At their inception, the New York Mets franchise was historically bad. An expansion team in ’62, they lost 120 games. New York squads averaged 109 defeats per year in their first five seasons.
Tom Seaver changed that.
In his first big league action Seaver notched 16 wins, pushing the team to its highest win total yet. He made the first of seven straight All Star Games with New York. For his efforts, writers selected him as the NL’s Rookie of the Year.
Seaver and the Mets improved in 1968. The hurler again won 16 and lowered his ERA from 2.76 to 2.20. Though the team bettered its record by five games, no one could envision what was next.
In 1969, the Mets and Seaver captured the attention of the baseball world. The right-hander went 25-7 with a 2.21 ERA to capture the first of his three Cy Young Awards.
The Miracle Mets became baseball’s darlings, winning 100 games and reaching the postseason under manager Gil Hodges. In the NLCS they dispatched Hank Aaron’s Braves in a three-game sweep.
On paper the Mets were overmatched by the mighty 109-win Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. The O’s boasted the second and third-place finishers in MVP voting in Boog Powell and Frank Robinson. On the hill they had a pair of 20-game victors including Cy Young Award winner Mike Cuellar. Twenty-three year old Jim Palmer made Baltimore’s rotation even more formidable.
Seaver got the start in Game 1 but wasn’t himself as the Orioles prevailed 4-1. The Mets took the next two games and handed the ball to their ace in Game 4. Seaver scattered 6 hits in a 10-inning complete-game masterpiece to put his team up 3-games-to-1.
New York won Game 5 and were crowed the unlikely champions of baseball. Seaver cemented his place in the hearts of New Yorkers.
During his two-decade career, Seaver made a dozen all star teams and won 20 or more five times. When he hung up his cleats in 1986, Seaver totaled a 311-205 record and a 2.86 ERA.
Seaver is in a club of two with the great Walter Johnson as the only pitchers with 300 wins, 3,000 strikeouts, and an ERA below 3.00. Seaver’s 16 Opening-Day starts remain the standard in baseball history.
Five years after retiring, he was elected to Cooperstown by acclimation. Named on 98.84% on the ballot, Tom Terrific set the record for highest voting percentage in Hall of Fame history.
Seaver had just completed what might be his greatest season when he penned this letter in December of ’71. The 12-time All Star finished 20-10 with a sterling 1.76 earned run average. His stats included league-leading and career-bests in ERA, strikeouts (289), ERA+ (194), FIP (1.93), and WHIP (0.946).
One has to wonder if today’s more sophisticated Cy Young voters would have recognized his greatness over actual winner Fergie Jenkins whose ERA was a full run higher.
In the handwritten letter, Seaver writes about his admiration of his college coach, Rod Dedeaux.
