Feeling Pepi!

One of my goals for 2011 was to add more autographed cards to my collection. I am especially on the prowl for Cubs from the '60s and 70's. When I saw this one, I knew I had to have it!



What an awesome looking card! Home pinstripes...Big '70s sideburns....and a nickname signature! I love this card.





And Pepitone looks so much peppier than he does on these two.

Joe came to the Cubs during the 1970 season. He had been traded from his hometown Yankees to the Astros over the winter of '69-'70. Things did not go well in Houston, and on July 23 he was suspended by the team for skipping out on them and going back to New York while he was injured. Six days later he was sold to the Cubs.

The Cubs were willing to take a chance on the free-spirited Pepi because Ernie Banks was pretty much washed up. The lineup needed a power boost and Pepitone was available, cheap. Pepi became an immediate hit with the fans, and did well on the field too. In 56 games with the Cubs he hit 12 homers and knocked in 44 runs.

He did well the next season, too, hitting a career high .307. But in 1972 he returned to his flaky ways. Off to a slow start, on May 2 he asked be placed on the voluntary retired list, but had a change of heart and returned to the Cubs on June 30.



A year later, in May of 1973, the Cubs gave up on their flaky star and sent him to Atlanta in exchange for a minor league first baseman named Andre Thornton.