RIP Tom Seaver | Syracusefan.com

RIP Tom Seaver

Growing up in a house where my father had us watch both the Yankees and Mets, Seaver was the guy I wanted to be. Absolutely one of the best ever. This one really hurts. RIP, Tom Terrific.
 
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nypost.com

Tom Seaver, greatest Met ever, dead at 75

BALTIMORE — Tom Seaver, who wears the crown as the undisputed greatest Mets player of all time, has died after battling various illnesses. The Hall of Fame, which announced the former pitcher’s dea…
nypost.com nypost.com

It’s 1969 and I’m just a kid, a kid with a broken wrist heading to Jamaica Hospital, off the Van Wyck Expressway near Linden Blvd, Queens. I’d been engaged in some horseplay with neighborhood friends and ended up falling awkwardly, resulting in this necessary emergency room sojourn.
I hardly remember anything about that day other then that it was Fall, and the Mets, my beloved Mets, were playing in the World Series vs the hated Baltimore Orioles. The game was at Shea Stadium, less than a mile & within shouting distance of where I was headed.
We drove to the hospital and as I walked the halls to get my wrist checked out, every room, every car, every corner of the place had a radio playing, giving us a minute by minute snapshot of the ongoing game. I wasn’t worried, not in the least, because the Amazins had Tom Seaver on the mound, and where Tom Terrific went, miracles followed.
My Dad tried to keep me focused on the game to help me deal with pain, but he really didn’t have to. He knew how much the Metsies meant to all us kids in Queens NY.
You see Seaver was my first sports hero along with Willis Reed, Clyde Frazier, Don Cledendon, Tommy Agee, Joe Namath, Emerson Boozer, and a pantheon of NY Sports icons that made NYC “Titletown, USA”. Because in 1969, NYC won the dream trifecta as the Mets, Jets, and Knicks brought home the championship gold.
But for me, it all began with Tom Seaver, who made my youth so very enjoyable. It was he who lifted us kids from Queens, who’d been ridiculed for years for following a team who’s only redeeming feature was that they were led by the “Perfessor” the immortal, irascible, slightly loopy, Casey Stengel.
But Seaver...well, he changed all of that. He made us winners. He made us Amaaazing!!
RIP Tom Terrific, and thank you.
 
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Very, very sad to hear this. You knew he was "on" if his right knee was dirty.
.
One of the great things about 1969 was to be one of the half dozen from NY in a lacrosse fall practice locker room full of Baltimorons.
 
Nobody wins 300 games anymore.
Was 16-11 at age 40 as a reliable starter.
Terrific.
But '69 baby...25-7 and the formerly sad sack Mets beat the vaunted Orioles to win the World Series.
First year of divisional playoffs too (beat the Braves I think 3-0)
As stated above, the Knicks and Jets all won.
I'll even throw in the moon landing and Abbey Road. Yippe-ki-ya.
1969 was the opposite of 2020.
I know...rose-colored glasses. Things weren't perfect then either, but a guy can still remember the good, thrilling times as an 8 year old.

www.baseball-reference.com

Tom Seaver Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Tom Seaver. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
www.baseball-reference.com www.baseball-reference.com
 
Hoo's That said:
Very, very sad to hear this. You knew he was "on" if his right knee was dirty.
.
One of the great things about 1969 was to be one of the half dozen from NY in a lacrosse fall practice locker room full of Baltimorons.
Expand...
That's right. He had perfect pitching form. One of the reasons he lasted so long.
 
Hoo's That said:
Very, very sad to hear this. You knew he was "on" if his right knee was dirty.
.
One of the great things about 1969 was to be one of the half dozen from NY in a lacrosse fall practice locker room full of Baltimorons.
Expand...
He was the definition of a drop and drive pitcher.
 
Alzheimer's and Covid19 - a double-whammy. 2020 strikes again.

But in truth, with Alzheimer's, I suspect we 'lost' Tom Terrific a while a while a go.

To me he's forever young. he was the guy everybody wanted to be in 1969, (as Mickey Mantle was in '56), and he always looked youthful, even in retirement. I can't imagine him at 75, with two serious illnesses. And I won't try.

1599105923488.png
 
Sports Illustrated wrote this article about Tom last October. Very sad but illustrates what his days were like.

www.si.com

Tom Seaver and the Enduring Hope of the 1969 Mets

No one was more important to the improbable '69 Mets title team than Tom Seaver, artist on the mound and an American ideal off it.
www.si.com www.si.com
 
The fact that his death was sort of buried in the sports news of the day by a lot of the media is nuts. He was a force on the field and an unbelievable ambassador off the field. Man what a pitcher - Game 4 of the 69 Series - complete game 10 inning performance that we will never see again. Up 1-0, gives up the tying run in the top of the 9th ( i think he hit in the 8th inning). Well over 100 pitches, goes out for the 10th and strands two runners. Mets win in the bottom of the 10th. Today that same circumstance would take an hour, burn 5 pitchers, and result in 25 new stats.

No Met, Yankee or any other NY sports personality was a bigger star than Seaver in NYC and nobody (Jeter included) handled it better on and off the field.

Look at the numbers guys like Bench and Schmidt had off of him. HIs numbers are unreal and had to be as his run support was Degrom-esque. I'm not even a Met fan but a part of my youth died yesterday and its a part that today's youth will never experience.
 
Newhouser said:
The fact that his death was sort of buried in the sports news of the day by a lot of the media is nuts. He was a force on the field and an unbelievable ambassador off the field. Man what a pitcher - Game 4 of the 69 Series - complete game 10 inning performance that we will never see again. Up 1-0, gives up the tying run in the top of the 9th ( i think he hit in the 8th inning). Well over 100 pitches, goes out for the 10th and strands two runners. Mets win in the bottom of the 10th. Today that same circumstance would take an hour, burn 5 pitchers, and result in 25 new stats.

No Met, Yankee or any other NY sports personality was a bigger star than Seaver in NYC and nobody (Jeter included) handled it better on and off the field.

Look at the numbers guys like Bench and Schmidt had off of him. HIs numbers are unreal and had to be as his run support was Degrom-esque. I'm not even a Met fan but a part of my youth died yesterday and its a part that today's youth will never experience.
Expand...
I mean in NY it was all over. It led the NBC news. Sny did a 3 hour show on Tom. MLB network covered it all night.
 
I'm far from a Mets' fan (I suffered thru the Mets 1969 Miracle as a freshman at SU). But it was impossible not to love Tom Seaver. Such a competitor. Such drive. I love baseball, always have, and Seaver epitomized what I love about baseball.
 
MSOrange said:
Sports Illustrated wrote this article about Tom last October. Very sad but illustrates what his days were like.

www.si.com

Tom Seaver and the Enduring Hope of the 1969 Mets

No one was more important to the improbable '69 Mets title team than Tom Seaver, artist on the mound and an American ideal off it.
www.si.com www.si.com
Expand...

I thought Verducci did an excellent job with that. Swoboda touched on some of that stuff in his book. Very sad.
 
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