RIP Tom Seaver, 1944-2020

[G-Fafif]

Went peacefully, the family says.

[RealityChuck]

https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-tom-seaver-obituary-20200903-fyusabaogjepzf6uixn6476k5u-story.htmlTom Seaver is gone.



I remember his first Mets start -- no decision (For obvious reasons, I did like the fact that Chuck Estrada got the win). He was the one sure thing about the Mets for years. He appeared on Kiner's Korner so often that he often took over interviewing.



So sad to end so young.

[Edgy MD]

" ... from complications from Lyme disease, dementia and COVID-19."



Good God. Can we fuck anything else up?

[Benjamin Grimm]

I predict that there will be no greater memorial than the one that will appear on Faith and Fear.

[ashie62]

Saw it when this broke but didn't want to start the thread.



2020 just continues down spiral case.

[Fman99]

At least we have that giant 41 in the rotunda, to think of him each time we go to a game at Citi Field.

[kcmets]

Got 200 grapes in my throat, dozens of tears. RIP, GTS...

[smg58]

The greatest Met. The guy who turned the team from lovable losers into lovable winners. The athlete you look up to the most if you root for this team.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: " ... from complications from Lyme disease, dementia and COVID-19."

He never really seemed right after that Lyme disease diagnosis years back.

Some folks get over that one fairly easily but it can cause lingering problems for years

afterward and, much like Covid, it tends to hit the older folks harder.

[whippoorwill]

My dad loved his laugh

[LWFS]

My first thought-- as with most people going through dementia AND other illnesses late in life-- was "It's almost certainly best it's over for him/her/them."



Devoted to excellence like it was a personal faith.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Hey Fred: no need to rush that statue at this point. Pass the cost onto Steve Cohen.

[The Hot Corner]

A sad day for the Mets and baseball.

[G-Fafif]

God, I hate not having him alive. Even though he was sidelined since last spring, he was still ours. We still had Tom Seaver front and center for us. We could hold our head up with any team's fans. It was an intangible, maybe only in my mind, but it was something.



A few thoughts besides http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2020/09/02/no-41-in-our-hearts/here.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Yeah that's the thing about Seaver, he was not only the best but the best at being the best. He embodied a rare kind of greatness, talented but also a craftsman, mindful and prideful and protective of what it meant to be excellent.

[Edgy MD]

The Daily News went with Tom Seaver, the greatest Met of all time, dies at 75.



There are very few times a subjective term like "greatest" works as an objective journalistic statement.



"Tom Seaver Was the Greatest Met." It's an assertion that transcends opinion and encroaches mercilessly upon the realm of fact.

[G-Fafif]

It's always killed the suspense of every Greatest Met countdown.

[Edgy MD]

Seaver pitched into extra innings 23 times, for a total of 27 innings. He had a 1.67 ERA.

[batmagadanleadoff]

God, I hate not having him alive. Even though he was sidelined since last spring, he was still ours. We still had Tom Seaver front and center for us. We could hold our head up with any team's fans. It was an intangible, maybe only in my mind, but it was something. A few thoughts besides http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2020/09/02/no-41-in-our-hearts/here.

Agreed. I wouldn't have traded Tom for that third title, either. (But Yoenis hasn't aged so well in the category of lone other authentic all-time Mets great.)

• A hypothetical offer my friend made me: I could have another Mets world championship affixed to their past. That is to say any year I wanted could be added to 1969 and 1986. It could be a year they came close, it could be a year they finished last. It would be worked into their backstory and our memory bank. It wouldn't alter the course of team history otherwise and I wouldn't have to do anything wacky like go back and live my life from that year forward, but it would come at a cost. In exchange for that third retroactively granted world championship, the Mets could never have had Tom Seaver. They'd still win what they won in 1969 and 1973, but without The Franchise or anybody truly like him. Seaver never would've existed as a Met. Forty-one would be just another number. Would I take that deal, he asked. I thought for less than 41 seconds and told him, no, I would not. We have one actual Seaver (if no Seaver statue) after more than fifty years. Except for Cespedes, he's our one authentic all-time Met great. That's got to be worth one hypothetical championship.

http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2015/09/16/meaning-and-games-in-september/http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2015/09/16/meaning-and-games-in-september/

[dinosaur jesus]

I haven't been coming here because baseball is one of those things that's been too painful to think about this year. But I have to pay my respects to my first baseball hero. I've had various infatuations since, but he's still the one. When I look at footage of him--there's disappointingly little of him in his prime--just the way he moved, the angle of his knee when he raised it near his chest, the the delivery, even the angle of his wrist as he caught the throw back from Grote, is instantly familiar, completely distinctive, forty-five or more years later. I didn't live in New York, I only saw him pitch once in person, I didn't share my fandom with anyone in the Pirate country where I grew up, but I think I felt as much as any of you what he meant, what he was. What can I even say about him? He was Tom Seaver.

[G-Fafif]

God, I hate not having him alive. Even though he was sidelined since last spring, he was still ours. We still had Tom Seaver front and center for us. We could hold our head up with any team's fans. It was an intangible, maybe only in my mind, but it was something. A few thoughts besides http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2020/09/02/no-41-in-our-hearts/here. Agreed. I wouldn't have traded Tom for that third title, either. (But Yoenis hasn't aged so well in the category of lone other authentic all-time Mets great.) • A hypothetical offer my friend made me: I could have another Mets world championship affixed to their past. That is to say any year I wanted could be added to 1969 and 1986. It could be a year they came close, it could be a year they finished last. It would be worked into their backstory and our memory bank. It wouldn't alter the course of team history otherwise and I wouldn't have to do anything wacky like go back and live my life from that year forward, but it would come at a cost. In exchange for that third retroactively granted world championship, the Mets could never have had Tom Seaver. They'd still win what they won in 1969 and 1973, but without The Franchise or anybody truly like him. Seaver never would've existed as a Met. Forty-one would be just another number. Would I take that deal, he asked. I thought for less than 41 seconds and told him, no, I would not. We have one actual Seaver (if no Seaver statue) after more than fifty years. Except for Cespedes, he's our one authentic all-time Met great. That's got to be worth one hypothetical championship. http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2015/09/16/meaning-and-games-in-september/http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2015/09/16/meaning-and-games-in-september/

Cespedes's stature is in for reappraisal.

[Lefty Specialist]

Damn, another piece of my youth gone. Seaver made the Mets respectable. And he made it look so easy for so long. Damn Dick Young for driving him out of town. The day he was traded was the first time I truly questioned my fandom. How could you trade TOM SEAVER?



He won his 300th game on my birthday, beating the Yankees. A nice present even though he looked like a clown in that dreadful 80's White Sox uni.



You knew this was coming eventually when he retreated from public life due to dementia. But too soon, too soon.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Three tabloid covers today have an uncanny similarity.



http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2020/20200903_NSD_02.jpg> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2020/20200903_NYDN_01.jpg> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2020/20200903_NYP_01.jpg>



Not suprisingly, Tom has gone six for six today, with both the front and back covers of all three of our tabloids. What's particularly interesting is that today happens to be Newsday's 80th birthday, and they have a turn-back-the-clock-style cover.



http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2020/20200903_NSD_01.jpg>



http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2020/20200903_NYDN_02.jpg>

http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2020/20200903_NYP_02.jpg>

[MFS62]

When we heard the news, I was sad but not surprised considering his health.

My wife went to see if we still have our two Tom Seaver bobble head dolls and they are still in their unopened packages.

My wife noticed that the faces don't look like Tom but more like Ron Darling.

RIP



Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

Hoping eff 'n jeff don't cheap it up on the inevitable Seaver memorial patch, but they'll probably get that guy who never went to art school to do it, like all the others, to save money, and we'll end up with some stupid patch like the script "Rusty" patch or something totally uninspired like the "Kid" in home plate patch.



Watch this space.

[batmagadanleadoff]

[FIMG=454]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50302663348_0e92765f3a_h.jpg[/FIMG]

Edited September 3, 2020 by Guest

[batmagadanleadoff]

From The Athletic:



The Franchise: Tom Seaver, a baseball artist and a Mets icon, dies at 75



Excerpt:

Sparky Anderson, the Hall of Fame manager, once said that his idea of managing was “giving the ball to Tom Seaver and then sitting down and watching him work.” Hank Aaron, one of the greatest hitters of any era, said Seaver was “the toughest pitcher I ever had to face.” It was Aaron who met Seaver at the 1967 All-Star Game in Anaheim, when Seaver was 22 and in the midst of his rookie season. “Kid, I know who you are,” Aaron said, “and before your career is over, I guarantee you everyone in this stadium will, too.”

https://theathletic.com/2041307/2020/09/02/the-franchise-tom-seaver-a-baseball-artist-and-a-mets-icon-dies-at-75/https://theathletic.com/2041307/2020/09/02/the-franchise-tom-seaver-a-baseball-artist-and-a-mets-icon-dies-at-75/

[batmagadanleadoff]

From The Athletic: The Franchise: Tom Seaver, a baseball artist and a Mets icon, dies at 75 Excerpt: Sparky Anderson, the Hall of Fame manager, once said that his idea of managing was “giving the ball to Tom Seaver and then sitting down and watching him work.” Hank Aaron, one of the greatest hitters of any era, said Seaver was “the toughest pitcher I ever had to face.” It was Aaron who met Seaver at the 1967 All-Star Game in Anaheim, when Seaver was 22 and in the midst of his rookie season. “Kid, I know who you are,” Aaron said, “and before your career is over, I guarantee you everyone in this stadium will, too.” https://theathletic.com/2041307/2020/09/02/the-franchise-tom-seaver-a-baseball-artist-and-a-mets-icon-dies-at-75/https://theathletic.com/2041307/2020/09/02/the-franchise-tom-seaver-a-baseball-artist-and-a-mets-icon-dies-at-75/

From Oakland, at the '73 World Series:



[FIMG=555]https://www.rawchili.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/118654973_153660066379399_2648805961463079317_n.jpg

[/FIMG]

[Edgy MD]

Seaver got the save in a 15-inning win for the National League that day, one of only two saves in his career.

[batmagadanleadoff]

The tributes are pouring in. Here's one from Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe:



Excerpt:



[FIMG=444]https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/SQa37v6et7QTu5D1Cd6TsI6Fx5Y=/1024x0/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/2IEJMBIVF5EPZM27OBLOODIAXE.jpg[/FIMG]

Tom Seaver was the prince of New York City. He was the greatest New York Met of all time and there is no close second. He was the Franchise, Tom Terrific, the Hall of Fame ace of the 1969 Miracle Mets. Books were written about him, movies were made, and when it was learned that he died this week, all three New York metropolitan dailies ripped up their front pages and started anew with tributes to Tom Seaver. New York, New York. That was Tom Seaver. But he also pitched the final games of his career for the Boston Red Sox in 1986. And if he hadn't hurt his knee in Toronto in late September, he would have started Game 4 of the World Series against the Mets instead of Al Nipper. With Seaver in the rotation, I believe the Red Sox would have won that haunting World Series.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/03/sports/if-tom-seaver-hadnt-been-hurt-1986-red-sox-might-have-won-that-world-series/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/03/sports/if-tom-seaver-hadnt-been-hurt-1986-red-sox-might-have-won-that-world-series/