{{short description|American baseball player (born 1943)}} {{distinguish|text = advertising executive and author Don Peppers}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Don Pepper |position=Pinch hitter/First baseman |image= |bats=Left |throws=Right |birth_date={{Birth date and age|1943|10|8}} |birth_place=Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S. |death_date= |death_place= |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=September 10 |debutyear=1966 |debutteam=Detroit Tigers |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=October 2 |finalyear=1966 |finalteam=Detroit Tigers |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Games played |stat1value=4 |stat2label=At bats |stat2value=3 |stat3label=Hits |stat3value=0 |teams= *Detroit Tigers ({{mlby|1966}}) }} '''Donald Hoyte Pepper''' (born October 8, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player. He was a first baseman whose seven-year (1962–1968) professional career included a four-game trial in the majors with the Detroit Tigers in 1966. Pepper batted left handed and threw right-handed, at {{height|ft=6|in=4}} and {{convert|215|lb}}.
Pepper graduated from Saratoga Springs High School in 1961 and signed with the Tigers for $15,000 ({{Inflation|US|15000|1961|r=-2|fmt=eq}}).<ref name="saratogian">{{cite news |last1=Post |first1=Paul |title=Saratoga Springs graduate, former pro baseball player Pepper remembers Marvin Miller era |url=https://www.saratogian.com/2012/11/28/saratoga-springs-graduate-former-pro-baseball-player-pepper-remembers-marvin-miller-era/ |access-date=3 December 2022 |work=Saratogian |date=28 November 2012}}</ref>
Pepper's career was spent with the Detroit organization. In his best season, 1966 with the Double-A Montgomery Rebels, he batted .302 and reached career highs in home runs (19) and runs batted in (87). Called up to the Tigers after the post-September 1 roster expansion, Pepper was a pinch hitter in three contests (he grounded out, struck out, and flied out in his three at bats). In his fourth game, he was a defensive replacement for veteran Tiger first baseman Norm Cash, but did not bat.<ref>[http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/P/Ppeppd101.htm Retrosheet]</ref>
At age 24, Pepper made the cover of ''Sports Illustrated'' in March {{mlby|1968}}, along with Johnny Bench, Cisco Carlos, Alan Foster, and Mike Torrez, as "The Best Rookies of 1968."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1968/03/11/549327/some-hot-rookies-for-a-new-season<!--http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/featured/8066/index.htm--> |title=Some hot rookies for a new season|magazine=Sports Illustrated |last=Leggett |first=William |date=March 11, 1968 |page=28}}</ref>
In 1969, Pepper refused a minor league assignment and retired, moving home to Wilton, New York to work on his family's turkey farm.<ref name="saratogian" />
He is the father of Dottie Pepper,<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.si.com/vault/2002/06/17/325323/don-pepper-and-cisco-carlos-hot-prospects-march-11-1968<!-- http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1026006/index.htm-->|title=Don Pepper And Cisco Carlos Hot Prospects |magazine=Sports Illustrated |first=Andrea |last=Woo |date=June 17, 2002 |page=10}}</ref> a professional golfer and golf commentator.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Baseballstats|br=p/peppedo01|brm=pepper001don}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepper, Don}} Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:Baseball players from Saratoga County, New York Category:Detroit Tigers players Category:Lakeland Tigers players Category:Major League Baseball first basemen Category:Montgomery Rebels players Category:Sportspeople from Saratoga Springs, New York Category:Thomasville Tigers players Category:Toledo Mud Hens players Category:People from Wilton, New York Category:20th-century American sportsmen
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