Joe Pepitone had a brief, but colorful stint in Japan

TOKYO — I read with sadness the recent passing of Joe Pepitone, the brash former Yankee star who played in Japan. He was famous for a number of things besides his baseball playing skills, including his shoulder length toupee — which he wore during games, his quirky personality, his bizarre, often drug-induced behavior, some of which he displayed in Japan, and a term in prison.   

Pepitone, born to an Italian working class family in Brooklyn, joined the Yankees in 1962, at a time when Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were still on the team. A left-handed power hitter, with a slick defensive glove at his first base position, he quickly became a fan favorite, making the All-Star team three years in a row and hitting a career high 31 homers in 1966, the year the Yankees began their precipitous decline into a period of mediocrity.