Tom Seaver, 1944 - 2020

As all Cub fans of a certain age know, 1969 was supposed to be the year. The club that included five future Hall of Famers (manager Leo Durocher, first baseman Ernie Banks, pitcher Fergie Jenkins, third baseman Ron Santo, and outfielder Billy Williams) seemed sure to wash away a quarter century of futility and capture the pennant--and the first five months of the season appeared to confirm it. 

     But the sixth month proved otherwise, as the upstart New York Mets surged past the Cubs, won the division going away, then sailed through the National League Championship Series and the World Series as well. 

     The best player on that Mets team, and the greatest player in franchise history, was Tom Seaver, who passed away this week. Seaver went 25-7 for the “Amazin’ Mets” in 1969, with a 2.21 earned run average. He won the first of his three Cy Young Awards and was runner-up in the MVP balloting.
     “He was a heck of a lot responsible for tightening things up around here,” said Mets catcher Jerry Grote in 1970. “From the first year [he got here], he was going out to win, not pitch his turn. When Seaver’s pitching, those guys plain work a little harder.”

 

    

TOM SEAVER

Seaver has a Chicago connection, of course, and not only because he once had a cat named Ferguson Jenkins. He pitched for the White Sox from 1984 to 1986, compiling a very respectable 33-28 record with an ERA of 3.67 and logging over 200 innings in both 1984 and 1985. He was in a Sox uniform when he won his 300th game on August 4, 1985, at Yankee Stadium. (His catcher that day was a fellow Hall of Famer, Carlton Fisk.)

     We can leave it to the New Yorkers to reflect at greater length upon what Seaver meant to them, but we can say this much. He was admired by even those of us whose hearts he and the Mets broke in 1969--because he loved the game, supported his teammates, respected his opponents, and was always approachable and gracious with fans and the media. 

     When Seaver appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time, in 1992, he received 425 out of 430 votes--or 98.8 percent. That number reflected not only the legendary player he was, but also the kind of man he was.  

 

White Sox vs. Yankees box score, August 4, 1985, from Baseball Reference

 

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