How and Why Two Yankee Pitchers Once Swapped Wives

They were all really close—maybe a bit too much in the end.

by Rich Watson

Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich were Yankee pitchers in the late sixties and early seventies. The former had his best year in 1970, when he went 20-11 with a 2.90 earned run average. The latter was less distinguished; he had back-to-back ten-win seasons in 1971-72, with his lowest ERA, 3.70, in 1972.

They, along with their respective wives, Marilyn Peterson and Susanne Kekich, were close friends. In 1972, they went to a party, and afterwards, they acted upon an idea they had only discussed in jest: they traded spouses and went home together, Marilyn with Mike and Susanne with Fritz.

They liked it enough to do it more often. Eventually they moved in with each other and made the swaps permanent. They swapped each other’s children and even their dogs. All four spouses thought the whole thing perfectly natural.

Then Major League Baseball found out.

Excuses Interfere with Romance in “Alibi Ike,” Starring Baseball Fan Joe E. Brown

One of three baseball movies by this lifelong sports fan was also the debut of a future Hollywood legend.

by Rich Watson

If Joe E. Brown is remembered by modern movie audiences, it’s for his scene-stealing turn in Some Like it Hot, the gender-bending comedy with Marilyn Monroe in which Brown seduces Jack Lemmon in drag. It’s Brown who utters that film’s famous last line, “Well, nobody’s perfect!”

Long before that career-redefining role, Brown was a headlining actor in a number of comedies from the thirties, in particular baseball films. One of those was a romantic comedy co-starring a young woman taking the first step on a long journey to superstardom: Olivia de Havilland.

Small Town Gossip Threatens Baseball Romance in Sherryl Woods’ Sweet Magnolias Book “Stealing Home”

Single mom finds love on the diamond with a little help from her friends.

by Rich Watson

For almost forty years, Sherryl Woods has entertained readers with her Southern blend of romances and mysteries. A former journalist, she has written over a hundred ten books in a variety of series, under her own name and with the names Alexandra Kirk and Suzanne Sherrill.

In 2007, she started a new series called “Sweet Magnolias,” centered around a trio of best friends in a small Southern town, and the first book combined her love of romance stories with another interest: baseball.