Frank Ronald Tepedino (born November 23, 1947) is a former left-handed

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player. He was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He played for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

(–), Milwaukee Brewers ( 1971) and

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

(–) professional baseball teams in Major League Baseball during his career. Tepedino was inducted into the

Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame The Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame is an American sports hall of fame based in Suffolk County on Long Island, New York. The non-profit was established during 1990 to honor outstanding people, living or deceased, who have gained prominence and made s ...

in 2004.

Career

Tepedino graduated from George W. Wingate High School in Brooklyn NY in 1965. He was drafted by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

on June 8, 1965, in the third round of the 1965 amateur draft. He was then drafted from the Orioles by the

on November 28, 1966 in the 1966 first-year draft. Tepedino made his major league debut on May 12, 1967 with the Yankees in a game against Orioles at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

, with 22,300 in attendance. He

pinch hit In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, Americ ...

for

Whitey Ford Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (October 21, 1928 – October 8, 2020), nicknamed "the Chairman of the Board", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played his entire 16-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees ...

in the bottom of the third inning of a blowout, and popped out to

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

. The Yankees lost the game by a score of 14–0. Tepedino was traded along with Bobby Mitchell from the

Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

to the Brewers for

Danny Walton Daniel James Walton (July 14, 1947 – August 9, 2017) was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. Walton attended Bishop Amat Memorial High School, and was selected in the 10th round (192nd overall) of the 1965 MLB draft by the Houston A ...

on June 7, 1971. On March 31, 1972, he was repurchased by the Yankees from the Brewers, and on June 7, 1973, traded again, with Wayne Nordhagen and players to be named later, to the

for

Pat Dobson Patrick Edward Dobson, Jr. (February 12, 1942 – November 22, 2006) was an American right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Detroit Tigers (1967–69), San Diego Padres (1970), Baltimore Orioles (1971–72), Atla ...

. To complete the trade, the Yankees also sent Dave Cheadle on August 15, 1973 and

Al Closter Alan Edward Closter is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played on the United States national baseball team during the 1964 Summer Olympics. He pitched parts of four seasons in Major League Baseball between 1966 and 1973, pitch ...

on September 5, 1973 to the Braves.

Personal life

After retiring from baseball, Tepedino served as a firefighter for the

New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

. Following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, Tepedino drove to the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

site and participated in search and rescue operations. During an assembly at

Rocky Point High School Rocky Point High School is a public school of the Rocky Point Union Free School District along the north shore of Long Island, located in Rocky Point, New York. It is the only high school in the district and serves grades 9-12. Prior to its form ...

six years afterward, Tepedino said, "I lost 343 friends on September 11, 2001," referring to his fire department colleagues. "I didn't know them all personally, but they were all my friends." On October 11, 2001, one month after the attacks, Tepedino threw out the first pitch at the second game of the

2001 American League Division Series The 2001 American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the 2001 American League playoffs, began on Tuesday, October 9, and ended on Monday, October 15, with the champions of the three AL divisions—along with a "wild card" team— ...

at Yankee Stadium.Yankee for Life, Bobby Murcer and Glen Waggoner, p. 227, Harper Collins, 2008, New York, Tepedino is a recovering alcoholic. He became addicted to alcohol at age 19 and as of 2011 had given speeches to an estimated 60,000 youngsters for the Long Island, New York based ''Winning for Winning'', co-founded with former Yankee teammate

Rusty Torres Rosendo "Rusty" Torres Hernández (born September 30, 1948) is a former professional baseball outfielder. He played all or part of nine seasons in Major League Baseball for five different teams. In an odd coincidence, Torres happened to be in the ...

, which educates youth about the dangers of alcohol and drugs and promotes youth athletics.

References

External links

Baseball-ReferenceBaseball-AlmanacBaseball Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tepedino, Frank Major League Baseball first basemen New York Yankees players Atlanta Braves players Syracuse Chiefs players 1947 births Living people Sportspeople from Brooklyn Baseball players from New York City