You Were Terrific, Tom

We all imitated that delivery (note the scuffed knee)

It's a question that deserves asking.

Who didn't like Tom Seaver?

George Thomas Seaver died yesterday and the praise has been universal.

Can you imagine him as "George the Great?" No dice. "Tom Terrific," always.

I'm a baseball fan first and foremost, yet I felt I had no business talking about Tom Seaver because of my own personal allegiance. Still, I hope you'll indulge me.

Amazingly today, I couldn't bring myself to really talk about Tom Seaver as a member of the Reds or the White Sox or that blip when he played in Boston.

Tom Seaver is a Met.

Tom Seaver is The Mets.

Seaver had retired from public life in March of 2019 as dementia took its toll on the brilliant personality that he brought everywhere he went, including Greenwich, CT, where he and his wife Nancy lived with their daughters for many years.

Even across town (you know, The Bronx), long before he became a broadcaster for the Yankees, who couldn't like Tom Seaver?

I know I admired him, and felt great sadness upon seeing the news of his death last night at the age of 75.

Seaver didn't come to New York to join lovable laughingstocks. He came to make the Mets into winners. He dazzled immediately, winning Rookie of the Year in 1967 but the Mets lost 101 games and finished 10th in the National League.

They finished ninth in '68 but he again won 16 games with a 2.20 ERA.

Everyone knows what happened in 1969 and it's almost an insult to say it was a "miracle," because those 100 wins weren't miraculous.

Seaver, in fact, wouldn't accept celebrating the Mets being over .500. He was there to win a championship.

Seaver went 25-7 with a 2.21 ERA and won his first of three Cy Young Awards in '69. The Mets, of course, decapitated the Baltimore Orioles that October, with Seaver losing to Mike Cuellar in Game 1, 4-1. Game 4 produced a much different result as he went TEN innings, scattering six hits and one run while striking out six as the Mets won, 2-1.

The fact that went five in Game 1 before being lifted gave him the opportunity to come back four days later and pitch that masterpiece.

The year was known for so many things, including a guy named Jimmy Qualls (he of 31 career hits), who kept Seaver from perfection, but that can't dampen the Seaver legacy. Instead, it only adds to it.

We know the 70s weren't as kind to the Mets. There were some not-so-great years and a truer "miracle" that "Ya Gotta Believe" in '73. But, Gil Hodges had died and Yogi Berra made a few mistakes, including leaving Seaver to pitch in Game 6. Tom -- as "Terrific" as ever in '73 -- lost to Catfish Hunter, 3-1, and had to watch as Ken Holtman beat Jon Matlack in Game 7.

Then things really fell apart, but Seaver remained outstanding, including his third Cy Young in 1975.

And then -- look away, Mets fans -- came the Midnight Massacre of 1977, as Seaver was traded to the Reds on June 5, 1977. Money, of course, was the culprit, but Nolan Ryan played a role in the story, as did then-New York Daily News columnist Dick Young all played key roles. Nancy Seaver and Ryan's wife Ruth played co-starring roles as well.

The biggest villain was Mets board chairman M. Donald Grant, as Seaver ripped the front office -- along with general manager Joe McDonald for not improving the team at the time.

It's deep and it was ugly in the crazy "Summer of Sam."

Read this fascinating look at the massacre, written by Bill Madden.

To add insult to injury, Seaver eventually threw a no-hitter against the Cardinals and pitched well for the Reds, including against the Mets. He also served as a broadcaster in the '77 and '78 World Series.

Won by the Yankees, and that had to ice Mets fans even more.

But they'd reunite in '83, with The Franchise coming home, yet a bad move by GM Frank Cashen left him open to being plucked by the White Sox.

But New York was always in his heart and, to that end, he ruined Phil Rizzuto Day in 1985 for his eventual broadcast partner (it was a source of humor between them for years) by winning his 300th game at Yankee Stadium, pitching a complete game.

Of all things, there was Tom in the Red Sox dugout at Shea Stadium for the 1986 World Series, although he wasn't allowed to be on the postseason roster.

It's probably just as well.

I mentioned the broadcasting -- with the Mets, Yankees (yep. Sorry), and serving as Vin Scully's last partner on the NBC Game of the Week in 1989. Here's a fun clip from a WPIX Yankees broadcast with Seaver, Phil Rizzuto, and Bobby Murcer.


Sadly, all three of them are gone.

But Tom Seaver was far more than all of this. He was a seen frequently at Shea Stadium and Citi Field but he was also an annual visitor to Cooperstown for Induction Weekend.

He had the temperament and the personality for New York (and Greenwich) and his family was regarded as royalty.

He retired to his native California, enjoying his vineyards and regaling friends with stories until the darkness took over and the goodbye began.

Now we've officially said goodbye as Mets fans feel the loss of a Mickey Mantle-type of generational personality.

The Mets are playing today at Citi Field with dirty knees, recognizing the way number 41 scraped his right knee as he delivered each blazing fastball or nasty slider.

The greatest of the New York Mets has found his way to a special place, where he hopefully reunited with Hodges -- gone far too soon also, of course.

There can be no debate.

There was only one "Tom Terrific."

*****
Dave Torromeo and I talked about Seaver on today' "Doubleheader."