Joe Pepitone, a New York Yankees shooting star, dies at age 82

Joe Pepitone had star quality and a powerful left-handed swing built to succeed at Yankee Stadium, along with a slick fielding reputation as a first baseman.

A three-time American League All-Star by age 24, Pepitone’s brashness led to enough trouble – both within the game, and away from the diamond – that his baseball career is viewed in a what-might-have-been way.

A Brooklyn native, signed by the Yankees out of high school in 1958, Pepitone died Monday at age 82.

In a statement, the New York Yankees remembered Pepitone for his “playful and charismatic personality and on-field contributions’’ which “made him a favorite of generations of Yankees fans even beyond his years with the team in the 1960s.’’

Pepitone broke in with the world champion 1962 Yankees at age 21, and became an established regular on the pennant-winning 1963 and 1964 Yankees, managed by Ralph Houk.

Along with colorful tales of Pepitone being the first MLB player to bring a hairdryer into a big league clubhouse, or spending his entire signing bonus before he arrived at his first Yankees camp, were frictions with management and on-field incidents that marked his 12-year career.

After the 1969 season, Pepitone was traded by the Yankees to the Houston Astros for Curt Blefary.

Pepitone later played for Leo Durocher with the Chicago Cubs, and briefly with the Atlanta Braves. He had a mostly regrettable 14-game stay in the Japan Central League.

Pepitone:Former Yankee drops lawsuit against Hall of Fame for Mickey Mantle’s 500th HR bat

In a 1985 incident, Pepitone was arrested and later jailed four months on a narcotics charge. Ten years later, a DUI arrest in the Queens-Midtown Tunnel put Pepitone back in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

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