Slowpitch -vs- Baseball

[greymule]

Could have sworn Pepitone played with the Philadelphia Athletics in the pro softball league.

He may well have played for Philly at some point. I met Pepitone around 1990 and mentioned that I had last seen him playing for the Trenton Statesmen. He proudly claimed to have been a good softball player, and I certainly agreed with him. But when I got home and relayed the story, of lot of the guys laughed and asked whether Pepitone had turned pale when I mentioned the Statesmen. I don't know the details, but apparently Joe's sojourn in Trenton was fraught with controversy of various kinds.

I remember a lot of those pro teams: Cincinnati Suds, Detroit Caesars, Minnesota Goofys. New York and Baltimore also had teams. I heard of scores getting into the 70s. Imagine averaging 10 runs an inning and losing the game. The ball had to be juiced though, even in 1977. Several guys from our league played for Trenton and hit a lot of homers. With our Dudley Day-Nites, they rarely reached the fence.