{"id":96849,"date":"2025-03-05T18:55:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T23:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=96849"},"modified":"2025-03-05T19:14:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T00:14:18","slug":"peterson-kekich-trade-yankees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/03\/05\/peterson-kekich-trade-yankees\/","title":{"rendered":"March 5th in Baseball History: An Unusual Yankees Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was an uneventful 1973 New York Yankees spring training until Fritz Peterson<\/a> and Mike Kekich<\/a> announced an unusual trade. It didn\u2019t involve waivers or players to be named later. Instead, the two left-handed pitchers had traded families in October 1972. It was a complete swap \u2013 wives, children, and even dogs. The Petersons had two sons, ages 5 and 2. The Kekiches had two daughters, ages 4 and 2. Kekich surrendered a Bedlington terrier in exchange for Peterson\u2019s poodle.<\/p>\n

Yankees Peterson and Kekich Swap Families in Unusual Trade<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The trade wasn\u2019t made public until the two pitchers disclosed it in separate interviews with the media on the following March 5. It was four years after the wife-swapping comedy\/drama Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice<\/em> hit a theatre near you (or near somebody) and three years after the erstwhile Yankee pitcher Jim Bouton<\/a>\u2019s book, Ball Four<\/em><\/a>, revealed that ballplayers on the road didn\u2019t spend their free time sitting in the hotel drinking milkshakes and reading Sports Illustrated<\/em>. Well, except Tony Kubek<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even so, the announcement was shocking. It was something the two teammates had begun discussing the previous summer. I wouldn\u2019t even know how to approach somebody about that subject. It\u2019s moot anyway, as I\u2019d have no interest in such a thing. I don\u2019t think my wife would, although I have to wonder when I see the way she looks at Justin Hartley when we have Tracker<\/em><\/a> on the TV.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt Was a Life Swap\u201d<\/h3>\n

Discussing the trade with Murray Chass<\/a> of The New York Times<\/em>, Peterson and Kekich said they and their wives had decided the couples were \u201cbetter suited that way.\u201d Peterson explained that Kekich preferred Marilyn Peterson because she was educated, while he preferred Susan Kekich because \u201cshe can do many athletic things.\u201d At press time, Susan\u2019s scouting report was unavailable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a wife swap,\u201d said Kekich. \u201cIt was a life swap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peterson said, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a sex thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Peterson, Kekich initiated the idea. \u201cMike started to campaign for my wife in August,\u201d he told United Press International. \u201cHe talked to me seriously about it. He told his own wife, Susan, that he loved Marilyn more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt Doesn\u2019t Bother Me\u201d<\/h3>\n

Ironically, it worked out with Peterson and Susan, who eventually married. Not so with Kekich and Marilyn, who were still together but planning on separating. Yankees general manager Lee MacPhail considered trading one of them in the spring but decided against it. Peterson was the most marketable of the two. He\u2019d won 20 games in 1970 when he was an American League All-Star. He led the AL in WHIP and strikeout-to-walk ratio in 1969 and 1970. Remarkably, he led the AL with the lowest ratio of walks per nine innings every year from 1968-72. The Mighty Yankee Dynasty ended<\/a> when they lost the 1964 World Series to the uprising St. Louis Cardinals. Peterson was a lone bright spot during what would come to be known as The Horace Clarke<\/a> Era of the Yankees.<\/p>\n

Kekich was back-of-the-rotation material. At times, he’d been a reliever. He was 10-13 with a 3.70 ERA and 1.414 WHIP in 1972. The win total matched his career high, which he achieved in 1971.<\/p>\n

Yankees manager Ralph Houk<\/a> was unconcerned. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t bother me other than what effect it might have on their pitching,\u201d he told Chass. \u201cTheir personal lives are their own business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI Deplore What Happened\u201d<\/h3>\n

By March 7, the parties decided enough was enough. Peterson and Kekich would no longer talk about the trade. Divorce proceedings would be underway for the original couples. Reportedly, the two pitchers were no longer close pals but were cordial on a professional level.<\/p>\n

Enter baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who never met a stupid situation he couldn\u2019t make stupider. On March 19, after the news had largely died, Kuhn gave it legs again when addressing the matter at a private dinner. Admitting he had no authority to take action, he said, \u201cI deplore what happened and am appalled at its effect on young people.\u201d His fears were unfounded. The trade of families didn\u2019t lead to a rash of similar trades among children or anybody else.<\/p>\n

Aftermath<\/h3>\n

MacPhail should have followed his instincts and traded one of the pitchers in the spring. Houk\u2019s worst fears came true as neither Peterson nor Kekich was the same pitcher after the trade. Whether the trade had an impact is unknown, but Peterson was booed in every ballpark where he pitched in 1973.<\/p>\n

For the Yankees in 1973, Kekich gave up 15 runs in 14 2\/3 innings before MacPhail traded him to the Cleveland Indians in June for bespectacled journeyman pitcher Lowell Palmer<\/a>. From 1973-77, when his major league career ended, Kekich was 7-9 with a 5.95 ERA for four teams. He didn\u2019t pitch in the majors at all in 1974 and 1976. He continued to chase the dream by pitching for Ciudad Juarez of the Mexican League in 1980 before giving up.<\/p>\n

After winning 69 games for the Yankees from 1969-72, Peterson slid to 8-15 with a 3.95 ERA in 1973. In April 1974, New York traded him and three others to Cleveland in a deal that included Chris Chambliss<\/a> and Dick Tidrow<\/a>, key performers for their late-70s pennant winners<\/a>. From 1973-76 with three teams, he was 32-40 with a 4.44 ERA. He just missed being teammates with Kekich again in Cleveland and later in Texas. Peterson died last year at age 82, survived by Susan.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: Chris Tilley-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was an uneventful 1973 New York Yankees spring training until Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich announced an unusual trade. It didn\u2019t involve waivers or players to be named later. Instead, the two left-handed pitchers had traded families in October 1972. It was a complete swap \u2013 wives, children, and even dogs. The Petersons had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":96873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3151],"class_list":["post-96849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-yankees","tag-chris-chambliss"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96849"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96882,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96849\/revisions\/96882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}