Fritz Peterson
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Fritz Fred Peterson (born Fred Ingels Peterson February 8, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois) was a Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers from 1966 to 1976. Peterson was a southpaw starting pitcher who enjoyed his best success in 1970 with the Yankees when he went 20-11 and and pitched in the All-Star game.
From 1968-72 Peterson led the league in control every year, with as few as 1.23 walks per nine innings in 1968. In 1969 and 1970 he had the best strikeout-to-walk ratios in the league. In 1970 and 1975, he had the 10th-best won-lost percentages in the league.
However, he is better remembered today for swapping families with fellow Yankees pitcher Mike Kekich, an arrangement the pair announced at spring training in March 1973. Peterson and Kekich had been inseparable friends since 1969; both families lived in New Jersey, their children were about the same age, and often they all would visit the Bronx Zoo or the shore or enjoy a picnic together. They decided that they would one day trade wives, children, and even dogs.
The affair began in 1972, when the two couples joked on a double date about wife swapping, a phenomenon that caught on in some uninhibited circles during the early '70s. According to one report, the first swap took place that summer after a party at the home of New York sportswriter Maury Allen. The couples made the changes official in October; Mike moving in with Marilyn Peterson and Fritz with Susanne Kekich, but no word leaked out until spring.
A light moment came when Yankee general manager Lee MacPhail remarked, "We may have to call off Family Day."
The trade worked out better for Peterson than it did for Kekich, as Peterson is still married to the former Susanne Kekich with whom he has had four children. Kekich and Marilyn Peterson did not last long.
Peterson's pitching seem to suffer in 1973 and 1974 after this "deal," and he was roundly booed in nearly every American League ballpark afterwards. In April 1974 the Yankees traded him and others to the Indians for Chris Chambliss and others.
Peterson later did color commentary for the New York Raiders WHA hockey franchise in the 1972-73 season.
Later, Peterson and Susanne were living outside Chicago, where he worked as a boat dealer.
Peterson is also notable for his appearances in Jim Bouton's Ball Four, where he is generally portrayed as one of the few major leaguers and former Yankees that had a positive view of Bouton.
