MLB

Legendary Yankees character Joe Pepitone dead at 82

Joe Pepitone, the former Yankee known as much for his outlandish personality as his baseball career, died on Monday at 82, the team announced.

“The Yankees are deeply saddened by the passing of former Yankee Joe Pepitone, whose playful and charismatic personality and on-field contributions made him a favorite of generations of Yankees fans even beyond his years with the team in the 1960s,” the team said in a statement.

Pepitone, a Brooklyn native who was shot by a classmate in 1957, signed with the Yankees a year later and made his MLB debut with the organization in 1962.

Joe Pepitone has died at 82. MLB via Getty Images
Joe Pepitone played for the Yankees from 1962-69. MLB via Getty Images

After backing up Moose Skowron at first base as a rookie, he replaced Skowron the following season and hit 27 homers.

In 1964, the lefty-swinger hit 28 home runs and appeared in all seven games of the Yankees’ World Series loss to the Cardinals.

It was the Yankees’ last World Series appearance until 1976.

For all the lofty expectations that Pepitone brought to The Bronx, he ended up being one of the symbols of their malaise that began in the late 1960s, booed by fans at Yankee Stadium after replacing the hobbled Mickey Mantle in center field.

Joe Pepitone and Chris Chambliss during Old Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y., July 7, 2007 JEFF ZELEVANSKY

Still, he made three All-Star teams and won three Gold Gloves as a Yankee before being traded to Houston following the 1969 season and went on to play for the Cubs and Braves before his MLB career ended in 1973 with 219 home runs.

He also played briefly in Japan.

Prior to being shipped away from the Yankees, though, Pepitone was known in New York for his outsized personality.

He didn’t hide the fact he wore a hairpiece and was the first player to bring a hair dryer into the clubhouse.

Pepitone also had a reputation for a hard-living lifestyle off the field that led to the shortening of his career — much of which was described in Jim Bouton’s controversial book, “Ball Four.”

He returned to the Yankees as a minor league hitting coach in 1980 and was briefly part of the major league staff in 1982.

“You always knew when Joe walked into a room,’’ the Yankees statement read. “His immense pride in being a Yankee was always on display.’’

Yankees great Joe Pepitone comes out to the field during introductions for Old Timer’s Day in 2012. Paul J. Bereswill

Pepitone ran into some legal trouble, including misdemeanor drug charges stemming from a 1985 incident, but he remained a popular figure around the Yankees and was a fixture at Old-Timers’ Day.

Pepitone continued to be a part of pop culture, name-dropped in “Seinfeld” on several occasions, including when Kramer mentioned drilling him during a fantasy camp game because he crowded the plate and George suggesting the Yankees having a Joe Pepitone Day in The Bronx when he worked for the team.

More recently, Pepitone sued the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2021, claiming that he had only loaned the museum the bat Mantle used to hit his 500th career homer, while the museum contended the bat was a gift.

Pepitone sued for $1 million, but later dropped the suit.