1952-1959

Ted Lepcio, who was an infielder for for five teams in the 1950s and early ’60s. Lepcio played for the Boston Red Sox (1952-59), Detroit Tigers (1959), Philadelphia Phillies (1960), Chicago White Sox (1961) and Minnesota Twins (1961).

Lepcio was born on July 28, 1929 in Utica, N.Y. He played on the varsity baseball team all four years at Thomas R. Proctor High School in Utica and then attended Seton Hall University. He was signed by the Red Sox on September 10, 1950 and assigned to the Louisville Colonels of the American Association. He played for both Louisville and the Roanoke Ro-Sox in 1951 and hit a combined .266 with 12 homers in 89 games.

Lepcio earned an invitation to the Red Sox training camp in 1952 and made a great impression. Playing at second base, Lepcio and rookie shortstop Jimmy Piersall wowed manager Lou Boudreau. They were part of a youth movement that also included outfielders Gene Stephens and Tom Umphlett.

Lepcio was in the Opening Day starting lineup on April 15, 1952. He got his first major-league hit and stolen base in the 7th inning against Washington’s Bob Porterfield. His first MLB home run came a few days later off the Athletics’ Morrie Martin.

He played regularly for about a month before manager Lou Boudreau replaced him with veteran Billy Goodman. Lepcio was hitting .247 at the time he was benched. He still started a fair number of games and ultimately hit .263 in 84 games, with 5 home runs and 25 RBIs.

Lepcio took a step back in 1953 and hit just .236 in 66 games as a utility infielder. He was given another chance to play regularly in 1954, and he came through. He started the season as the Sox shortstop before moving to second base. By early June, he was hitting in the .290s and at one point drove in 15 runs in 17 games. He cooled off to end the season with a .256 BA, but he played in more than 100 games for the only time in his career and had 45 RBIs to go with 8 home runs.

For the rest of his time with the Red Sox, he played between 50 and 83 games in a season. He hit a career-high 15 homers in 1956 while batting .261. On the downside, hit failed to break the .200 level in 1958, ending the year with a .199 mark.

Lepcio started 1959 on the bench, and appeared in a total of three games with the Red Sox, getting a double in 3 at-bats. On May 2nd, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers, along with Dave Sisler, in exchange for Billy Hoeft. His career with the Tigers lasted 76 games, but he batted .279 in those games and cracked 7 home runs while driving in 25.

Lepcio was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for the 1960 season. Lepcio hit .227 in 69 games in his only National League experience.

The White Sox acquired Lepcio in April 1961 but used him very sparingly. He got into a total of 5 games. He was released in May. The Twins signed him, and after a short stay in the minors, he was brought back to the majors on July. Lepcio hit 7 homers for the Twins in 47 games but hit just .170. He was released by the Twins and signed by the debuting Mets after the ’61 season, but the Mets cut him prior to the start of the 1962 season.

In his 10-year career, Lepcio had a slash line of .245/.318/.398, with 512 hits, including 69 home runs. He had 251 RBIs and scored 233 runs, generating 5.4 wins above replacement.

Lepcio was inducted into the Seton Hall University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. He was a long-time resident of Dedham, Mass., and, as recently as 2016, worked as the director of sales at Corsair Logistics.

He died at his home on December 5, 2019 at the age of 90.