski also performed two years of military service during this period (1958-59); along with other baseball players, he was posted at Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Georgia.

After early and late-season trials with the 1962 Dodgers, Tracewski earned a spot as a utility infielder, getting into more than 100 games in both 1963 and 1964.

[1] In the 1963 World Series, Tracewski started at second base after regular third baseman Ken McMullen was injured during the final days of the season and Jim Gilliam was moved to third.

[2] Tracewski was on the field on August 22, 1965, when Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants struck Dodgers catcher John Roseboro on the head with a baseball bat, resulting in a 14-minute brawl.

A few weeks later, on September 9, 1965, he was the second baseman when Sandy Koufax completed his perfect game against the Chicago Cubs, having replaced Jim Lefebvre at the start of the ninth inning.

[3] He is one of the seven principle subjects of author Michael Leahy's award-winning book, The Last Innocents: The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers.