Then He Departed

After his wildly wonderful 1983 homecoming, it was a kick in the gut (and probably lower) to watch Tom Seaver say goodbye a second time after a rightfully downcast Frank Cashen left him unprotected in the monstrosity known as the free agent compensation pool in January of ’84. The Chicago White Sox chose Tom Terrific to make up for losing Dennis Lamp to the Toronto Blue Jays, which shows how effed up baseball can get.

Not that I followed Tom Seaver around in the winter enough to know if this was normal headwear for him, but I was always struck by the vaguely European driving cap he sported in this, his adios again press conference. I’ve always wondered if that was his angry hat or something. Didn’t even take it off indoors, y’know?