Fred Ingels Peterson (born February 8, 1942) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) player who played for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, and Texas Rangers from 1966 to 1976. Peterson was a southpaw starting pitcher who enjoyed his best success in 1970 with the Yankees when he went 20–11 and pitched in the All-Star game. He is widely known for trading families with teammate Mike Kekich in the early 1970s. He had a career record of 133–131.
Fritz Peterson has the lowest ratio of base on balls per innings pitched for any left-handed pitcher to pitch in the major leagues since the 1920s.
Early life
Peterson attended Arlington High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He was the number two pitcher on his high school team, behind Gene Dahlquist, who went on to play college football at the University of Arizona and professionally for the Norfolk Neptunes in the Continental Football League. Arlington High School produced several major league baseball players, including Paul Splittorff, Dick Bokelmann, and George Vukovich. He attended college at Northern Illinois University. He was viewed as a promising hockey player and gave up playing hockey to concentrate on baseball. He was signed by the New York Yankees in 1963 as an amateur free agent by Yankee scout Lou Maguolo.
Peterson and Splittorff pitched against each other twice during their careers, with Peterson winning both matchups. On August 17, 1971, the Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 2–0 at Yankee Stadium (in the days before the designated hitter, both pitchers went 0–2 at the plate), and on August 22, 1975 at the old Royals Stadium, the Indians beat the Royals, 9–5.
Professional career
Minor leagues
After signing with the Yankees, Peterson was assigned to the Rookie Appalachian League team in Harlan, Kentucky. In twelve games (ten starts), he went 4–3, with a 4.43 earned run average (ERA); he struck out 80 batters in 61 innings pitched. He also hit .273 with one Home Run. His first professional baseball manager was Gary Blaylock. He played Winter Ball in the 1964 Florida East Coast Instructional League; he had a 7–2 record with a 1.68 ERA, striking out 45 batters in 59 innings.
In 1964, he played for the Yankees Class A Western Carolinas League farm team in Shelby, North Carolina. In 21 starts, Peterson amassed a 10–7 record, with a 2.73 ERA; he struck out a team-leading 194 batters in 155 innings. He also hit .345 with four Home Runs.
Peterson was even more impressive in his third season. Assigned to the Class A Carolinas League farm team in Greensboro, North Carolina, Peterson had an 11–1 record in fourteen starts, with a 1.50 ERA, and 83 strikeouts in 108 innings. He was later moved up to the Confederate Yankees in the Class AA Southern League in Columbus, Georgia. He went 5–5 with a 2.18 ERA in twelve starts with 62 Strikeouts in 91 innings. His teammates in Columbus included future Yankees Stan Bahnsen, Mike Hegan, Mike Ferraro, and Roy White.
Yankees minor league pitching coach Cloyd Boyer is credited with helping Peterson become a star pitcher.
Major leagues
MLB rookie season
Peterson was invited to spring training with the Yankees in 1966. Yankees manager Johnny Keane was high on Peterson, telling reporters that he averaged three strikeouts for every walk in the minors. At age 24, he became the number two starter on the Yankees pitching staff.
He made his major league debut on Friday, April 15, 1966 against the Baltimore Orioles. Before a crowd of 35,624 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Peterson pitched a complete game, striking out three batters and walking none. The Yankees won 3–2, giving Peterson his first major league victory. Future Hall of Famer Frank Robinson hit a solo home run off of Peterson in the ninth inning, but he got Brooks Robinson to fly out to left and Boog Powell grounded out to first to give the Yankees the win. The losing pitcher was Wally Bunker. His first major league strikeouts were Paul Blair, Andy Etchebarren, and Bunker.
"Where the vintage pitchers like Whitey Ford, Pedro Ramos and Bob Friend had failed, Frederick (Fritz) Peterson succeeded yesterday for the New York Yankees. In his first major league game, the 24-year-old left-hander beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3–2, and drew an accolade from his manager, Johnny Keane," the New York Times wrote of his debut. Keane said: "Not many young pitchers have his control. That's his strength, that and his fastball."
The Yankees starting lineup for Peterson's first game was: Bobby Richardson at 2B, Roy White in CF, Roger Maris in RF, Tom Tresh in LF, Joe Pepitone at 1B, Clete Boyer at 3B, Elston Howard at C, and Bobby Murcer at SS.
