Mighty arm ofMiracleMets was ‘heart and soul’ of team
Tom Seaver NEW YORK — transformed a franchise and captivated a city, setting enduring standards as he whipped his powerful right arm overhead for the MiracleMets and dirtied his right knee atopmajor league mounds for two decades.
A consummate pro and pitching icon, he finished fulfilled after a career remembered with awe long after his final strikeout.
“It is the last beautiful flower in the perfect bouquet,” Seaver said on the afternoon he was inducted into baseball’sHall of Fame.
Seaver, the galvanizing force who steered the New York Mets from National League laughingstock to a stunning World Series title in 1969, has died. Hewas 75.
The Hall saidWednesday night that Seaver diedMonday from complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19. Seaver spent his final years in Calistoga, California.
Seaver’s family announced in March 2019 he had been diagnosed with dementia and had retired from public life. He continuedworking at Seaver Vineyards, founded by the three-time NL Cy Young Award winner and his wife, Nancy, in 2002 on 116 acres at DiamondMountain in Northern California.
Seaverwas diagnosed with Lyme disease in 1991, and it reoccurred in 2012 and led to Bell’s Palsy and memory loss, the Daily News of New
York reported in 2013.
“He will always be the heart and soul of the Mets, the standardwhich allMets aspire to,” Mike Piazza, a former Mets catcher and Hall of Famer, tweetedwhen Seaver’s dementia diagnosis was announced.
Nicknamed Tom Terrific and The Franchise, the revered Seaver was a fivetime 20-game winner and the 1967 NL Rookie of the Year. He went 311-205 with a 2.86 ERA, 3,640 strikeouts and 61 shutouts during an illustrious career that lasted from 1967-86. He became a constant on magazine covers and a media presence, calling postseason games on NBCandABCevenwhile still an active player.
“Hewas simply the greatest Mets player of all-time and among the best to ever play the game,” Mets owner Fred Wilpon and son Jeff, the team’s chief operating officer, said in a statement.
Seaver was elected to the Hall of Famein 1992whenhe appeared on 425 of 430 ballots for a then-record98.84%.
“After their improbable World Series championship, Tom became a household name to baseball fans — a responsibility he carried out with distinction throughout his life,” he said.
Seaver’s plaque inCooperstown lauds him as a “power pitcherwho helped change the New YorkMets fromlovable losers into formidable foes.”
He changed not only their place in the standings, but the team’s stature in people’s minds.
“Tom Seaver hated to lose,” said Jerry Grote, his longtime Mets catcher. “In May of 1969, we had a celebration in the locker room when we reached .500 for the first time. Tomsaid, ‘We want more than .500, we want a championship.’”
Seaver pitched for theMets from 1967-77, when he was traded to Cincinnati after a public spat with chairmanM. Donald Grant over Seaver’s desire for a new contract. It was a clash that infuriated baseball fans in New York.
“My biggest disappointment? Leaving theMets the first time and the difficulties I had with the same people that led up to it,” Seaver told The Associated Press ahead of hisHall induction in 1992.
He threw his only no-hitter for the Reds in June 1978 against St. Louis and was traded back to New York after the 1982 season. But Mets general manager Frank Cashen blunderedby leaving Seaver off his list of 26 protected players, and in January 1984 he was claimed by the ChicagoWhiteSoxas free agent compensation for losing pitcher Dennis Lamp to Toronto.
While pitching for the White Sox, Seaver got his 300th win at Yankee Stadium and did it in style with a six-hitter in a 4-1 victory. He finished his career with the 1986 Boston Red Sox team that lost to the Mets in the World Series.