Yankee In Exile

Wife Swap 

Wife Swap was the name of two, separate, reality television shows in the 2000s (one British and one American). The premise of these programs centered around different families with completely separate values, routines, and backgrounds literally exchanging wives (and sometimes husbands) for two weeks. Millions of viewers seemed to enjoy these women adapting to the style in which their “new” family functioned and many struggled to adjust to lives that were opposite from the households that they, themselves, ran. These shows were never my cup of tea, but they enjoyed enormous popularity right up until Covid times. Like most things that are considered “reality” television, the show was heavily staged and manipulated by directors and producers. In essence, the storylines and outcomes in the show were hardly ever genuine. However, what if I told you that a similar life switch-up happened in reality, without being choreographed and scripted? What if I told you that two men really did agree to substitute each other’s wives and a whole lot more? And then what if I told you this all happened, in the middle of a Yankees baseball season?……. Read on. 

March 4, 1973 

The Yankees were in spring training in Fort Launderdale, Florida. This was the date in which two, separate press conferences were held to inform the media, coaches, and players as to the situation that had already been transpiring for months at that point. In their pressers, Yankees pitchers Fritz (birth name Fred) Peterson and Mike Kekich announced that in August of 1972, they had exchanged significant others. That’s right, both Peterson, Kekich, and their wives, had all consensually agreed to switch spouses. Both men and their families had been close friends since 1969, and they frequently double dated. However, few saw this coming down the pipeline. As Peterson said in his statement to the media, “Mike started campaigning for my wife. He talked to me seriously about it. He told his own wife, Susan, that he loved Marilyn more.” At first, Fritz really didn’t believe the story would make national news. However, he described the scene as he woke up one morning and turned on his television. “I saw my picture on TV and I said, uh-oh, it’s a big one.” So, how exactly did this quid-pro-quo work? Well, let’s examine what exactly each man received, ESPN style. 

Peterson-Kekich Trade

Fritz Peterson GET: 

• Susan Kekich 
• Two Kekich children 
• Kekich Bedlington Terrier 

Mike Kekich GET: 

• Marilyn Peterson 
• Two Peterson Children 
• Peterson Poodle 

As Kekich himself stated, “We didn’t trade wives. We traded lives” Yes, that’s right. Both men exchanged not only each other’s wives, but also their children and family pets. It was truly a “Life Swap” in every essence of the word. Now, if you’re reading this and are already very turned off and disgusted by these events, I promise you wouldn’t have been alone. 

The Reaction 

Most were horrified when the news broke and, since it was during Spring Training, players, coaches, and front office staff had even more access to each other than usual. Many teammates of the two pitchers were stunned into silence. Yankees General Manager Lee McPhail was appalled when he heard the news, as was baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn who called the whole affair “deplorable.” Brand new Yankees owner George Steinbrenner (bought the team that January) had his very first scandal on his hands, and he immediately set out to trade both men. The only problem was that, after this infamous announcement, no team wanted Kekich, Peterson, or the negative publicity that would have come with them. Essentially, the whole incident was a public relations nightmare for the Yankees and for Major League Baseball as a whole. So, how was this situation resolved? And what ended up happening to these characters in their new families? Did they live happily ever after? Well, let’s look at the futures of both men, individually. 

Mike Kekich 

As it turns out, Marilyn Peterson, almost right off the bat, didn’t like being married to someone new and wanted to go back to her husband. This shocked Kekich, who claimed to love her very much. She left the pitcher and his life soon suffered. In all stadiums the Yankees traveled to, he was booed incessantly and found himself the subject of many derogatory chants. By June of 1973, he had given up 15 runs in his 14.2 innings pitched and Steinbrenner had just about had it. After nearly trading Kekich to the Braves (they apparently backed off at the eleventh hour), the Yankees owner managed to deal the struggling left-hander to the Cleveland Indians. Michael Kekich never really had a stable baseball career after that and ended up ping-ponging between the majors, minors, and even Japan until he finally retired in 1980. 

As far as anyone knows, he is still alive and lives a quiet life away from the spotlight. Some say that Kekich, who has now been broken up with Marilyn Peterson for over 50 years, has long since remarried and has a new family. In 2011, Matt Damon and Ben Afflack (Red Sox fans, it must be noted) attempted to produce a film called “The Trade” that would have shed more light on this bizarre exchange. However, Kekich, probably seeking to remain in obscurity, tried to block them from doing so. He must have been successful as no one has heard word of any such movie coming to fruition. It is really interesting that Michael Kekich, the man who initiated the most bizarre trade in the history of American sports, is now the one who seems the most eager to move on from it. Age brings wisdom, I suppose. 

Fritz Peterson 

Nearly the polar opposite, Susan Kekich and Fritz Peterson immediately hit things off and remained with each other for many years to come. Mike Kekich stated that “In the beginning, all four of us agreed that if anyone wasn’t happy the whole thing would be called off.” As much as Marilyn Peterson wanted to return to her husband, he and Susan Kekich were very happy and failed to honor their end of the bargain. However, like his teammate, Peterson’s MLB tenure also began to freefall. An All-Star in 1970, he slipped to an 8-15 record in 1973. It also did not help that, like Kekich, Peterson was also jeered during most away games. After seven and a half seasons with the Yankees, Steinbrenner dealt the dubious pitcher to (again) the Indians in 1974. He would not have been teammates with Kekich, however, as the latter would already have been playing baseball in Japan by that time. Peterson continued to struggle, retiring by 1976. In his retirement, Fritz would be a mainstay at Yankees Old Timer’s Day. He died in 2023, but in a 2013 interview, Peterson stated that he and Susan were still in love after all these years, saying they were “still on a honeymoon.” How about that? 

Conclusion 

This just may be the strangest baseball story that almost no one knows about. One has to wonder what in the world was going on in these two marriages that would have made them desire, consensually, to switch partners with each other? However, this “Life Swap” did have major significance in the world of sports media. Prior to the 1970s, journalists rarely reported on the personal lives of players. In fact, in the 1960s, baseball was seen as a sacred, squeaky-clean endeavor and its athletes part of the popcorn and bubble ambience that defined much of the era. So what changed? Well, Jim Bouton (another Yankee pitcher) published a book in 1970 called “Ball Four.” This book brought the personal lives of players into the spotlight and, as a result, reporters began looking into who some of these players were off the field. Newspapers and magazines started to make money by treating sports figures as they would Hollywood actors, covering their scandals and romances almost as frequently as their on field prowess. 

The Kekich-Peterson affair represented one of the first times journalists devoted time to something significant that had nothing to do with the sport both men played. And, once Pandora’s box was open, things were never the same. Perhaps we wouldn’t have had major media outlets report on encounters between Mike Vrabel and Diana Russini without these two forgotten Yankee pitchers and their infamous trade. Overall, this was one switch up that wasn’t a result of Hollywood staging, or phony reality TV. Instead, it was a genuine event in New York in 1973.