For a book I was trying to get published, I wrote to a number of players who had done something interesting in their careers (i.e. threw a no-hitter, led the league in homers, etc.), but weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Hall of Famers. I wrote to Fritz Peterson about his 20-win season and one All-Star game appearance (in which he faced Willie McCovey). I also asked him about his family swap with teammate and best friend Mike Kekich in 1972; not the why, but how others on the team perceived it. He responded via letter (I also wrote Kekich; he did not respond) and interestingly he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even answer the baseball part of my question.<\/p>\n
Peterson<\/strong>: The players were great to us. The management was very nervous. The fans came out of their closets to write nice things, but booed in the stands.<\/p>\n The \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc60s spilled into the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc70s and when we did what we wanted people weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite ready for it.<\/p>\n Had our situation happened today you may not even see it in the media.<\/p>\n [Based on the sensationalism of some media, that seems doubtful. Although there might be a more frank discussion of it in these times.]<\/em><\/p>\n Peterson<\/strong>: None of us were Christians at the time and we all thought we could all better our lives changing families.<\/p>\n In retrospect I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recommend anyone do what we did, especially when children are involved, but life is gray, or at least was for us then.<\/p>\n [Peterson added this postscript at the bottom of his letter:]<\/em><\/p>\n Peterson<\/strong>: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153P.S. My wife is very sensitive about this subject so I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t formally speak to you if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n [Note: Peterson is still married to the former Mrs. Kekich.]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For a book I was trying to get published, I wrote to a number of players who had done something interesting in their careers (i.e. threw a no-hitter, led the league in homers, etc.), but weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Hall of Famers. I wrote to Fritz Peterson about his 20-win season and one All-Star game appearance (in which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":355,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t