Ex-Yankee tries to kill Affleck-Damon wife-swap film

Former Yankee Mike Kekich is desperate to block Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's movie "The Trade," based on the huge scandal when he and fellow pitcher Fritz Peterson swapped wives in the 1970s, the New York Post reported.


Die-hard Red Sox fan Affleck and his brother, Casey, are rewriting a second version of the script and have hired veteran sportswriters to help reach out to Yankees from that era. But Kekich, who is believed to have created a completely new life and family in New Mexico, is refusing to participate.


"Kekich is panic-stricken. He has moved away and has a new identity," a source told the Post. "He is freaked out that those working on the movie found out where he is. He isn't too keen on having the scandal dredged up again after all this time. Other Yankees from that time have also been really unhelpful with facts and details of what happened. They are stonewalling."


The amazing drama started in 1972 after the two hurlers, old friends, joked about swapping wives. They followed through on it, although word did not get out until the spring of '73. Marilyn Peterson moved in with Kekich, but it did not last. Susanne Kekich and Fritz are still married and live in New Jersey and Colorado. Kekich reportedly remarried and had another daughter.


Actresses being considered include Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz and Rebecca Hall. Ben Affleck recently confirmed he and Casey were rewriting the script, and hinted that Damon may direct. It was not certain that he and Damon would play the pitchers.


Affleck recently told MTV, "I've come to have a little more respect for the Yankees. There are some of those guys ... that look like good guys ... But as an institution? Disdain. Contempt."


The script has not yet been shown to Major League Baseball or the Yankees, another source confirmed. Reps for Affleck, Damon and the team declined to comment.

Fritz Peterson recently (a year or two?) wrote a book which goes in to detail about "the trade". I heard him interviewed and he seemed to have a great sense of humor. I was fascinated.

BostonBettor said:

Fritz Peterson recently (a year or two?) wrote a book which goes in to detail about "the trade". I heard him interviewed and he seemed to have a great sense of humor. I was fascinated.

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Guess Fritzy has no problem with it.....Kekich is another story.

This will be a interesting movie

BostonBettor said:

Fritz Peterson recently (a year or two?) wrote a book which goes in to detail about "the trade". I heard him interviewed and he seemed to have a great sense of humor. I was fascinated.

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Worked with Fritz for about 10 years (he dealt blackjack at a midwest casino in his post-baseball playing days) ,,, GREAT GUY!!!!

I continue contact with him and recently met up with him here in Tampa at a Yankee fantasy camp at Legends Field he was at.
HE IS ALSO THE ALL-TIME ERA (LOWEST) AT OLD TANKEE STADIUM, NEVER TO BE BROKEN....


Hope the movie plans go well...

**** fritz was also the starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians for 10 cent beer night!!!!!!

Fritz a top 25 pitcher in NYY history!!!

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/923311-the-25-best-yankees-pitchers-of-all-time/page/4

5teamparlay said:

Fritz a top 25 pitcher in NYY history!!!

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/923311-the-25-best-yankees-pitchers-of-all-time/page/4

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Baseball Reference says Fritz is the 416th best pitcher of all time.

Bump for my former Co-worker Fritz:


http://mobile.cleveland.com/advcleve/pm_29205/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=DLFnEXEK
Matt Damon, Ben Affleck planning movie on Yankees' wife swap: Book of Norman Norman Chad, Special to The Plain Dealer 02/27/2012 8:05 AM
Crawling gingerly toward big-screen reality — nothing happens quickly in Hollywood, other than Joan Rivers’ plastic surgeries — is a Ben Affleck/Matt Damon film production of the infamous Mike Kekich-Fritz Peterson 1970s wife swap.

The movie is tentatively titled, “The Trade.” It essentially is “Moneyball” with benefits.

For you kids out there who only know “Wife Swap” as a two-week, made- for-TV deal, this was the real deal, lock, stock and peril. In October 1972 — though it did not become public until March 1973 — Kekich and Peterson, close friends and Yankees pitchers, decided to swap wives and lives.

Kekich swapped his wife, Susanne, his two kids and a Bedlington terrier for Peterson’s wife, Marilyn, their two kids and a poodle.

Let’s deal with the most glaring component first: Who trades a Bedlington terrier for a poodle? Bad judgment, and a bad sign for Kekich — his new arrangement did not last long. Meanwhile, Peterson and Susanne are still married nearly 40 years later, buoyed, I’m sure, by having that terrific terrier by their side.

And let’s deal with an obvious personal note next: I would never trade my Toni, aka She Is The One (And Then Some). How stupid do I look? I would lose her nimble mind and shapely body, her gorgeous face and great cooking and, I suspect, all the Tupperware.

After Kekich and Peterson swapped personal lives, their professional lives tumbled. Clearly, both lost their fastballs. Kekich had 32 victories before the swap, was traded to the Indians that season and won only seven more games in his career. Peterson had 101 victories before the swap and just 32 after and he, too, was exiled to Cleveland in 1974.

The day the wife swap was publicized in 1973, a Yankees executive quipped, “We may have to call off ‘Family Day’ this season.”

Wow, how things change. If Kekich and Peterson swapped in 2012, the Yankees likely double up promotion of “Family Day” and have Newt Gingrich throw out the first pitch.

(Column intermission: My High School Team of Destiny, Springbrook in Silver Spring, Md., begins its road to a possible boys basketball title this week — three home playoff victories would get the Blue Devils to the state semifinals. I’ll be rooting for curmudgeonly coach Tom Crowell and senior standouts Demetric Austin, Timmy Christian and Brandon Emery. And, yeah, that’s my stepson Isaiah looking fine near the end of the bench.)

Of course, Kekich-Peterson happened pre-cable and pre-Internet. Just imagine the news cycle if this occurred today — the endless chatter on how it would affect the Yankees’ pitching rotation and their chances of beating the Red Sox, pre-Twitter and pre-Kardashian.

Speaking of which, how has the Kardashian clan not seized on this swap-a-palooza business? It’s a slam dunk if they put their marketing caps on: Kim doesn’t dump Kris Humphries, rather, Kim and Kris swap spouses with Khloe and Lamar Odom. NOW WE’RE TALKING RATINGS, BABY! Viewerwise, “Kim & Kris & Khloe & Lamar” would make “American Idol” look like “Upstairs, Downstairs.”

By the way, that brings us to “Wife Swap,” an ABC staple since 2004. I apologize to women — it’s as if they have no say in these matters. Then again, we’re only in the 21st century. Perhaps by the next millennium, the species will have evolved to the point of “Husband Swap.”

“Wife Swap,” naturally, begot “Celebrity Wife Swap,” where last month, somewhat disgraced Pastor Ted Haggard and somewhat unstable actor Gary Busey traded mates for a week. You had to feel for Gayle Haggard on this one: The long-suffering minister’s wife might have thought she had it bad, then one morning she wakes up to find out she’s being shipped to Gary Busey! Doesn’t that violate some precept of the Geneva Conventions?

Anyway, even if “The Trade” is made — Peterson has signed on as a consultant — I doubt it can equal the glory of “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” the original mate-swapping tale that preceded Kekich-Peterson. That 1969 film defined my adolescence — I was 11 when I saw Natalie Wood in a negligee, and I don’t think I looked at another woman until I was 28.

As for “The Trade,” Affleck reportedly will play Peterson and Damon will portray Kekich, but — who knows? — they might swap roles.