| Fritz Peterson | |
|---|---|
 Peterson in 1970 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born:(1942-02-08)February 8, 1942 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | |
| Died: October 19, 2023(2023-10-19) (aged 81) Winona, Minnesota, U.S. | |
Batted: Switch Threw: Left | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 15, 1966, for the New York Yankees | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| June 19, 1976, for the Texas Rangers | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 133–131 |
| Earned run average | 3.30 |
| Strikeouts | 1,015 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Fred Ingels Peterson (February 8, 1942 – October 19, 2023) was an American professionalbaseballpitcher who played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for theNew York Yankees,Cleveland Indians, andTexas Rangers from 1966 to 1976.
Peterson was aleft handed starting pitcher who enjoyed his best success in 1970 with the Yankees when he went 20–11 and pitched in theAll-Star game. He was widely known for trading families with teammateMike Kekich in the early 1970s. He had a career record of 133–131. Peterson had the lowest ratio ofbase on balls per innings pitched for any left-handed pitcher to pitch in the major leagues since the 1920s.[1]
Peterson attendedArlington High School inArlington Heights, Illinois. He andGene Dahlquist anchored the baseball team'sstarting rotation.[2]
Peterson attendedNorthern Illinois University. He was viewed as a promisingice hockey player and gave up playing hockey to concentrate on baseball. He playedcollege baseball for theNorthern Illinois Huskies. TheNew York Yankees signed Peterson in 1963 as an amateur free agent by Yankee scoutLou Maguolo.[3]
After signing with the Yankees, Peterson was assigned to theHarlan Yankees of theRookie-levelAppalachian League. In twelve games (ten starts), he had a 4–3win–loss record with a 4.43earned run average (ERA); he struck out 80 batters in 61innings pitched. He alsobatted .273 with onehome run.[4] In 1964, Peterson played for theShelby Yankees in theClass AWestern Carolinas League. In 21games started, Peterson amassed a 10–7 record, with a 2.73 ERA; he struck out a team-leading 194 batters in 155 innings. He also hit .345 with four home runs.[5] He played winter ball in the 1964 Florida East Coast Instructional League; he had a 7–2 record with a 1.68 ERA, striking out 45 batters in 59 innings.[6]
Assigned to theGreensboro Yankees of the Class ACarolina League in 1965, Peterson had an 11–1 record in fourteen starts, with a 1.50 ERA, and 83 strikeouts in 108 innings. He was later moved up to theColumbus Confederate Yankees in the Class AASouthern League. He went 5–5 with a 2.18 ERA in twelve starts with 62 strikeouts in 91 innings.[7] Yankees minor league pitching coachCloyd Boyer was credited with helping Peterson become a star pitcher.[3]
Peterson was invited to spring training with the Yankees in 1966.[3] Yankees managerJohnny Keane was high on Peterson, telling reporters that he averaged three strikeouts for every walk in the minors.[8] At age 24, he became the number two starter on the Yankees pitching staff.
He made his major league debut on Friday, April 15, 1966, against theBaltimore Orioles. Before a crowd of 35,624 atMemorial Stadium in Baltimore, Peterson pitched acomplete game, striking out three batters and walking none. The Yankees won 3–2, giving Peterson his first major league victory. Future Hall of FamerFrank Robinson hit a solo home run off of Peterson in the ninth inning, but he gotBrooks Robinson to fly out to left andBoog Powell grounded out to first to give the Yankees the win. The losing pitcher wasWally Bunker. His first major league strikeouts werePaul Blair,Andy Etchebarren, and Bunker.[9]
"Where the vintage pitchers likeWhitey Ford,Pedro Ramos, andBob Friend had failed, Frederick (Fritz) Peterson succeeded yesterday for the New York Yankees. In his first major league game, the 24-year-old left-hander beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3–2, and drew an accolade from his manager, Johnny Keane," the New York Times wrote of his debut. Keane said: "Not many young pitchers have his control. That's his strength, that and his fastball."[10]
In his rookie season, Peterson went 12–11 in 32 starts for the Yankees. He had a 3.31 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 215 innings. He tiedMel Stottlemyre (12–20) as the team leader in wins.[11]
Peterson went 8–14 in 1967 (3.47 ERA, 102 strikeouts), 12–11 in 1968 (2.63 ERA, 115 strikeouts), and 17–16 in 1969 (2.55 ERA, 150 strikeouts). He had the best season of his career in 1970, with a 20–11 record (2.90 ERA, 127 strikeouts). He went 15–13 in 1971 (3.05 ERA, 130 strikeouts), 17–15 in 1972 (3.24 ERA, 100 strikeouts), and 8–15 in 1973 (3.95 ERA, 59 strikeouts). In 1969 and 1970, Peterson had the best strikeout-to-walk ratios in the AL. Peterson also led the league in fewest walks per 9 innings pitched 5 years in a row, 1968–1972. The last pitcher who did that 5 years in a row wasCy Young. In 1970 and 1975, he had the 10th-best win–loss percentages in the league.[11]
In his nine years as a Yankees pitcher, Peterson had a 109–106 record, with a 3.10 ERA and 893 strikeouts.[11] Between 1969 and 1972, Peterson was one of the most successful left handed pitchers in baseball; onlyMike Cuellar,Mickey Lolich, andDave McNally won more games in the American League than Peterson did during those four years.[3] He is ninth on the Yankees All-Time Games Started list, and tenth on the All-Time Yankees Innings Pitched list.[3]
Peterson never played in a post-season game with the Yankees. "Mediocre at best," Peterson said of the Yankee teams that followed theMantle-Maris era of the mid to late 1960s. "Pathetic at worst."[12]
Peterson was named to the 1970 AL All-Star team. The American League team was leading 4–1 in the bottom of the ninth inning whenCatfish Hunter gave up a home run and two singles. With runners at first and second, Peterson was called in by AL ManagerEarl Weaver to replace Hunter. Future Hall of FamerWillie McCovey singled to right, driving inBud Harrelson, with future HOF'erJoe Morgan moving to third. Fellow Yankee Stottlemyre then replaced Peterson.[13]
Peterson's pitching seemed to suffer in 1973 and 1974 after the swap, and he was roundly booed in nearly everyAmerican League ballpark afterwards. The Yankees traded Peterson,Steve Kline,Fred Beene, andTom Buskey to theCleveland Indians forChris Chambliss,Dick Tidrow, andCecil Upshaw on April 26, 1974.[14] Peterson went 9–14 for the Indians in 1974,[15] and 14–8 in 1975.[16]
After a 0–3 start with a 5.55 ERA in nine games, the Indians traded Peterson to theTexas Rangers forStan Perzanowski and cash on May 29, 1976.[17] He started two games for the Rangers and had a 1–0 record when a shoulder injury ended his season. The Rangers released him on February 2, 1977. Two weeks later, he signed as afree agent with theChicago White Sox. After his second shoulder surgery, Peterson announced his retirement from baseball on May 4, 1977.[18]
Peterson and fellow Yankee pitcherMike Kekich swapped wives and children, an arrangement the pair announced atspring training in March 1973. The Peterson and Kekich families had been friends since 1969. Peterson and the former Susanne Kekich remained married, but the relationship between Kekich and Marilyn Peterson only lasted a few months.[19] By June, the Yankees traded Kekich.[20]
"It's a love story. It wasn't anything dirty," Peterson told a reporter in 2013. "I could not be happier with anybody in the world. 'Mama' and I go out and party every night. We're still on the honeymoon and it has been a real blessing."[21]
Peterson providedcolor commentary for theNew York Raiders of theWorld Hockey Association during the 1972–73 season.[22] Later, Peterson and Susanne Kekich lived outsideChicago, where he worked as a blackjack dealer at the Grand Victoria Casino inElgin, Illinois.[23]Jim Bouton discussed Peterson in his bestselling 1970non-fiction bookBall Four, but Peterson was unhappy to find out after the fact that Bouton had been keeping a diary of the season.[24]
Peterson released his first book,Mickey Mantle Is Going to Heaven in July 2009.[24] He authoredThe Art of De-Conditioning: Eating Your Way to Heaven, where he wrote about his decision to "accept his own eating habits and no longer worry about his weight affecting him on the field."[25] His third book,When the Yankees Were on the Fritz: Revisiting the Horace Clarke Era, looks at a low-point in Yankee history when the team could not win apennant despite the pitching combination of Peterson and Stottlemyre.[26][27]
Peterson survivedprostate cancer twice. He was an "intensively religious" man, an "evangelical Christian who used to work withBaseball Chapel."[24]
A knownpractical joker, Peterson was reportedly popular with this teammates, entertaining them with his elaborate jokes.[28] He once used fakeBaseball Hall of Fame letterhead to askMoose Skowron to donate his pacemaker after he died, and used fake Yankees letterhead to askClete Boyer to participate in an "official drinking contest" againstDon Larsen andGraig Nettles.[29]
Peterson was a regular attendee at the Yankees Fantasy Camp in Florida,[30][31] and the YankeesOld-Timers' Day game atYankee Stadium.[32]
In April 2018, Peterson revealed in an interview with theNew York Post that he had been diagnosed withAlzheimer's disease in September 2017.[33][34] He died at the age of 81 fromlung cancer at his home inWinona, Minnesota, on October 19, 2023.[35] His death was not announced publicly until April 12, 2024.[36][37]
In an interview with the New York Post in April 2018, Peterson said he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in September 2017.
"I've been diagnosed with Alzheimer's," he revealed toThe Post in a phone interview. ... "I was diagnosed last September, but when I say that I don't even know what year that was," Peterson said.
Neither announcement said when or where he died or cited a cause.
| International | |
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| National | |