Fritz Peterson

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Fritz Peterson
Pitcher
Born: February 8, 1942
Chicago , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Strikes: both sides Throws: left
Debut in Major League Baseball
April 15,  1966  with the  New York Yankees
Last MLB assignment
June 19,  1976  with the  Texas Rangers
MLB statistics
(until end of career)
Win - Loss    133-131
ERA    3.30
Strikeouts    1,015
Teams

Fritz Peterson (actually Fred Ingels Peterson , born 8. February 1942 in Chicago , Illinois ) is a former American baseball player , who from 1966 to 1976 as a pitcher for the New York Yankees , Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers in the Major League Baseball played .

education

Fritz Peterson (front row, far left, with glasses) on the Arlington High School baseball team during his senior year there

Peterson attended Arlington High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois . He was the number two pitcher on his high school team behind Gene Dahlquist , who later played as a professional for Norfolk Neptunes in the Continental Football League . Arlington High School produced several major league baseball players, including Paul Splittorff , Dick Bokelmann , and George Vukovich . After graduating from high school, Peterson attended Northern Illinois University . Considered a promising hockey player , he gave up playing hockey to focus on baseball. In 1963 he received a contract from talent scout Lou Maguolo with the New York Yankees as a freelance amateur player.

Athletic career

Start of career in amateur teams

After he had signed his contract with the Yankees, Peterson was first assigned to the beginners team in Harlan , Kentucky , which played in the Appalachian League . In the 1963 season, he achieved a win - loss balance of 4-3 with an ERA of 4.43. His first manager was Gary Blaylock. In the winter season 1963/64 he played in the Florida East Coast Instructional League . In 1964 he was for the Yankees Class A in Shelby , North Carolina in the Western Carolinas League .

In his third season, in which he played for the Yankees Class A in the Carolinas League , Peterson managed a win-loss of 11-1 (ERA 1.50) in 14 games. He scored 83 strikeouts in 108 innings . Peterson was then promoted to the Confederate Yankees in the Class AA Southern League in Columbia , Georgia . Here he played in a team with the later Yankees professionals Steve Whitaker , Stan Bahnsen , Mike Hegan , Mike Ferraro and Roy White .

Major League Baseball

In the spring of 1966, Peterson was invited to the New York Yankees' pre-season training. At the age of 24, he became the second pitcher of the Yankees professional team. He made his MLB debut on April 15, 1966 against the Baltimore Orioles in front of 35,624 spectators at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore , Maryland . The Yankees won the game 3-2. Peterson, who played the full game, received high praise from team management and the media for his performance.

In his first professional season, Peterson came to 32 league appearances. He achieved an ERA of 3.31 with 96 strikeouts in 215 innings. The Yankees finished the season 70-89 (.440).

From the 1967 season, Peterson wore the shirt number 19, which he would keep until 1973. His most successful season was that of 1970, in which he reached a record of 20-11 (2.90 ERA, 127 strikeouts). In 1970 he was named to the American League All-Star Team. Between 1969 and 1972 he was considered one of the most successful left-handed pitchers in baseball. Only Mike Cuellar , Mickey Lolich and Dave McNally won more American League games than Peterson during this period.

After details of his private life became publicly known after the 1972 season and were controversially discussed and scandalized in the US public, his performance as a pitcher seemed to suffer from the situation in the following season, not least because he played in almost every league game was booed by opposing fans . In April 1974 he left the Yankees and joined the Cleveland Indians with three other pitchers .

Peterson completed the 1974 and '75 seasons for the Indians and was given to the Texas Rangers after a bad start to the 1976 season in May 1976 in exchange for Stan Perzanowski and payment of a transfer fee . After two games for the Rangers, he suffered a shoulder injury and was out for the remainder of the season. His contract with the Rangers expired in early 1977. He still signed a contract with the Chicago White Sox , but had to end his active career at the age of 35 after another operation on his shoulder.

Statistics of his years with the New York Yankees

season win-loss ERA Strikeouts
1966 12-11 3.31 96
1967 8-14 3.47 102
1968 12-11 2.63 115
1969 17-16 2.55 150
1970 20-11 2.90 127
1971 15-13 3.05 130
1972 17-15 3.24 100
1973 8-15 3.95 59

After retirement

Even before the end of his active baseball career, Peterson worked as a sports commentator for the New York Raiders ice hockey team in the World Hockey Association in the 1972/73 season . After end of his career Peterson moved to the Chicago area, where he, among others, the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin (Illinois) as black jack - Croupier worked.

In 2009, Peterson published the book Mickey Mantle Is Going to Heaven . He is also the author of the non-fiction book The Art of De-Conditioning: Eating Your Way to Heaven , in which he writes about his decision to stop letting weight worries affect his eating habits.

His third book, When the Yankees Were on the Fritz: Revisiting the Horace Clarke Era deals autobiographically with an episode of his active career when he narrowly missed the championship title with the New York Yankees.

Peterson is a regular participant in the New York Yankees' Fantasy Camp fan project in Florida and played several times at the Yankees ' Old-Timers' Day at New York's Yankee Stadium .

Private life

In the fall of 1972, Peterson separated from his first wife and in 1974 married the wife of his teammate Mike Kekich , who in return had a brief relationship with Peterson's wife. Peterson has two sons from his first marriage; his second marriage resulted in four children.

Peterson contracted prostate cancer twice, but each was successfully treated. He is considered a deeply religious evangelical Christian.

In 2014, Fritz Peterson signed a consulting contract for a film adaptation of his family swap with Mike Kekich. The film is to be produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and directed by Jay Roach .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 214 @ 100: Splittorff, other notables hail from Old Arlington , Daily Herald. Retrieved June 17, 2015. 
  2. ^ Mark Gallagher: The Yankee Encyclopedia , 6th Edition. Edition, Sports Publishing LLC., 2003, pp. 175-176 (Retrieved June 16, 2015).
  3. ^ Fritz Peterson . Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  4. ^ Mark Gallagher: The Yankee Encyclopedia , 6th Edition. Edition, Sports Publishing LLC., 2003, pp. 175-176 (accessed June 16, 2015).
  5. ↑ Peterson Defeats Orioles, 3-2, on Six-Hitter for Yankees' First Victory; PEPITONE'S HOMER IN 7TH IS DECISIVE Frank Robinson's Clout in 9th Fails to Shake Rookie Yanks Get 6 Hits Again , New York Times. April 15, 1966. Retrieved June 17, 2015. 
  6. ^ Mark Gallagher: The Yankee Encyclopedia , 6th Edition. Edition, Sports Publishing LLC., 2003, pp. 175-176 (accessed June 16, 2015).
  7. ^ Yanks Win, Trade 4 Pitchers; Yanks Beat Rangers, 4-3; Trade Four . April 27, 1974. Retrieved June 17, 2015. 
  8. ^ Peterson, After 2d Operation, Retires From Baseball at 35 , New York Times. May 5, 1977. Retrieved June 17, 2015. 
  9. ^ Peterson To Air NY Hockey Games . In: The Morning Record , September 29, 1972. 
  10. ^ A b c In His Book, Fritz Peterson Discusses Pranks, Teammates and Swapping Wives , New York Times. September 17, 2009. Retrieved June 17, 2015. 
  11. ↑ Yankee hurler Fritz Peterson Explains the "Art of De-Conditioning" . Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  12. ^ Bob Lazzari: Lazzari's Sports Roundup . Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  13. ↑ YANKEES FANTASY CAMP . Major League Baseball. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  14. ↑ Peter Greenberg: Fantasy Baseball Camp: Training Like a Yankee, Part 2 . Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  15. ↑ Filip Bondy: Who's on Worst ?: The Lousiest Players, Biggest Cheaters, Saddest Goats and Other Antiheroes in Baseball History, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2013, Mike Kekich and Friz Peterson Swingmen [1]
  16. ↑ Adam Chitwood, Jay Roach in Talks to Direct Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Yankees Wife Swap Film The Trade , May 8, 2014, collider.com , in English
personal data
SURNAME Peterson, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Peterson, Fred Ingels (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American baseball player
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois