Affleck/Damon To Make Movie About Wife-Swapping Yankees

Mike Kekich, Fritz Peterson and wives

One of the strangest stories in Yankee history may be coming to the big screen soon, courtesy of two of the world's biggest Red Sox fans. Ben Affleck and brother Casey are in the middle of rewriting a second version of the script for the movie-in-question, The Trade, which may be directed by Matt Damon. The film is based on the true story of two Yankees pitchers who swapped wives in the early 1970s. And one of those pitchers is desperately trying to block the film from being made.

A source tells the Post that former Yankee Mike Kekich is "panic-stricken. He has moved away and has a new identity. He is freaked out that those working on the movie found out where he is. He isn't too keen on having the scandal dredged up again after all this time." Kekich and fellow Yankee Fritz Peterson were thick-as-thieves when they played for the team in the late 60s and early 70s. They lived close to each other, their families were close to each other, and they all spent their time together. In 1972, the two allegedly joked about swapping wives; a year later, the joke became a reality when the two fell in love with each others wives, and swapped permanently. The Yankees actually canceled "Family Day" that summer—we can only imagine how the uber-liberal George Steinbrenner (in his first year as Yankees owner) must have dealt with the situation internally.

Fritz and Susanne Kekich had four children together, are still married, and live in New Jersey and Colorado. But Kekich broke up with Marilyn Peterson soon after the affair became public. Kekich's career also went into a "black hole" after the swap, and he was out of baseball soon after. According to the Washington Post, he once said of the scandal, "Neither Fritz Peterson nor I will ever make it into the Hall of Fame. But I know our names keep popping up in the Hall of Shame. I don’t lose any sleep over it, but I really don’t think it’s fair.”

The source also told the Post that many former Yankees weren't cooperating with facts and details of what happened. Affleck, a life-long Red Sox fan, told MTV this about the story: "I've come to have a little more respect for the Yankees. There are some of those guys...that look like good guys... But as an institution? Disdain. Contempt... Guys [bleep]ing each others' wives -- that's those Yankees."