Joseph Anthony Pepitone (October 9, 1940 – March 13, 2023) was an American professional baseball

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

, and

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

from 1962 to 1973 and for the Yakult Atoms of

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

in 1973. Pepitone was a three-time MLB All-Star and won three

Gold Glove Award The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual Fielding (baseball), fielding performances. It is awar ...

Early life

Pepitone was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, and raised in

Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in South Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park and Eighth Avenue (Brooklyn), Prospect Park West to the east, ...

. He had two younger brothers. Pepitone attended Manual Training High School. Pepitone was shot by a classmate at age 17 while at school. He did not press charges against the shooter. In the same week, his father died from a stroke at age 39.

Baseball career

New York Yankees

In August 1958, Pepitone signed with the

as an amateur

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. He played in 16 games for the Auburn Yankees of the Class D New York–Pennsylvania League after signing. After playing four seasons in the minor leagues, Pepitone broke in with the New York Yankees in 1962, playing behind Moose Skowron at

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He batted .239 in 63 games in 1962. Yankees management believed he could handle the first base job and traded Skowron to the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

before the 1963 season. Pepitone batted .271 with 27

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 89

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBIs) in 1963. In the 1963 World Series, he committed a costly

error An error (from the Latin , meaning 'to wander'Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “error (n.), Etymology,” September 2023, .) is an inaccurate or incorrect action, thought, or judgement. In statistics, "error" refers to the difference between t ...

. With the score tied 1–1 in the seventh inning of Game Four, he lost a routine

Clete Boyer Cletis Leroy "Clete" Boyer (February 9, 1937 – June 4, 2007) was an American professional baseball third baseman — who occasionally played shortstop and second base — in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Athletics (1955–57) ...

throw in the white shirtsleeves of the Los Angeles crowd, and the batter, Jim Gilliam, went all the way to

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and scored the Series-winning run on a sacrifice fly by Willie Davis. In 1964, Pepitone batted .251 with 28 home runs and 100 RBIs. In the

1964 World Series The 1964 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1964 Major League Baseball season, 1964 season. The 61st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the National Leagu ...

against the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

, he hit a grand slam in Game 6, but the Yankees lost the series. Pepitone batted .247 in 1965 and .255 in 1966, as the Yankees finished 70–89, a mark good for last place. He batted .251 in 139 games in 1967 and .245 in 108 games in 1968. Pepitone began to feud with the Yankees in 1969, leaving the team without permission for two days in August. He batted .242 with 27 home runs in the 1969 season.

Later career

After the 1969 season, despite having won his third

, the Yankees traded Pepitone to the

for Curt Blefary. Unhappy with how he was treated by the Astros, he threatened to retire in July 1970. The Astros sold Pepitone to the

on waivers a week later. In Chicago, Pepitone replaced

Ernie Banks Ernest Banks (January 31, 1931 – January 23, 2015), nicknamed "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine", was an American professional baseball player who starred in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs between ...

at first base. Pepitone retired in May 1972, but returned to the Cubs after a few weeks away from the team. The Cubs traded Pepitone to the

for

Andre Thornton André Thornton (born August 13, 1949), nicknamed "Thunder", is an American former professional baseball player and business Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and designated hitter from to , m ...

, and cash considerations on May 19, 1973. In Atlanta, he played only three games, after which he announced his intention to retire. Pepitone then announced his intention to continue his career in Japan. In June 1973, Pepitone accepted an offer of $70,000 ($ today) a year to play for the Yakult Atoms in

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

. In July, he returned to the United States. While in Japan, he hit .163 with one

and two RBIs in 14 games. Pepitone spent his brief career in Japan skipping games for claimed injuries only to be seen out at night in

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

s, behavior which led the Japanese to adopt his name into their

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

as a word meaning "goof off".

Life after baseball

Memoirs

Jim Bouton wrote about Pepitone in his 1970 book '' Ball Four''. Bouton said that Pepitone went nowhere without a bag containing hair products for his rapidly balding head and that he took to wearing toupees. In January 1975, Pepitone published his own tell-all baseball memoir, titled ''Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud.'' The book received substantial attention for its many revelations, particularly about his abusive father and his self-lacerating candor about his self-destructive ways. Later that year, he posed nude for ''Foxy Lady'' magazine, featuring full frontal nudity.

Professional softball career

The American Professional Slo-Pitch League (APSPL) was the first of several men's professional slow-pitch softball leagues formed in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It built on the growth and talent in the booming men's amateur game during this period. Pepitone joined the Trenton Statesmen of the APSPL, and put up respectable numbers in 1978 (110–225, .489, 14 HRs, 61 RBIs) and 1979 (50–122, .410, 9 HRs, 30 RBIs). The

Detroit Caesars The Detroit Caesars were a professional softball team played in the American Professional Slo-Pitch League (APSPL) from 1977 to 1979. History Prior to formalized professional play, Detroit was a hotbed for softball, with some of the top players ...

offered $30,000 to the Statesmen to buy Pepitone's contract in 1978. That offer was rejected. After the Trenton franchise disbanded in 1979, Pepitone became the team president and first baseman for

Chicago Nationwide Advertising Chicago Nationwide Advertising were a professional softball team that played in the North American Softball League (NASL) during the 1980 season. They played their home games at The team played at Lou Boudreau Field in Harvey, Illinois. League ...

of the North American Softball League (NASL) during their 1980 season. Pepitone was suspended for six games by NASL Commissioner Robert Brown for "conduct detrimental to professional softball" and was out for the season in August with a thigh injury. The Yankees then hired him as a minor league hitting instructor at the end of the NASL season, bringing his professional softball career to a close.

MLB coaching

In October 1980, Pepitone was hired as a minor league hitting coach with the Yankees and brought to the major league club in June 1982. He was replaced by Lou Pinella in August of that summer. After Pepitone was sent to prison, Yankee owner

George Steinbrenner George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930July 13, 2010) was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010. He was the longest-serving own ...

re-hired him in 1988 as part of a work-release program to serve in the development of minor league players. Pepitone received a 1999 World Series ring for his relationship with the Yankees. He subsequently sold that ring at auction.

Personal life

Pepitone and two other men were arrested in Brooklyn on March 18, 1985, after being stopped by the police for running a red light. The car contained nine ounces of

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

, 344 quaaludes, a free-basing kit, a pistol, and about $6,300 in cash. Pepitone denied knowing there were drugs and guns in the vehicle. He spent four months at

Rikers Island Rikers Island is a prison island in the East River in the Bronx, New York (state), New York, United States, that contains New York City's largest jail. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was orig ...

jail in 1988 for two

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...

drug convictions. In January 1992, Pepitone was charged with misdemeanor assault in Kiamesha Lake, New York, after a scuffle police said was triggered when Pepitone was called a "has-been." He was arraigned in town court and released after he posted $75 bail. In October 1995, the 55-year-old Pepitone was arrested and charged with

driving while intoxicated Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether recreational or ...

after losing control of his car in New York City's

Queens–Midtown Tunnel The Queens–Midtown Tunnel (often referred to as the Midtown Tunnel) is a vehicular tunnel under the East River in New York City, connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens. The tunnel consists of a pair of tubes, each carrying two ...

. Police found Pepitone bloodied, disoriented, and mumbling as he walked through the tunnel. Authorities charged Pepitone with drunken driving after he refused to take a sobriety test. Pepitone pleaded guilty. When asked if he was staying away from alcohol, Pepitone responded, "I don't drink that much." Pepitone was married three times, all ending in divorce. He had five children. On March 13, 2023, Pepitone died of a suspected heart attack at his home in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, at the age of 82.

References

Sources

Books

*Bouton, Jim, and Leonard Shecter. ''Ball Four; My Life and Hard Times Throwing the Knuckleball in the Big Leagues''. New York: World Pub. Co., 1970. 400 pages. () *Pepitone, Joe, and Berry Stainback. ''Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud''. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1975. 246 pages. () *Pepitone, William A., and Joseph V. ''Soul of a Yankee: The Iron Horse, the Babe and the Battle for Joe Pepitone''. Morrisville, North Carolina: Self-Published through lulu.com, 2011. 130 pages. ()

Newspapers

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepitone, Joe 1940 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American memoirists Amarillo Gold Sox players 20th-century American sportsmen American League All-Stars American expatriate baseball players in Japan American memoirists American people of Italian descent American shooting survivors Atlanta Braves players Auburn Yankees players Baseball players from Brooklyn Baseball players from Nassau County, New York Binghamton Triplets players Burials at St. John's Cemetery (Queens) Chicago Cubs players Fargo-Moorhead Twins players Gold Glove Award winners Hawaii Islanders players Houston Astros players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Male softball players New York Yankees coaches New York Yankees players People from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn People from Park Slope Richmond Virginians (minor league) players Sportspeople from Massapequa, New York Yakult Atoms players