Pepe covered baseball for the
New York Daily News from 1969 through 1981 and then succeeded
Dick Young as its featured sports columnist in 1982. In 1970, his book,
The Incredible Knicks was published, highlighting their championship season. Prominently, Pepe was a longtime Yankees beat writer who chronicled players such as
Yogi Berra,
Mickey Mantle,
Reggie Jackson, and
Derek Jeter. Pepe also authored books on other figures in sports, including
Come Out Smokin’ on heavyweight champion
Joe Frazier and covering athletes such as boxer
Muhammad Ali. In addition, he wrote on basketball players such as
Walt Frazier and
Willis Reed. After leaving the News in 1989, Pepe did morning sports for
WCBS radio for more than 15 years, which included his popular "Pep Talk" segment. In addition, he was the director of broadcasting and a radio analyst for the Class-A
New Jersey Cardinals of the
New York–Penn League from 1994 to 2005. Among his books about the Yankees, Pepe wrote
My Favorite Summer 1956, with
Mickey Mantle, which spent time on the New York Times Bestseller List, and “New York Yankees:1961” an account of the Mantle-Maris home run chase for Ruth's record. He also wrote
The Wit and Wisdom of Yogi Berra;
Slick, an autobiography of
Whitey Ford;
Core Four, about
Derek Jeter,
Jorge Posada,
Andy Pettitte and
Mariano Rivera in a more recent period of team's success, as well as
Yankee Doodles, a handful of recollections from his experiences with the team. Pepe also was esteemed for the tireless work he did on behalf of the New York chapter of the
Baseball Writers' Association of America, where he served as chapter chairman from 1975 to 1976 and executive director from 1991 until 2015. Most notably, he attended every BBWAA awards dinner in New York from 1962 unto his death and ran the annual event for more than two decades. Pepe died in 2015 at his home in
Englewood,
New Jersey at the age of 80. The cause was an apparent
heart attack. ==Sources==