Tom Seaver

It had been reported recently that Hall of Famer Tom Seaver would no longer be doing public appearances due to dementia, but I had not heard that Seaver's condition had deteriorated to life-threatening.

So when Jason Christensen wrote to me tonight about the passing of Seaver at the age of 75, it was somewhat of a surprise.

Tom Seaver entered professional baseball with controversy with his signing with Atlanta, who had drafted him, being nullified after it was discovered that Seaver had signed after USC's season had begun and therefore was invalid.
MLB decided that anyone that would match the contract that Seaver signed with the Braves would be placed into a drawing to decide Seaver's rights.
The Phillies, Mets, and of all teams the perpetually cash-challenged Indians matched the offer and the Mets won the drawing with Seaver becoming the face of the franchise during the Miracle Mets era.
Even today, when you think Mets- you think of Tom Seaver.

Tom Seaver's career accolades speak for themselves with over 300 wins, three Cy Young Awards, and Seaver won over 20 games five times- four with the Mets and another in 1977 when he split the season between the Mets and Reds and even more, but what Seaver meant to the Mets was more than statistics.
In a town that will always see the Mets as the little brother to the Yankees, the years that Seaver spent with the Mets were not only the best years (other than the Davey Johnson led-years in the 80s) for the Mets, they were also the worst for the Yankees.
That time period is the only period of around a decade that the Mets were not only better than the Yankees, they were also more glamorous with much of that due to Tom Seaver.

Seaver was well-spoken, had the air of arrogance that the great ones in any profession have, and was popular with the fans, if not the Mets' front office.
The Mets trade of Seaver to Cincinnati in 1977 for Reds starter Pat Zachry, backup infielder Doug Flynn, and minor league outfielders Steve Henderson and Dan Norman, was a public relations nightmare and the end of the Miracle Mets era.
It would take years for the Mets to become competitive on the field after the Seaver trade and only when the Mets began to turn things around with the young group (and veterans like Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez acquired in trades) of players such Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden in the mid-80s did the fan interest finally begin to return to the Mets tracing back to the loss of goodwill from trading Seaver.

However, while most see Seaver as a Met, I was eight, almost nine when Seaver was traded to the Reds and I'll think of him equally as a Red as well.
When I put Seaver into my baseball game, I have pictures of him as a Met, Red, and White Sox for use with each team and it's a rare player that I go to that extra hassle for!
I remember Seaver in the double-knit/sans belt uniform of the Reds on the Topps cards, especially the 1978 version because it was the first Seaver card in the Cincinnati colors.
I know for most baseball fans, that's pretty jarring to see Seaver outside of the orange and blue of the Mets, but for me,
Seaver is just as remembered as a Red as a Met.
Seaver missed the Big Red Machine by a year (The Reds trade of Tony Perez likely cost them at least one more title and maybe more), although he did help the Reds to the National League West title in 1979.
Seaver won 75 games in six seasons with the Reds and would throw his only no-hitter as a Red after several near-misses through the years when he no-hit the Cardinals in June 1978.
Had Seaver not struggled in his final season with the Reds to a 5-13 record in 1982 in the only season of his career that his ERA was above five (and at that point, the first season to be above four), Seaver's record would have been even glossier.
Seaver was returned to the Mets in 1983 and for a Mets team that was starting to make their move up the standings, but still wasn't ready yet, Seaver finished 9-14 but knocked two runs off his ERA from the previous season.

The Mets figured to have their franchise's most popular player for the dwindling years of his career with Seaver holding a big salary and at the age of 39 that they could place Seaver in the player pool for the now-defunct free agent compensation draft.
The draft was held for teams that lost players of a certain level to another team via free agency to select a player from a pool with the ability to select from all teams rather than only the team that took your player.
The Chicago White Sox lost pitcher Dennis Lamp to Toronto and surprisingly tabbed Seaver for his first trip through the American League.
To the Mets chagrin, Seaver won 15 and 16 games in his two full seasons at Comiskey Park with the latter coming with an ERA of 3.17 for an astounding season at the age of 40.
It would be in New York where Seaver would grab victory 300, but it would be as a member of the White Sox when Seaver defeated the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
One final blow to the Mets fans, but they should have been able to watch locally.
Seaver split 1986 with the White Sox and Red Sox, where he was part of the AL champions but did not pitch in the postseason due to an August knee injury that caused him to miss the remainder of the season.
In 1987, Seaver attempted a midseason comeback with the Mets but didn't pitch in a game

Above all of those notes above, that I'll remember about most Tom Seaver were those perfect mechanics.
Watching videos of Seaver to this day just blows me away with his "Drop and Drive" windup and follow-through and as a kid, I was always amazed to see the beautiful pictures from Sports Illustrated, Sport Magazine, and Inside Sports with Seaver driving through his delivery so perfectly.
I remember when Mark Prior was coming up through the Cubs system and many compared his delivery to that of Seaver and I saw a mild similarity, but I didn't see that unflawed motion that Seaver's had, and sure enough, Prior broke down.
Tom Seaver never broke down.


Farewell "Tom Terrific"- you'll be missed.

Cleaning out the inbox:Baseball

The inbox is bursting at the seams and I'm going to start the chore of cleaning with an only baseball edition.

Fred Landucci sends me this very poignant article from the Los Angeles Times on the tenth anniversary of the tragic death of local star and Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart from a drunk driver hitting the vehicle he was riding in.
Former Angel teammates are spoken with and Adenhart is remembered by other members of the organization as well.
The article also discusses the tragedy with the driver of that vehicle, who serves a 50-year prison sentence, who offers the standard cliche's used by people that have caused such senseless deaths.
I hope that person is sincere and I couldn't imagine what he has to live with, but in these situations, it's usually all about ministries these folks are involved in or other such works and that's all well and good, but it always smacks of a working rehabilitation in the eyes of others- even if it could be true.

We move to the Athletic for what I could not recommend higher with an article by Emily Waldon on the conditions of minor league baseball for the players that play there.
I know that the Athletic is behind a paywall, but if you can or would take advantage of a trial run sometime, consider checking this out.
Baseball may be glamorous, but the minors are certainly not and even at AAA where cities that host major league teams in other sports, the conditions aren't great with the increased cost of living.
The wages that minor league players are paid (other than a signing bonus when they sign their first contract, which is where the real money is until the big leagues are reached) is downright paltry when you consider the expenses of living the dream.
The article is extensive, so I'm not going to get into details, but they are certainly there.
I know many of us would like to think that with the skills to play pro baseball, we would pay our dues, but would we really all things considered if we were not sure the gold at the rainbow was within reach?
I'm just not sure.

Another Athletic piece discusses the 25th anniversary of Jacobs (don't call it Progressive) field in Cleveland.
This article writes of the dreariness of old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, the process of what it took to be able to build the Indians the Jake, the rumors of where they could have been headed had a vote for a stadium tax failed and the pomp and circumstance of the home opener where the soon to be contending Tribe faced off against the most feared pitcher in the game- Seattle's future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.

Veteran baseball writer Marty Noble writes on the website of another longtime baseball writer, Murray Chass about his conflicting thoughts on another Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver.
Seaver, who we noted recently in another cleaning of the inbox, has been diagnosed with dementia and has retired from public life,
Seaver always had an almost regal aura about him that came off at times as condescending on television (I've never met Seaver) and the article shows that to be true, although it appeared that Seaver mellowed with age.

Cleaning out the inbox

The inbox is a bit stuffed, so the time has come to relieve its swelling a bit and we start with an article on
"Mr.Falcon" Tommy Nobis, the first overall pick in the 1966 draft and the player that is most credited for forcing the eventual NFL/AFL merger after the immense for the time bidding war for his service between the expansion Atlanta Falcons and the Texas Longhorn linebacker's home state resident Houston Oilers.
The five-time Pro Bowler is a borderline Hall of Famer and another from the age of the '60s and '70s that have seen their candidacy fall between the cracks that deserves further consideration for Canton.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes of Nobis, who passed in December, and his family with their troubles for dealing with the daily problems of Nobis after football.
Nobis was found to have the highest levels of "CTE", a degenerative brain disease brought on by repeated blows to the head found most often in military veterans and athletes in his post-death autopsy. but the article talks about the man behind Mr.Falcon and just how difficult life can be with someone suffering from brain trauma.
It's a tremendous article to read and another log on the pile when you wonder where the game of football is eventually headed.

Another athlete with a degenerative brain disease announced his diagnosis, but not from football where this happens so often, but from baseball where Hall of Famer Tom Seaver will no longer be involved in public life due to his suffering from Dementia.
Seaver, who mainly pitched for the Mets and Reds over his long career. won 311 games, the 1967 Rookie of the Year award and three Cy Young's, but might be remembered by most for his starring role for the 1969 World Champion "Miracle Mets".
Those Mets are being honored this season by the team, but Seaver will be unable to attend.
Seaver spent some of his post-baseball career in broadcasting, but recent years had been involved in winemaking in California.

Emily Waldon of the Athletic writes a tremendous article that professional baseball doesn't want you to read.
The scam that major league baseball has in paying its minor league players is one in which once you know about what goes on in the minors, it might make you understand why these players have resentment and have no problems at all in turning the screws on the "poor" franchises when free agency arrives for them.
When you see what the game pays its players and treats them, you may find yourself feeling differently about player salaries.

The Athletic returns with an article on former Browns defensive back Freddie Summers (who was mentioned in our last passings piece) and his effect on the life of Roger Harris.
Summers, who played quarterback at Wake Forest and the CFL, was a major influence on Harris, who can be seen in the Ken Burns PBS mini-series on the Vietnam War. and the story tells the story of both men.
Summers, who passed in 1994, suffered a broken neck in the CFL in an attempt to return to the quarterback position after being the first black quarterback in the ACC with the Demon Deacons.

Newsweek writes of the connection between the Bosa brothers and Al Capone.
Now I wondered how they were connected, but the Bosa's great grandfather turned out to be Tony Accardo, Capone's bodyguard and eventual leader of the organization that was left behind.
What I found really interesting was in the 80s when Accardo's grandson former Ohio State linebacker Eric Kumerow (The Bosa's Uncle) was drafted in the first round by Miami, the NFL and some teams were reportedly worried that Accardo could get involved with the outcome of games.
FBI agent Williams Roehmer reassured the league about those concerns, reported that Accardo would never embarrass Kumerow and there were no such problems.

Finally, Battlin' Bob sends me this note about the discovery of a WCW wrestling game that was unreleased for the original Nintendo.
This game appears to be the prototype for the eventual 'World Championship Wrestling" game and has eight wrestlers in it including three that would not make the cut for the actual game that was released- Jimmy Garvin and sadly the Midnight Express, who to my knowledge were never part of an official game.
I've never been a huge wrestling game for the same reason that I always struggle with boxing games.
They look great and I'm just not fast enough with my thumbs to play them well, leading to frustration and defeat!