Tom Seaver

• Born: November 17, 1944
• Birthplace: Fresno, California
• Died: August 31, 2020
• Place of death: Calistoga, California

Sport: Baseball

Early Life

George Thomas Seaver was born on November 17, 1944, in Fresno, California. He began Little League baseball at the age of nine, and at twelve pitched a no-hitter. Despite this brilliant beginning, he did not grow as fast as his teammates, and soon lacked the size and strength to compete on the basis of sheer physical talent. To compensate, Seaver began the habits that lasted throughout his career. He studied the art of pitching and learned every pitch he could to succeed, even though he could not throw as hard or as fast as the other pitchers. Finally, after a period of manual labor and a stint in the Marine Corps, he finally had the size, strength, and knowledge to pursue his dream of a major-league career.

The Road to Excellence

At each step of the way, Seaver had to prove that he deserved a chance to play at the Major League Baseball (MLB) level. He played outstanding baseball at Fresno City College and in an amateur summer league in Alaska to earn a scholarship at the University of Southern California (USC). At USC, he attracted the attention of professional scouts. He was eventually offered a contract by the Atlanta Braves.

Seaver was heartbroken when this contract was declared invalid by the commissioner of baseball. He had signed the contract after the start of the USC baseball season, not knowing that this was a violation of the rules of both professional and amateur baseball. Seaver could not play for the Braves, nor could he return to USC, because he had already signed a professional contract. Tom appealed directly to the commissioner of baseball, who agreed to hold a lottery for the rights to sign Seaver among any of the teams who would agree to match the original terms of the Braves. Seaver listened over the telephone as he learned that he had been selected by the New York Mets.

The Mets represented both a risk and a wonderful opportunity for Seaver. The franchise had been the worst in baseball every year since the franchise joined the National League (NL) as an expansion team in 1962. The roster was full of young players with talent but without experience and aging veterans past their prime. This resulted in Seaver progressing very rapidly through the farm system, as the team desperately needed quality players and decided to bring him up to the majors as soon as he was ready. After only one season in the minor leagues, he was a New York Met.

The Emerging Champion

Seaver earned the nickname “Tom Terrific” in his first year with the Mets. In 1967, he won sixteen games, pitched in the All-Star Game, and was named NL Rookie of the Year for a team that finished dead last and won only sixty-one games. In 1968, he again won sixteen games for a last-place team. That year, he struck out more than 200 batters, which he would do for the next nine years in a row.

In 1969, Seaver led the Mets throughout one of the most improbable seasons in MLB history. The Mets stunned the baseball world by winning the National East Division, the playoffs, and the World Series. Seaver won twenty-five games during the regular season plus key victories in the playoffs and World Series. He was honored with the NL Cy Young Award as the finest pitcher in the league.

Seaver’s exceptional performance continued. He routinely won twenty games or more and often led the National League in both strikeouts and earned run average (ERA). In 1973, he led the Mets to the second NL pennant in the franchise’s short history and won the Cy Young Award again. Following a disappointing season in 1974, in 1975 he again won the Cy Young Award for a remarkable third time.

Continuing the Story

Seaver had become the symbol of the Mets. In 1977, the baseball world was shocked when the team traded him to the Cincinnati Reds. As a member of the Reds, Seaver joined an elite organization with its own proud tradition of winning. In his years with the Reds, he pitched the first no-hitter of his professional career in 1978, led the Reds to the NL Western Division title in 1979, and won the NL comeback player of the year award in 1981, with a record of fourteen wins and only two losses in a season delayed and shortened by a players’ strike.

"Tom Terrific" eventually returned to the New York Mets in 1983, but only for one year. At the end of the season, the Mets failed to protect him on the roster of major-league players, and the Chicago White Sox claimed the talented but aging pitcher. In his years with the White Sox, Seaver remained the ace of the pitching staff, consistently winning games as he approached, and passed, his fortieth birthday. He substituted cunning and guile for the pure physical talents he had once possessed. His knowledge of the game and ability to adapt as a pitcher helped him achieve longevity like relatively few other players.

Seaver left the game a winner. Toward the end of his final season in 1986, he left Chicago to join the Boston Red Sox and helped pitch his final team to the American League pennant and the chance to face, of all teams, the New York Mets in the World Series (he ultimately sat out the championship series, which the Mets won, due to injury). He finished his playing career with a lifetime 2.86 ERA and 3,640 strikeouts, good for third place on the all-time strikeout leaders list at the time. He had won 311 games, including a record 124 for the Mets, who retired his jersey number in 1988. He was just the second pitcher ever to earn at least 300 wins, 3,000 strikeouts, and an ERA under 3.00 throughout their career. In 1992, Seaver was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by an overwhelming majority of 425 out of 430 votes, then a record percentage for that honor. In 2019, New York City renamed the road by the Mets' home stadium Seaver Way.

After ending his playing career Seaver worked as a sports commentator, something he had begun even during his playing days. He also later started a family vineyard. However, his health declined in his later years, and in 2019 his family stated he had dementia and would no longer act as a public figure. Seaver died at the age of seventy-five on August 31, 2020, from complications of both dementia with Lewy bodies and COVID-19, the respiratory illness that became a global pandemic that year.

Summary

Tom Seaver studied every aspect of the game and its players and adjusted his pitching to remain effective at each level of competition. His success was a function of this perpetual learning and development. He applied his love and knowledge of the game to his work as a player, the several books about baseball he wrote, and his later role as a sports announcer. Tom Terrific was one of the most perfect students the game has ever known and among baseball's all-time greats.

Bibliography

Golenbock, Peter. Amazin’: The Miraculous History of New York’s Most Beloved Baseball Team. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2003.

Klima, John. Pitched Battle: Thirty-five of Baseball’s Greatest Duels from the Mound. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002.

MacKay, Joe. The Great Shutout Pitchers: Twenty Profiles of a Vanishing Breed. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2004.

Schoor, Gene. Seaver: A Biography. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1986.

Seaver, Tom, and Lee Lowenfish. The Art of Pitching. New York: Hearst Books, 1984.

Seaver, Tom, and Herb Resnicow. Beanball. New York: Morrow, 1989.

Weber, Bruce. "Tom Seaver, Pitcher Who Led 'Miracle Mets' to Glory, Dies at 75." The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/obituaries/tom-seaver-dead-coronavirus.html. Accessed 30 Oct. 2020.

Wilbert, Warren N. What Makes an Elite Pitcher? Young, Mathewson, Johnson, Alexander, Grove, Spahn, Seaver, Clemens, and Maddux. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2003.