Ted Lepcio taught the Red Sox the power of a player scorned
when they made him a Tiger. Ted started
his major league career in 1952 as a member of the Red Sox. They played the Washington Senators in
Washington on opening day and the tradition was back then that the president of
the United States would throw out the ball from the stands. Harry Truman tossed out the ball and several
of the players scrambled for it, but Ted came up with it. He returned it to Truman and the two chatted
as pictures were taken. In the seventh
inning of the game Ted got a single and then stole second on a botched hit and
run. The Sox beat the Senators 3-0. The next day the Washington papers talked
about the three hot rookies for the Sox, Faye Throneberry (Marvelous Marv’s brother),
Jimmy Piersall and Ted. Ted and Jimmy
were roommates and Ted was one of the few players to recognize Piersall had an
illness and defended his roommate when his teammates wanted to cause him
physical harm. Ted played mainly second
that first season but also some third.
He would continue bouncing around between second third and short hitting
.247 and being an average fielder his entire time with the Sox until 1959 when
the Sox sent him to Detroit with Dave Sisler for Billy Hoeft. In his first game as a Tiger the Sox came to
Detroit and Briggs Stadium. Ted went 2
for 4 with walk and a grand slam to take the lead in the game and ultimately
win it 8-3. He went 5 for 12 in the
three game series. For 1959 Ted played
against the Sox in 12 games and hit .357.
A bit better than the .247 he had hit with the Bosox. Ted has his best season at the plate with the
Tiges as utility infielder hitting .279 in 76 games. But at the end of the season he was traded
with Ken Walters and minor leaguer Alex Cosmidis for Chico Fernandez and Ray
Semproch. Ted did not respond well to
his new surroundings and manager Eddie Sawyer.
Sawyer called Ted the worst major leaguer he had ever seen. Big talk coming from a manager who had managed
the Phils to last place finishes the two previous seasons. Eddie skippered the first game of the season,
a 9-4 loss to the Reds where Eddie left Robin Roberts in the game for four and
third innings giving up 8 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks. It was a poor decision by manager Eddie and
it would be his last of his managerial career as he was fired after the
game. But Ted still had a career to
play. Ted hit only .227 for the last
place Phils and at then spent one more season in the majors, 1961, where he
split time with the White Sox and Twins.
His career average for 10 years was .245.
Ben Steiner
John Glaiser
Hank Perry
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