Yankees 'Wife Swap' 40 years later

Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich have mostly shied away from talking about it over the years, but Peterson gave a detailed interview to the Palm Beach Post (he was in south Florida for the Joe DiMaggio Legends Game):

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/sports/baseball/ex-yankee-peterson-has-no-regrets-40-years-after-w/nT7fG/

BTW, he's still married to Susanne Kekich. (Kekich and Marilyn Peterson split up soon after the "trade.")

He also mentions that the Ben Affleck/Matt Damon film on the subject is apparently still in the works, though Kekich has been trying to stop it from happening.

 

Must be getting old. I remember it as though it happened yesterday.

 

It was supposed to be a three-team trade until you backed out, right?

 

One of the most bizarre events ever.

 

Did Fritz and Susanne have any draft picks?

 

The Yankees should have just had key parties like every other club.

 

Nice.

 

Frankly the whole thing was simply an early case of attention whoring -- if the two couples had simply gotten divorced, waited a year or so, then quietly married the opposite spouses without a big public announcement, it would have caused few ripples. Of course the NYC press would have dug into it but once the story is out, it's out.

At the point they decided they had to announce it by way of press conference, they kinda gave up their right to act persecuted by the prying media.