AUG: THE BASEBALL GURU ARTICLE
FROM
ONEMOREINNING
What’s
yours is mine and vice versa
Spring training brings days filled with sunshine
that drone with the efforts of rookies arduously competing against settled
veterans, old-timers trying
to recapture earlier days, and a lazy ennui settling over fans and media
alike.
Palm trees stand
etched against a background of girder embraced stadiums, while Seagulls and
Flamingo’s swoop down and around the various parks. It’s a quiet
sort of atmosphere, almost a humdrum, languid existence. On
Waiting for their
turns at the batting cage, several Yankees including Doc Medich, Fred Beene,
Dave Pagan, Horace Clark, and Bobby Mercer noticed a crowd of reporters gathered
near the dugout.
In the middle
of the press were good friends Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich. What they
were telling the reporters would transfer that day into a Soap Opera drama
worthy of the supermarket tabloids. Baseball, which has had it’s share
of great trades, was about to
hear of the best of them all! That afternoon the news
broke.
Fritz Peterson
and Mike Kekich had decided to switch homes. They lived near each other so
the switch was easy. To add another dimension to it they also decided to
switch wives, children, and dogs. Marilyn Peterson and her group moved in
with Kekich, and vice versa.
At the end of
the season, the Peterson, Kekich friendship was over! Kekich was traded during
that year and Peterson lasted with NY a bit longer.
Peterson and Susan
(Kekich) are still married. Kekich and Marilyn split up a few weeks after
the arrangement. When Peterson’s baseball career was over I got to see
him doing color commentary for the NY Raiders in the World Hockey League.
Mike Kekich can now be seen at various autograph shows where he draws very
large crowds.
Imaginary
Conversation:
Fritz:
Say Mike, Susan is kind of cute. Wanna Trade?
Mike:
Well, I dunno
Fritz:
I’ll tell you what, I’ll throw in the kids and the dog.
Mike:
Let me think about it.
Fritz:
We just got a new TV.
Mike:
It’s a deal.
Fritz:
DONE!
