Tom Seaver

The baseball world is mourning the death of Tom Seaver, one of the game's best all-time pitchers and, despite having played for other teams, the face of the New York Mets (he and Mike Piazza are the only players enshrined in the Baseball Hall Of Fame wearing a Mets cap). To show how much he meant to the Mets franchise, the address of their current home, Citifield, is 41 Seaver Way (41 was his number).

Seaver was a hero to every Mets fan, and admired by fans of all other teams. He won the Rookie of the Year in 1967, and then three Cy Young Awards, the first coming in 1969, when he went 25-7 and led the Mets to their first world championship--the Miracle Mets. Only he and Walter Johnson had the combination of 300 wins, 3000 strikeouts, and an E.R.A. under 3.00. I think that last stat is the most remarkable, given that few pitchers today have an E.R.A. under three for one season, let alone a career.

How Seaver ended up on the Mets is an interesting story. He was playing college ball for USC and was drafted by the Dodgers, but did not meet Seaver's asking price, so he went back to college. He was then drafted by the Braves, but was declared ineligible, but couldn't return to playing at college because he was ruled ineligible by the NCAA. Seaver's father went to the commissioner to point out the unfairness of this, so a lottery was held for any team that matched the Braves' offer. Cleveland, Philadelphia, and the Mets did, and the Mets won. If he went with any other team the history of baseball would be quite different.

But Seaver would not stay with the Mets. He asked for more money, but team president M. Donald Grant penny-pinched, and columnist Dick Young wrote articles calling Seaver greedy. Seaver wanted out, and in a trade that has long haunted Mets fans, was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds in 1977 for four players who didn't amount to much. The Mets went into immediate decline. With the Reds Seaver got his long-awaited no-hitter. He had five one-hitters with the Mets, including one that was broken up with two outs in the ninth on a single by the Cubs' Jimmy Qualls, a reserve who had only 31 lifetime hits. This one counted the most.

Seaver returned to the Mets in 1993, presumably to end his career with the team that he broke in with, but after the season was claimed in a free-agent compensation draft by the White Sox. The Mets brass had no idea that a team would claim a 39 year old pitcher. Seaver played three seasons with the Sox, and garnered his 300th win with them, ironically at Yankee Stadium, on Phil Rizzuto Day.

He ended his career with one season with the Red Sox, but due to injury was unable to compete in the 1986 World Series--against the Mets. He was given a rousing ovation by Mets fans during the pre-game introductions.

Seaver was not only a great player but a class act. He was open to the press, and spent many years behind the microphone as an analyst. But a few years ago he was diagnosed with dementia and retired from public life. He died from a combination of dementia and COVID-19 (my friend Paula's favorite player was Seaver, her twelve-year-old crush, and declared that Donald Trump killed Seaver).

The death of an athlete is always jarring, because our memories of them are as young and fit, playing boys' games with a youthful enthusiasm.