"When Joe Pepitone reported to training camp last spring in his best shape in years, espousing a new, more mature attitude, some people really believed that 1968 would see him emerge into full stardom. How unprophetic that was.
A series of injuries, starting in the season's third game, kept knocking him out of the lineup. A hairline fracture of his left elbow put him on the disabled list. Occasionally swinging a hot bat, Joe at one point was leading the club in home runs and RBI's. But inevitably something always brought him to ground. He played a total of only 107 games and wound up with a career-low average of .245, though he did collect 56 RBI's and 15 home runs."
-Jack Zanger, Major League Baseball 1969
"Fun-loving Joe likes to shock'em and rock'em. It used to be his hair style - before others caught up to him. Then it was Nehru jackets and beads. Joe is as quick with his gags as he is with his wrists, and his fans and his mates wouldn't have him any other way. But there is a growing feeling that Pepi is building up to something really big.
Joe suffered a hairline fracture of his left elbow in the third game last season and was sidelined for a month. Joe came back after the layoff and hit .295 in his first 20 games with five home runs and drove in 19 runs. He drove home the winning run in three games during the 10-game winning streak. Joe bore down as hard the rest of the season as had in spring training.
There are those who say that the Yankees' first division finish last year gave Pepitone a whiff of the sweet smell of success a great competitor needs to go all the way and accomplish what everyone has expected him to accomplish. Joe has what it takes to become a super-star; his average for his first five years with the Yankees is just under 25 homers per year. He twice won the Sporting News Gold Glove award at first base and he could win another in the outfield. There is a time when the folk heroes of a new generation put their talent on the line. Joe's fans say this is the year."
-The New York Yankees Official 1969 Yearbook
"The popular Joe Pepitone has now played six and a half seasons with the team he has always rooted for ... the Yankees. Although growing up in Brooklyn, the Yankees were always Joe's favorites.
Pep, who has been somewhat criticized for not reaching his potential, nonetheless has been one of the Yankees' biggest offensive weapons for the past few years, having averaged 22 homers per year for the six full seasons he has played with the club. Now 28 years old, Joe is at the age which many baseball experts believe is when a player reaches the height of his- and here's that word again- potential. The one thing that all agree upon is that Joe definitely has it.
He was somewhat hampered by a string of injuries last year which, including a hairline fracture of his left elbow on April 14 (missed 24 games), a strained right rib cage and a bruised left heel. Always tough in the clutch, Joe knocked in the deciding run for the club 10 times last year, second only to Roy White's 12
Originally an outfielder, Joe was switched to first base in 1963 and led the league in fielding at that position in 1965 and 1966. He was switched back to the outfield in 1967 when Mantle went to the 'initial sack.'
One of the most colorful players in the league, Joe continued to booked for singing engagements during the off-season, including the Merv Griffin Show."
-1969 New York Yankees Press-TV-Radio Guide
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