Pitcher, New
York Mets
Age: 28
7th season
with Mets
Bats – Right,
Throws – Right
Height: 6’1” Weight: 195
Prior to 1973:
A native of
Fresno, California, Seaver started in Little League at age 9 as a
pitcher/outfielder. Performing well in high school, he moved on to Fresno City
College, where he won 11 straight games in his second year and transferred to
USC. In his first season at USC Seaver was 10-2 with 100 strikeouts in 100
innings pitched. He was selected by the Braves in the 1966 amateur draft. The
Braves signed him while his college season was in progress, which was in
violation of major league rules. Commissioner William Eckert voided the
contract and allowed three teams, the Mets, Indians, and Phillies, to
participate in a lottery for Seaver since they were willing to match the
$51,500 offer made by the Braves. The Mets won the lottery. Seaver was assigned
to the Jacksonville Suns of the Class AAA International League and compiled a
12-12 record with a 3.13 ERA and 188 strikeouts in 210 innings pitched in ‘66.
Seaver advanced to the perennially-losing Mets in 1967. He posted a 16-13
record with a 2.76 ERA and received NL Rookie of the Year as well as All-Star recognition.
Seaver followed up with another solid season in 1968, going 16-12 with a 2.20
ERA and again gaining All-Star recognition. With the Mets undergoing a
transition that would pay dividends in another year, Seaver was joined in the
pitching rotation by rookie LHP Jerry Koosman, to good effect. Seaver and the
Mets prospered in 1969 as the club won the NL East in the first year of
divisional play in the major leagues and went on to win the World Series over
the Baltimore Orioles. Seaver contributed a 25-7 record with a 2.21 ERA and 208
strikeouts. In a July game against the Cubs, the chief division rival, Seaver
took a perfect game into the ninth inning, only to end up with a one-hit
shutout. The team’s primary leader and motivator, he added two more wins in the
postseason and received the NL Cy Young Award in addition to placing second in
league MVP voting. In 1970 Seaver tied the then-major league record with 19
strikeouts in a game against San Diego, the last 10 in succession. He went on
to compile an 18-12 record while leading the NL in both ERA (2.82) and
strikeouts (283). The Mets placed third in the NL East and Seaver finished
seventh in voting for the NL Cy Young Award. He again led the NL with a 1.76
ERA and 289 strikeouts in 1971 while posting a 20-10 tally with the 83-79 Mets.
The perfectionist pitcher known as “Tom Terrific” or “The Franchise”, with his
excellent fastball and slider, continued to excel in 1972, going 21-12 with a
2.92 ERA and 249 strikeouts for an 83-73 club that finished last in NL team
batting (.225). He tied for fifth in NL Cy Young voting.
1973 Season Summary
Appeared in 39
games
P – 36, PR – 3
[Bracketed
numbers indicate NL rank in Top 20]
Pitching
Games – 36
Games Started –
36 [7, tied with Dave Roberts, Ross Grimsley & Rick Reuschel]
Complete Games
– 18 [1, tied with Steve Carlton]
Wins – 19 [2,
tied with Jack Billingham]
Losses – 10
PCT - .655 [4,
tied with Jack Billingham]
Saves – 0
Shutouts – 3 [7,
tied with seventeen others]
Innings Pitched
– 290 [3]
Hits – 219 [16,
tied with Bob Moose]
Runs – 74
Earned Runs – 67
Home Runs – 23 [14,
tied with Ron Bryant]
Bases on Balls
– 64
Strikeouts – 251
[1]
ERA – 2.08 [1]
Hit Batters – 4
[20, tied with nineteen others]
Balks – 0
Wild Pitches – 5
League-leading strikeouts
were +28 ahead of runner-up Steve Carlton
League-leading
ERA was -0.34 lower than runner-up Don Sutton
Midseason
Snapshot: 11-5, 2.02 ERA, SO – 147 in 169.2 IP
---
Most
strikeouts, game – 16 (in 9 IP) at San Francisco 5/29
10+ strikeout
games – 6
Fewest hits
allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 2 (in 9 IP) at Pittsburgh 5/12, (in 9 IP) at San
Diego 8/15
Batting
PA – 109, AB – 93,
R – 9, H – 15, 2B – 2, 3B – 1, HR – 1, RBI – 5, BB – 7, SO – 34, SB – 1, CS – 0,
AVG - .161, GDP – 3, HBP – 0, SH – 9, SF – 0
Fielding
Chances – 66
Put Outs – 26
Assists – 35
Errors – 5
DP – 1
Pct. - .924
Postseason
Pitching: G – 4 (NLCS vs. Cincinnati – 2 G; World Series vs. Oakland – 2 G)
GS – 4, CG – 1,
Record – 1-2, PCT – .333, SV – 0, ShO – 0, IP – 31.2, H – 26, R – 8, ER – 7, HR
– 2, BB – 8, SO – 35, HB – 1, BLK – 0, WP – 2, ERA – 1.99
Awards & Honors:
NL Cy Young
Award: BBWAA
NL Pitcher of
the Year: Sporting News
All-Star
8th in
NL MVP voting (57 points, 17% share)
NL Cy Young
Voting (Top 5):
Tom Seaver,
NYM.: 71 pts. – 10 of 24 first place votes, 59% share
Mike Marshall,
Mon.: 54 pts. – 9 first place votes, 45% share
Ron Bryant, SF:
50 pts. – 3 first place votes, 42% share
Jack
Billingham, Cin.: 30 pts. – 2 first place votes, 25% share
Don Sutton,
LAD: 7 pts. – 6% share
---
Mets went 82-79
to finish first in the NL Eastern Division by 1.5 games over the St. Louis
Cardinals. The pitching staff led the league in strikeouts (1027). In a down
year for the NL East, the Mets were in last place at the end of August before
finishing the season with a 20-8 run to narrowly take the division. Won NLCS
over the Cincinnati Reds, 3 games to 2, in a series highlighted by the Game 3
fight between SS Bud Harrelson and Cincinnati LF Pete Rose in a game that was
ultimately a 9-2 win for the Mets. Lost World Series to the Oakland Athletics,
4 games to 3.
Aftermath of ‘73:
Seaver was
rewarded in the offseason with a $172,000 contract that made him the
highest-paid pitcher at the time but was dogged by shoulder and hip pain in
1974 and dropped to an 11-11 record with a 3.20 ERA and 201 strikeouts over 236
innings pitched. He missed being an All-Star for the first time in his career
but came back strong in 1975 with a 22-9 tally and 2.38 ERA, leading the NL
with 243 strikeouts. For his performance he won his third Cy Young Award. In a
September game he took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Cubs in
Chicago, gave up a hit, and the scoreless contest went into extra innings with
the Mets losing in the eleventh (Seaver pitched 10 shutout innings,
surrendering three hits in all in his second no-hit near-miss against the
Cubs). 1976 was a relative down year for Seaver in which he produced a 14-11
record for the light-hitting Mets with a respectable 2.59 ERA and NL-leading
235 strikeouts. Seaver became embroiled in a contract dispute with board
chairman M. Donald Grant that became highly publicized in the media and led to
his being traded to the Cincinnati Reds for four players in the so-called
“Midnight Massacre” in June of 1977. Seaver was 7-3 with a 3.00 ERA at the time
of the deal and finished up the year with a 21-6 record and 2.58 ERA and 196
strikeouts, tying for third in NL Cy Young balloting. He followed up with a
16-14 tally in 1978 with a 2.88 ERA and 226 strikeouts. Battling injuries in
1979 Seaver went 16-6 with a 3.14 ERA and 131 strikeouts for the
division-topping Reds. Arm trouble limited him to 168 innings in 1980 and a
10-8 record with a 3.64 ERA and 101 strikeouts. He bounced back to 14-2 with a
2.54 ERA in the strike-interrupted 1981 season and placed second in NL Cy Young
Award voting. Suffering from a respiratory infection during spring training in
1982, Seaver’s record dropped to a dismal 5-13 with a 5.50 ERA for the
last-place Reds, with a sore shoulder finishing his season in August. In the
offseason, the 38-year-old fading star was traded back to the Mets. The result
was a 9-14 mark in 1983 with a 3.55 ERA and 135 strikeouts in 231 innings
pitched. He changed teams again in the ensuing offseason when the Chicago White
Sox took him as a free agent compensation selection. He spent two ordinary
years with the White Sox, producing a 15-11 record with a 3.95 ERA in 1984 and
going 16-11, including his 300th career win, in ‘85 with a 3.17 ERA.
During the 1986 season he was dealt to the Boston Red Sox, who were on the way
to their first pennant since 1975, where his long career came to an end. Overall for his major league career, Seaver
compiled a 311-205 record with a 2.86 ERA and 3640 strikeouts in 4783 innings
pitched. He pitched over 250 innings ten times and reached 200 strikeouts also
on ten occasions, leading the NL five times. With the Mets Seaver was 198-124
with a 2.57 ERA and 2541 strikeouts. He was a 12-time All-Star (9 with the
Mets) and won three Cy Young Awards (all with the Mets). In the postseason
Seaver was 3-3 with a 2.77 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 61.2 innings pitched. The
Mets retired his #41 and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992 by
receiving 98.84 % of votes cast (a record at the time).
--
Cy Young Profiles feature pitchers who were recipients of
the Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1956 to
present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from its
inception through 1966 and from 1967 on to one recipient from each major
league.
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