Fritz Peterson obit

NIU Hall of Fame Pitcher Fritz Peterson Passes Away

 

He was not on the list.

DeKALB, Ill. – Northern Illinois University Athletics Hall of Fame pitcher Fred "Fritz" Peterson recently passed away at the age of 82, his family has confirmed. Peterson was a two-year letterwinner in baseball for the Huskies in the early 1960s before playing 11 seasons in Major League Baseball with the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers.

A Mt. Prospect, Illinois native and a graduate of Arlington Heights High School, Peterson played baseball at NIU in 1962 and 1963 under head coach Darrel Black. In his first season Peterson led the Huskies with 55 strikeouts and 65.1 innings pitched. As a senior, Peterson was 8-2 on the mound with a 2.45 earned run average. He struck out 91 batters in 91.2 innings pitched and was named the team's Most Valuable Player along with earning All-IIAC and All-Midwest honors.

In the summer of 1963 Peterson signed with the New York Yankees as a free agent. He made his major league debut on April 15, 1966, against the Baltimore Orioles. Peterson threw a complete game, allowing two runs on six hits with three strikeouts as the Yankees won 3-2. He went on to win 12 games that season with a 3.31 ERA, tying for the club lead in wins.

Peterson won 20 games in 1970 and was an American League All-Star. He was fifth in the league in wins and fourth in the AL with a 2.90 ERA. Peterson won at least 10 games in seven of his 11 seasons. For his professional career, Peterson won 133 games in 355 appearances with 1,015 strikeouts in over 2,200 innings pitched for the Yankees (1966-74), Indians (1974-76) and Rangers (1976).

During the final game ever played at the original Yankee Stadium on Sunday, September 21, 2008, ESPN reported that Peterson would forever own the all-time lowest earned run average of any pitcher in the history of the iconic ballpark at 2.52.

Peterson earned his bachelor's degree from NIU in 1965 and a master's degree in 1967. He was inducted into the NIU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987. During his career with the Yankees, Peterson resided in DeKalb in the off-season and did color commentary for NIU men's basketball games on the Huskie Radio Network. His jersey was retired by NIU in 2018.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) 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.

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.

After signing with the Yankees, Peterson was assigned to the Harlan Yankees of the Rookie-level Appalachian League. In twelve games (ten starts), he had a 4–3 win-loss record with a 4.43 earned run average (ERA); he struck out 80 batters in 61 innings pitched. He also batted .273 with one home run. In 1964, Peterson played for the Shelby Yankees in the Class A Western Carolinas League. In 21 games started, 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. 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.

Assigned to the Greensboro Yankees of the Class A Carolina League in 1965, 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 Columbus Confederate Yankees in the Class AA Southern League. He went 5–5 with a 2.18 ERA in twelve starts with 62 strikeouts in 91 innings. Yankees minor league pitching coach Cloyd Boyer is credited with helping Peterson become a star pitcher.