He played some professional softball, was in the bar business for a time and in the early 1980s worked briefly for the Yankees as a hitting coach. In 1985, he was riding in a car with two other people when the police stopped them for running a red light and found drugs — cocaine, heroin and quaaludes — and a loaded handgun in the car.
Pepitone was convicted on misdemeanor counts of possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia and served about half of a six-month sentence.
“I find it particularly sad,” the judge, acting Justice Allan Marrus of State Supreme Court, told him at his sentencing, “when someone who graced New York in Yankee pinstripes will now have to serve his time with the New York Department of Correction in their prison stripes.”
Pepitone later worked in public relations for the Yankees and mostly stayed out of trouble, though he did plead guilty to drunken driving after losing control of his car in the Midtown Tunnel in 1995. He was married and divorced three times.
In addition to his children Bill and Cara, Pepitone is survived by another son, Joseph Jr.; two more daughters, Eileen and Lisa; two brothers, Vincent and William; several grandchildren; and at least one great-grandchild. He had recently moved from Long Island to Kansas City to be closer to Cara.
Still, he remained a vivid and mostly fond memory for Yankee fans of a certain vintage. His name was invoked on a variety of television shows, including “The Golden Girls,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Sopranos” and “Seinfeld.”
For many in the game — players, coaches, sportswriters and even umpires — Pepitone was a lovable if self-centered, entertaining if exasperating, hugely talented if hugely troubled guy.
“I wish I could buy you for what you’re really worth,” Mantle once said to him, according to the website Baseball-Almanac.com, “then sell you for what you think you’re worth.”
Alex Traub contributed reporting.
