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Tom Seaver's Death
- Tom Seaver
- Baseball, Broadcaster, Vintner
- November 17, 1944
- August 31, 2020
- Complications of Lewy body dementia and Covid-19
The life and death of Tom Seaver:
He was the biggest star in baseball’s biggest market and was known by nicknames like “The Franchise” and “Tom Terrific”. Beloved by the New York fans, he lifted a dismal franchise and became a Hall of Famer.
Question: what was Tom Seaver ‘s first name? Answer: George.
George Thomas Seaver was born in Fresno, California to the former Betty Lee Cline and Charles Seaver.
He pitched for the Fresno High School Baseball team and joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1962. After six months of active reserve duty, he attended Fresno City College part-time and was then recruited to play college baseball at the University of Southern California.
He married Nany Lynn McIntyre in June 1966 and Tom and Nancy Seaver were a famous young couple in New York City.
The had two daughters, Sarah and Annie.
In 1966, Tom signed a deal with the Atlanta Braves, but Baseball Commissioner William Eckert voided the deal because of Tom’s college team responsibilities.
Eckert ruled other teams could match the Braves’ offer. The Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets matched it and were placed in a three-team lottery for the right to sign Seaver.
The Mets won and that sparked a historic turnaround for the doormat franchise that was established through expansion in 1962.
The Mets were nothing but awful until Tom Seaver joined their pitching staff in 1967.
He got a save in the 1967 All Star game and was voted the 1967 National League Rookie of the Year.
And just two years later, Seaver led the Mets to not only the National League pennant and a league championship but also a five game World Series victory over the Baltimore orioles. It stunned on the baseball world.
Just four years later, in 1973, he was part of the Mets team that came from behind to win the National League Eastern division pennant, the N.L championship series and came within one game of winning the 1973 one World Series. Oakland took that series four games to three.
But with the start of free agency in 1977, Seaver grew unhappy with the Mets and started feuding with ownership. So, they packed him away in a terrible trade to the Cincinnati Reds, later to be called the Midnight Massacre.
It was one of the few times we referred to himself by his real first name….at the end of this clip.
But he went on with Cincinnati, and pitched for the Reds from 1977-1982, and went 75-46.
He returned to the Mets for the 1983 season and went 9-14 on the year.
The next season, he joined the Chicago White Sox and it was with the Sox in August 1985 that he earned his 300th career victory …. in New York against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
Tom ended his pitching career in 1986 with the Boston Red Sox…
…who lost the World Series that year to his original team, the Mets. Tom was sidelined with a knee injury but got a huge Shea Stadium ovation before Game One.
Seaver also had a history with the Yankees, working several years as part of their broadcast team.
He also did broadcasts with the Mets and NBC, but he is best remembered as a player.
A three-time Cy Young Award winner.
He was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.
…and his number 41 was retired by the Mets.
Seaver retired from baseball and went to work at his personal winery in Calistoga California.
In 2013 it was announced he was suffering from memory loss and in March 2019 his family announced he had dementia and was retiring from public life
Sadly, Tom Seaver died in his sleep in the summer of 2020.
