1974 Topps Fritz Peterson
Oddest Trade In Baseball History...
I was a bit young at the time to appreciate exactly what made Fritz Peterson (and his best friend at the time, Mike Kekich) famous. But years later, I read about it and it became a different kind of memory.
It was 1973 and things were much different than they are now. People weren't nearly as uptight. At least I'm guessing considering that Peterson and Kekich literally swapped families. They even swapped dogs.
While Kekich and the former Mrs. Peterson didn't stay together long, a year later, Peterson and the former Mrs. Kekich were married. When I first read about this, I was old enough to understand it and couldn't help laughing. But I can only imagine the reaction of the players around baseball when it happened. I'm thinking the two best buddies weren't as close after the swap.
If you're a Yankee fan, then you would be most appreciative of Mr. Peterson because he was traded to Texas in a deal for Chris Chambliss and Dick Tidrow, two key members of the 1977 and 1978 World Series Champion teams. And let's not forget his name is Fritz. I mean seriously, when was the last time a player named Fritz put on a major league uniform?
I did the research and according to one of my favorite sites, www.BaseballReference.com, there hasn't been one since Fritz Peterson. For that reason alone, we should all love this 1974 Topps card featuring the last major leaguer to be named Fritz.
But we can all hope that someday soon, another Fritz will find his way to the big leagues.
