Tom Seaver was the greatest Met of them all

Tom Seaver, who died on Monday at 75, left a mark on the Mets that will never be forgotten.

In the New York City borough of Queens, at the corner of Roosevelt Ave and 126th Street, is Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. The official address of the ballpark, though, is 41 Seaver Way, a lasting tribute to a man who almost didn’t play for them.

Tom Seaver, who passed away on Monday at the age of 75 (his family announced his death on Wednesday), was synonymous with the Mets. For the 12 seasons he called Queens home, the right-hander won three Cy Young Awards, made nine All-Star Game appearances, and retired as the franchise leader in wins, ERA, strikeouts, complete games, and shutouts. He led the “Miracle” Mets to the World Series in 1969. It was a career that began thanks to a random draw from a hat.

In January 1966, after a season pitching for USC, the Atlanta Braves drafted Seaver in the first round and quickly signed him to a deal. There was only one problem: Seaver had already begun the college season. Major League rules at the time prohibited clubs from signing college players while they were participating in their school’s season, and the league office voided his deal with the Braves.

Any team could have matched the $51,500 the Braves were preparing to give the 21-year-old, and three attempted to: the Indians, Phillies, and Mets. The names of the three teams were placed in a hat and drawn at random. Fatefully, the Mets were the name that was drawn.

Seaver, though, couldn’t have been thrilled about the opportunity of pitching in New York. He was joining an organization that had made losing into an art form. Since coming into the National League in 1962, the Mets had never won more than 66 games or finished higher than ninth in the 10-team league. No Mets pitcher had ever won more than 13 games in a season in the five years before Seaver joined the club.

But Seaver proved to be an instant sensation as soon as he joined the club for his MLB debut on April 13, 1967, at the age of 22. In his rookie season, he set franchise records with 16 wins, 170 strikeouts, and a 2.76 ERA in 34 starts. The Mets continued to lose, but at least they had a budding superstar. And thanks to Seaver, the team’s fortunes changed in a big way in 1969.

No one expected the Mets to contend in 1969. But they didn’t count on Seaver. He led the club all year, finishing with 25 wins (still a franchise record) and a 2.21 ERA. On July 9 against the Cubs at Shea Stadium, he took a perfect game into the ninth inning before Jim Qualls hit a single to left-center with one out. Trailing the Cubs by 10 games in August, the Mets won 38 of their last 49 games; Seaver went 9-0 with a 1.24 ERA in that stretch, including a complete-game five-hitter against the Cubs on Sept. 9 that brought the Mets to within a half-game of the division lead.

A franchise that had lost 100 games just two years earlier suddenly led the NL with 100 wins and earned a trip to the World Series. In Game 4 against the Baltimore Orioles, Seaver pitched all 10 innings in a 2-1 Mets win. They closed out the series a day later, and the Miracle Mets were world champions. Seaver won his first Cy Young Award following the season and was named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated.

Seaver was the toast of New York, and he followed up the championship with the first of his three ERA titles the next season. He led the NL with 283 strikeouts, the first of what turned out to be five strikeout titles. On April 22, 1971, he struck out the final 10 San Diego Padres batters he faced, a record that has yet to be broken.

As Seaver’s success continued to grow, however, so too did his contract demands. His relationship with Mets chairman M. Donald Grant was marked by acrimonious statements made to the media; Grant considered Seaver an ingrate, and Seaver demanded to leave. The Mets had no choice but to deal their franchise player to the Cincinnati Reds on June 15, 1977.

Seaver won 189 games with the Mets between 1967-77. No pitcher in that span had a lower ERA or struck out more batters. The fortunes of the club plummetted with his departure; the Mets didn’t finish higher than fifth in any of the next seven seasons. Shea Stadium, where Seaver had starred for so long, became a ghost town.

He continued to thrive in Cincinnati, finally throwing his first no-hitter in 1978. But in 1983, with Grant long gone, Seaver was able to enjoy a reunion with the Mets. At the age of 38, he led the club in strikeouts. The Mets had a young, exciting team, led by former No. 1 overall pick Darryl Strawberry. The front office wanted to protect these assets from the waiver wire. No one, they thought, would want a 39-year-old pitcher. They were wrong, and Seaver was picked up by the Chicago White Sox.

Seaver retired in 1986 as a member of the Boston Red Sox with 311 victories. He played for four different franchises, but it was as a Met that he became “Tom Terrific” and solidified his Hall of Fame legacy. He was inducted into Cooperstown in 1992, his first year of eligibility, with 98.8 percent of the vote, the highest of any player at the time.

The arrival of Seaver in 1967 changed the Mets franchise. In just three seasons, they went from perhaps the worst team in MLB history to world champions. Baseball thrived in Queens in Seaver’s day, and he remains, even 37 years after last wearing the uniform, the best player in franchise history.

He’s gone now, but Mets fans who remember 1969 or have only heard their fathers talk about it can always visit his plague in Cooperstown. Or they can pass by the statue outside Citi Field. Seaver left his mark on a city and a franchise, one that won’t soon be forgotten.