Saluting No. 41 on the Empire level (couldn't find his statue).
It’s amazing how the memory of Seaver’s greatness has faded in New York over the last 20 years. Pitchers whose accomplishments are anywhere near Seaver’s might have been expected to have gained in reputation from having pitched 12 seasons under the scrutiny of New York baseball writers. Seaver’s seems to have suffered.
—Allen Barra, The Village Voice, 5/19/2010
Tom Seaver is 66 today.
Tom Seaver was 41 for the first time on 4/13/1967.
Tom Seaver was 0 0 0 1 1 vs. Conigliaro, Yastrzemski, Freehan and Berry on 7/11/1967.
Tom Seaver was 2 0 0 0 5 vs. Carew, Yastrzemski, Oliva, Azcue, Powell, Mantle, Wert and Monday on 7/9/1968.
Tom Seaver was 0 0 0 0 11 for the first 8.1 vs. Kessinger, Beckert, Williams, Santo, Banks, Spangler, Hundley, Qualls, Holtzman and Abernathy on 7/9/1969.
Tom Seaver was 6 1 1 2 6 for 10 vs. Buford, Blair, F. Robinson, Powell, B. Robinson, Hendricks, Johnson, Belanger, Cuellar, May and Dalrymple on 10/15/1969.
Tom Seaver was 25-7 after 162 in 1969 and 2-1 after 8 more that October.
Tom Seaver was 19 on 4/22/1970, the final 10 of them in a row.
Tom Seaver was 20-10, 1.76 and 2.89 for all of 1971.
Tom Seaver was 0 0 0 4 11 for the first 8.2 of 7/4/1972.
Tom Seaver was 1 in ERA, CG, SO, ERA+, WHIP, H/9, SO/9 and SO/BB in 1973.
Tom Seaver was 200 for the 7th consecutive year on 10/1/1974.
Tom Seaver was 200 for the 8th consecutive year on 9/1/1975.
Tom Seaver was 0 0 0 3 8 for the first 8.2 of 9/24/1975.
Tom Seaver was 16 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 6 BB and 29 K in 27 IP on 7/17/1976, 7/23/1976 and 7/28/1976 yet came away from those 3 starts 0-2 with 1 ND.
Tom Seaver was 9+ on 18 regular-season occasions from 1967 to 1976.
Tom Seaver was 200 for the 9th consecutive year on 9/3/1976.
Tom Seaver was 41 for what seemed like the last time on 6/12/1977.
There isn’t a person in the world who hasn’t heard about Tom Seaver. He’s so good, blind people come out to hear him pitch.
—Reggie Jackson, Oakland A’s, 1973 World Series
Tom Seaver was 0 0 0 3 3 after 9 on 6/16/1978.
Tom Seaver was 3,000 on 4/18/1981.
Tom Seaver was 7-1 in the first half-season of strike-sundered 1981.
Tom Seaver was 7-1 in the second half-season of strike-sundered 1981.
Tom Seaver was 41 again on 4/5/1983.
Tom Seaver was 1 in 3B, with 2, after the games of 4/20/1983.
Tom Seaver was 41 for what, in retrospect, seemed like the last time on 10/1/1983.
Tom Seaver was 0 0 0 0 0 in the top of the 25th when the game of 5/8/1984 resumed on 5/9/1984.
Tom Seaver was 3 4 4 1 0 in 8.1 in the regularly scheduled game of 5/9/1984.
Tom Seaver was 2-0 on 5/9/1984.
Tom Seaver was 300 on 8/4/1985.
There is actually a good argument that Tom Seaver should be regarded as the greatest pitcher of all time.
—Bill James, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, 2001
Tom Seaver was 198-124 for us, 113-81 for others.
Tom Seaver was 106 over .500 from 1967 through 1986.
Tom Seaver was 2.86 after 4,783.
Tom Seaver was 2.62 for every 1 after 20 seasons.
Tom Seaver was 41 on 7/24/1988.
Tom Seaver was 98.8% on 1/7/1992.
Tom Seaver is 66 today.
Tom Seaver is 41 always.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by You Gotta Believe!, metspolice, Paul, Scott Jarzombek, Greg Prince and others. Greg Prince said: #Mets ace Tom Seaver: 66 today, 41 forever. http://wp.me/pKvXu-1UY […]
On this, we can agree.
Happy birthday to my first (sports) hero.
I still remember that first win against Pittsburgh that second day of the 1967 season and all the wonderful thrills since.
Despite lack of run support, Tom’s winning percentage is actually greater with the Mets than it was with Cincinnati.
Happy birthday Tom.
Outstnding!Hoist of bottle of GTS from the vinyards of California to honor “The Franchise.”
Tom Seaver was 300 on August 4, 1985 — and the score, appropriately, was 4-1.
I was there — ordering the tickets for Phil Rizzuto Day on Tuesday, and finding out Wednesday that Seaver was taking his 299 wins to the Yankee Stadium mound on the following Sunday. That day, in the year of peak violence for English soccer, there were more fights in the stands at any sporting event I’ve ever been to, because of all the Met fans there to cheer Seaver. Whatever class he showed didn’t extend to them, as, from the right-field stands, I could see into the bleachers, and there must have been 50 people ejected for fighting. When it was over, though, 54,000 people, including myself and 3 family members, stood, applauded, and tipped our caps to the greatest righthanded pitcher I ever saw. (I still think lefty Steve Carlton might have been better.)
In terms of impact on the team, and in the image he has projected, Tom Seaver is the Mets’ Babe Ruth, and their Joe DiMaggio. And better to his wife than those guys were to theirs. He has appreciated and indeed, expanded both the science and the art of pitching. Aside from Ruth and Jackie Robinson, no player has ever been bigger than the game, but Seaver is one of the very few who have actually elevated it, and done more for the game than it has done for him. All baseball fans are better off for having Tom Seaver in their sport.
Excellent work Greg!
[…] be fitting to post a video detailing Seaver’s Hall of Fame career. Also, be sure to check out Tom Seaver’s Birthday by the Numbers over at Faith and Fear In […]
[…] be fitting to post a video detailing Seaver’s Hall of Fame career. Also, be sure to check out Tom Seaver’s Birthday by the Numbers over at Faith and Fear In Flushing or some video footage of Seaver’s first ever MLB […]
As far as greatest Met ever is concerned, Seaver is like Secretariat in the Belmont: many, many lengths ahead of everyone else. Anyone who’d dare to suggest otherwise is crazy, stupid, or both. Seaver was the complete package, a dominating power pitcher with brains, stamina and drive. Any discussion of greatest all-time pitchers that excludes him is a joke.
We must always do our part. Whenever a great pitching performance occurs and somebody begins to say “he looked like…” quickly interject “Tom Seaver”. Too often the exemplar given is Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Randy Johnson…whoever. Doesn’t matter. Lefty, right, doesn’t matter.
“What a game he threw! He looked like…Tom Seaver out there!”
First baseball game I ever went to in 1970 Seaver shutout the Pirates 1-0 the only run scoring on a Donn Clendenon HR !
Great job Greg! I can’t wait to see what you do for MY birthday.