Posted on 09/02/2020 5:33:50 PM PDT by grey_whiskers
The long goodbye has ended. The Mets’ “Franchise” is gone.
Tom Seaver, the greatest of all Mets who dropped out of public life in March of 2019 after being diagnosed with dementia died early Monday. Accoring to family sources, Seaver, 75, died peacefully at his home in Calistoga, Calif., from complications from Lyme disease and dementia.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
One of my biggest childhood heros
“Blind people come to the ballpark just to listen to him pitch.” — Reggie Jackson”
I had not heard that one before, it’s now “seared into my mind”
Memory Eternal!
Agreed.
At least they didn’t try to blame it on COVID-19.
This Phillies fan gives you his condolences.
One of my deepest regrets in 49 years of baseball fandom is that (not by design) I never saw Tom Terrific pitch. IIRC he owned Steve Carlton.
Yes, RIP Tom. Tell Gil Hodges and Yogi Berra (your managers in a WS apiece) we said hi.
ff
Game Called.
Across the field of play
the dusk has come, the hour is late.
The fight is done and lost or won,
the player files out through the gate.
The tumult dies, the cheer is hushed,
the stands are bare, the park is still.
But through the night there shines the light,
home beyond the silent hill.
Game Called.
Where in the golden light
the bugle rolled the reveille.
The shadows creep where night falls deep,
and taps has called the end of play.
The game is done, the score is in,
the final cheer and jeer have passed.
But in the night, beyond the fight,
the player finds his rest at last.
Game Called.
Upon the field of life
the darkness gathers far and wide,
the dream is done, the score is spun
that stands forever in the guide.
Nor victory, nor yet defeat
is chalked against the players name.
But down the roll, the final scroll,
shows only how he played the game.
-Grantland Rice
Seaver or Gibson for me. Seaver was better at an earlier age. Gibson had control issues early on, but his World Series numbers are stellar. Give me both! :)
ff
*cough* 1968 *cough*
Right off the top of my head, the great RH pitchers in my lifetime: Seaver, Maddux, Marichal, Palmer, Hunter, Ryan, Clemens, Gibson, Jenkins, Sutton. I'm sure I'm leaving some worthy candidates out.
Marichal gets a demerit for hitting an umpire in the head with a baseball bat. Otherwise, agreed.
RIP
When I lived in Boston I specifically went to see him pitch for the White Sox. Not the pitcher he was before, but he pitched well.
I must say though, I lost a lot of respect for Tom, after reading Chico Escuela’s “Bad Stuff Bout The Mets”, when Chico told about how Tom took up two parking spaces.
I would also add Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale.
Drysdale once said when he saw a batter dig in at the plate he would tell them to make that hole deep enough to crawl in. Then he would give them a little chin music on the first pitch.
Plus the mound was higher so the pitcher was basically throwing downhill.
“Tom Terrific.” He was the most brilliant pitcher in an era of brilliant pitchers. I saw him pitch many times at Shea. My Uncle was the head greenskeeper at Greenwich CC in CT where Seaver was a member when he pitched for the Mets, and according to my Uncle, he was the nicest, most genuine, and down to earth person he ever met. RIP. (And yes, I have tears in my eyes.)
Went to Cubs- Mets game at Wrigley about 1970 or 71.
Lucked into some 2nd row seats right behind home plate, I could clearly hear the conversation between the batters and catcher.
First time the Cubs are up, Glen Beckert the 2nd baseman, steps away from a curveball, called a strike.
” Gonna be one of those days huh?” he says to the catcher.
“Toms really got his stuff today.”
Seaver was one hell of a pitcher.
As a Cardinals fan, I never cheered for him but I always admired him. A true legend of the game.
If I recall correctly, he owned a vineyard in Calistoga.
And Bob Gibson. Their stats are very similar, except Gibson was a better hitter.
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