Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he attended Yale University, where he played varsity baseball alongside future President George H. W. Bush in 1948.

The following February, the Yankees included him in a seven-player trade with Washington that sent left-handed hurler Mickey McDermott to the Bronx.

Then, facing the Yankees on April 17 in the traditional "Presidential Opener" at Griffith Stadium, Tettelbach homered off Don Larsen in his first at-bat as a Senator in the presence of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 32nd President of the United States.

[1][2] The blast off Larsen was Tettelbach's lone big-league long ball; he also collected one double and two triples among his 12 hits in 80 at bats and drove in ten runs.

However, when Cleveland assigned him to the San Diego Padres of Pacific Coast League, he chose to retire from the game and remain in Connecticut, where he entered private business and raised his family.