Former Yankees pitcher Fritz Peterson pulled out a camera and started shooting as soon as he arrived Saturday morning at Fort Lauderdale Stadium.
“It was like a whole life flashing by me as I drove around and took pictures of the place,’’ he said.
Peterson, 70, knows he might not get back here again. Saturday was the final Joe DiMaggio Legends game, a decision announced a day earlier by organizers who’ve held the charity event for the last 25 years.
The old ballpark has witnessed plenty of baseball over the years but perhaps nothing as strange and unusual as the events that unfolded 40 years ago in the room that once housed Yankee manager Ralph Houk’s office.
That’s where Peterson and his close friend, fellow Yankees left-hander Mike Kekich, held separate press conferences on March 4, 1973 — Kekich at 10 a.m., Peterson at 4 p.m. — to announce details of what would become known as the most scandalous trade in baseball history.
This was a blockbuster to top all blockbusters: The two teammates told the world they had swapped wives — and children. Even dogs.
“Actually, it was a husband trade — Mike for me or me for Mike,’’ Peterson recalled with a laugh before Saturday’s game.
Peterson won 109 games for the Yankees and pitched in the 1970 All-Star Game. His 2.52 home ERA is the lowest in the history of Yankee Stadium. But he’s remembered most for trading wives with Kekich, and he doesn’t mind.
Wearing Yankee pinstripes that hugged his body tighter than they did 40 years ago, Peterson said he prefers to not talk about it. But if people ask, as they often have for the last 40 years, he doesn’t mind answering.
He says he’d rather get “the truth” out and do his best to dismiss the common notion that the two families had done something sordid.
“It’s a love story,” he said. “It wasn’t anything dirty.”
He knows interest will only increase if actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon follow through on their plans to make “The Trade,” a movie based in part on a book about the swap written by the late sports writer Maury Allen.
Peterson said he has agreed to be a consultant for Warner Brothers.
“I’m sure people are still wondering and that’s why I hope the movie comes out,’’ he said, “because they’re going to find out it was nicer than what they thought was going on.’’
It certainly has been nice for Peterson. He has been married to Susanne Kekich since 1974.
“I could not be happier with anybody in the world. ‘Mama’ and I go out and party every night,’’ he said. “We’re still on the honeymoon and it has been a real blessing.’’
Kekich and Marilyn Peterson moved in together in 1972 but they split up a few years later without getting married.
“That’s the only thing I feel bad for, that they didn’t work out because we all figured it could all work out,’’ Peterson said.
A fateful evening
Although it became public in March 1973, the swap actually occurred in the summer of ‘72.
“It just happened. It wasn’t planned,’’ he said.
The families both lived in New Jersey and had been friends since 1969.
“We were invited to a party at Maury Allen’s house on a Saturday night, July the 15th, 1972,” Peterson said. “During the party, we all had a couple of beers and were having a great time. When we were deciding to leave, we had driven two different cars and happened to park behind each other out in the street. I said to my wife, Marilyn, ‘Why don’t you ride with Mike to the diner in Fort Lee, N.J., and I’ll take Susanne with me and we’ll meet there and then we’ll go home from there.
“We did that and we had so much fun together, Susanne and I and Mike and Marilyn, that we decided, ‘Hey, this is fun, let’s do it again.’ We did it the next night. We went out to the Steak and Ale in Fort Lee. Mike and Marilyn left early and Susanne and I stayed and had a few drinks and ate.
“It was just really fun being able to talk to somebody. All of us felt the same way. We went on from there and eventually he fell in love with my wife and I fell in love with his.’’
Former outfielder Ron Swoboda, who played his final three seasons with the Yankees from ‘71-‘73, said he attended the same party.
“My first reaction? I had a solid marriage so I was like, ‘OK. That wouldn’t likely happen to me.’ It probably wouldn’t happen to a lot of people. But remember, that was the ’70s, not that far from the ’60s,” Swoboda said.
Friends drifted part after swap
Peterson had his best season in 1972, going 17-15 with a 3.24 ERA. Kekich went 10-13 with a 3.70 ERA. Both players were so happy with their new lives off the field that they decided after the season to make their unusual arrangement permanent.
“When we did it, we figured the kids should stay with their mothers,’’ Peterson said. “Susanne flew back from California with her two daughters and my wife flew out to California to meet Mike’s family with our two sons, and that was it.’’
Peterson said he didn’t think it would be that big of a story. But the day after the announcement, “I saw my picture on TV when I woke up,” he said. “And I said, ‘Uh-oh, it’s a big one.’ ’’
Kekich was traded to Cleveland that June. Peterson was traded to Cleveland a year later and pitched only three more seasons.
Peterson said he hasn’t spoken to Kekich — who could not be reached for this story — in 10 years.
“We just went our own ways,’’ he said. “I don’t have anything against him and I don’t think he has anything against me.’’
The New York Post in February 2011 reported that Kekich, 67, was “panic-stricken” about the movie and is trying to stop it. His first wife hopes he succeeds.
But Peterson said Susanne, who did not join him in Fort Lauderdale for the charity game, will be thrilled to know that several of his former teammates asked about her Saturday.
“She is not ready to come to these things. She will, I hope, some day because they all ask about her. They all like her.”
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