RIP Tom Seaver

[section314]

49 minutes ago, The Crimson King said:

OK. last post on this thread and apologies for over sensitivity and pedanticism (that a word?)

My best friend and I became a Seaver fan for a simple reason. They traded Ron Hunt.

From '63 to '66, Hunt was all the Mets had that was not a punchline. He was not an all-time great but he was the only legitimate all-star (barely) that that ever had. As a kid, you needed to have a favorite player. No idea why, but we all did. 

'66 was a great year. For the first time, they didn't finish last and didn't lose 100. Hunt hit a lofty .288 and was once again an all-star after a lost year due to Phil Gagliano. Could 8th or 7th place even be possible?

 After the season, the unthinkable happened, Hunt was traded! How could that happen? For a gimpy over the hill player too. We were devastated. My parents reaction was shut up and do your homework. Well, the over the hill player hit .300 (and played for another decade or so), was traded for Tommie Agee and Hunt never did much other than get hit by pitches, so that actually worked out.

So we needed a new favorite player. Kranepool, Selma and Swoboda were around for a while already, so they couldn’t do. It needed to be a home grown fresh guy. That Derrell Harrelson shortstop looked promising but yeesh, he only weighed 105lbs. How would he ever last? There was a kid in A ball named Nolan Ryan who struck out 1.5 batters per game, but it would take too long for him to get here. Bill Denehy looked good with an ERA under 2 at AA. It required long and hard discussion. We settled on the guy from the AAA Jacksonville club.  He only had a .500 record and an ERA over 3 but he finished second in the league in strikeouts behind Tom Phoebus (now if they only had prospects like him!) so after much debate, this Seaver kid won out.

It was a school day in April that he made his debut after looking really good in spring training.  We jumped off the school bus and ran to the TV without changing out of our school clothes. All through junior high and high school we ran home on school days, missed family events on weekends and when old enough took the LIRR and 7 train to see him. In college, when everyone participated in a strike to protest the war, I snuck off alone to take 2 hours of subway to see him shutout the Cubs at Shea. It was a dedication that was well rewarded in entertainment.

You hear a lot about the Qualls game but there was one game he got even closer to that no hitter. It was 1975, late in the year in Chicago when only the most fanatic were still following the club. He got to 2 outs in the ninth when Joe Wallis check swung a ball out of the strike zone for a bloop hit.   

I have three favorite Seaver games. First was the 10 straight strikeout game that Koosman mentioned on last night’s broadcast. He just blew away the entire Padres lineup (and Al Ferrara twice) on fastballs. Most dominant I ever saw him. Second was the 1975 game he set the record for 200 straight strikeout seasons at a very loud sold out Shea. In the third, he wasn’t even a Met. It was the 1977 return to Shea game where he beat Koosman and were both on Kiner’s Korner after the game. Almost as emotional as yesterday.

Between Wednesday night and this morning I have had more texts and emails on one thing that I ever received. I heard from people I haven’t heard from in decades, many of which have no interest in sports. This is because I always used him as a superlative. The Tom Seaver of cars, the Tom Seaver of overdrive pedals, there was even a Tom Seaver of girls in Jr. High.

So thank you for indulging me here on the Tom Seaver of sports message boards. Howie Rose said it perfectly. This is the end of our childhood.

Thank you Commissioner Eckert

Love this(crying again)Please don’t stop. Just out of curiosity, did you guys pull for the Expos, not against us, of course. when Hunt went to them in the expansion draft??He was a good ball player. That Expo team wasn’t bad. They were a pain in our ass.

 

[The Crimson King]

59 minutes ago, section314 said:

Love this(crying again)Please don’t stop. Just out of curiosity, did you guys pull for the Expos, not against us, of course. when Hunt went to them in the expansion draft??He was a good ball player. That Expo team wasn’t bad. They were a pain in our ass.

 

By the time Hunt went to the Expos it was '71. He had already been a Giant and Dodger. By then the Seaver-Koosman et.al. Mets well established and flew a championship banner, so Hunt was more like that friend who moved away

The first ever Expos game (4/8/69) was at Shea. Seaver pitched. It was Easter break so we got to go. Loge Res. Sect 8 row A (why do I remember that not lyrics to songs I am suppossed to sing?). Wild game, 11-10, Seaver gave up a HR to relief pitcher (Dan McGinn). Staub and Coco Laboy (one of my all time favorite names) hit one each also for the Expos. Mets down 11-7 with 2 out in the 9th and Dyer hit a 3 run bomb. They got more runners on base but couldn't close it out. Maury WIlls was the first batter for Montreal and Mudcat Grant started their first game. I'll look up the box score later to see if any of this was right.

A big event of opening day was that you could get the yearbook (there used to be revised editions when players changed during the year). Seaver and Koosman were equally featured in the '69 version. Still have all those yearbooks and scorecards. I loved scoring the game. Who knew that you could look up any game's play by play years later.

An aside, the Rockies first ever game was at Shea, also in '93. Gooden shut 'em out 

[The Crimson King]

One more thing. We're about to go on a picnic and told the wife that I am going to put dirt on my right knee. Nice idea, but I got the look that says "no you are not" and then the one that says "you are such a boy". 39 yrs of marraige and we don't even need words anymore, Yeesh

[southparkcpa]

5 hours ago, The Crimson King said:

(sigh) typical bass player ... 

(EDIT: OOPS ! Typical guitar player ! Jumped the gun and didn't see that you actually agreed that he is. 1,000 apologies. I'll turn down my amp now and even let you play a solo)

WAR for Pitchers:

Seaver 106.0 (7th all time)

Ford 53.6 (86th all time)

Rivera 56.3 (79th all time)

CY Young Awards for best picther of the year:

Seaver 3 (and was robbed of 2 more)

Ford 1

Rivera 0

Will concede Rivera as greatest closer of the modern era but they are not as valuable as a starter that closes himself

So Seaver vs Ford

Wins/SO/ERA/WHIP 

Seaver 311/3640/2.86/1.121

Ford 236/1956/2.75/1.215

 

Seaver pitched with little support, Ford pitched with, well the 50's-60's Yankees

 

 

I aired this question today to many of my colleagues at the golf club and the ONLY name that got mention was Koufax in his prime.  Im a Seaver Believer, LOVED him!!!! 

[JoeWillieWhiteShoesHOF]

6 hours ago, The Crimson King said:

Wilpon was A Dodger fan growing up and  always wanted to own them. When he had a chance to demolish our stadium, he built a modern Ebbetts Field as a tribute to "National Legue baseball". i.e the Dodgers, hence the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. Compare pictures of Ebbetts and CitiField, there is an obvious resemblance both inside and out. Not a hint of orange or blue anywhere. The only deviation from Ebbetts is the Pepsi/Coca Cola Porch which Jeffie the Moron suggested based on Tiger Stadium from when he was a kid visiting his grandparents 

Mets fans complained like heck when this travesty opened so they hung pictures of Mets players from the lamposts lining the walk and painted the ugly staircases walls Mets colors, then went, "See, it's a Mets Stadium"

They did name a gate after Seaver which is nice but one that Joe Lunchbox cannot go through because it is only for higher end tickets

Not that anyone is still bitter over this

 

Nicely written. Thanks, I didn’t know much of that.

Good word you used, travesty, that has been the best word to describe their sole ownership.

Wish they’d just take their Sale Proceeds and just be gone for good.  But like gum on your shoe they are still mandating 5% ownership when the deal closes.

[Scott Dierking]

2 hours ago, JoeWillieWhiteShoesHOF said:

 But like gum on your shoe they are still mandating 5% ownership when the deal closes.

The reports have been that the Wilpons are looking to retain 20% of ownership moving forward.

That is a moot point though. As  minority owners (similar as Cohen today), they have zero say in terms of how the team is run, or what Cohen does. He just has to report to them what is happening.

They won't be able to hurt us any more. They will reap the benefits of gains in value (assumed) that the Mets will have under a competent leader like Cohen.

It will be interesting to see how the Wilpons treat SNY. They say it isn't for sale, but it will only lose value, as the carriage deal the Mets have with SNY will be over in 2030. Then it will be worthless. They would be smarter to sell sooner.