Born Fresno, California
In 1969, the stellar performance of New York Mets pitcher Tom Seaver propelled his team to its improbable World Series Championship. This was just the beginning of a storied career for the hard-throwing righthander and future Hall of Famer, who became one of baseball’s greatest pitchers. Signed by the Mets in 1966, Seaver joined the ballclub’s major league roster in 1967, when the team seemed permanently entrenched in the cellar of the National League. Although the Mets finished the 1967 season at the bottom of the standings, Seaver won sixteen games and was voted the National League’s Rookie of the Year. The following year he again notched sixteen victories. In 1969, Seaver’s wins totaled twenty-five, earning the power pitcher his first Cy Young Award and carrying the Mets into the postseason for the first time. After the upstart ballclub bested the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series, Seaver lost the first game in the World Series contest with the Baltimore Orioles. But he redeemed himself with an outstanding performance through ten full innings in the crucial fourth game of the series. When the Mets claimed the World Series title, Tom Seaver’s contribution to the team’s success was undeniable.
Dubbed “Tom Terrific,” Seaver remained a fan favorite during ten full seasons with the Mets and amassed a string of impressive achievements that included leading the National League in strikeouts five times, making the All-Star team on nine occasions, and earning two more Cy Young Awards (1973 and 1975). Traded by the Mets to Cincinnati at the start of the 1977 season, Seaver found a congenial home with the Reds and pitched the only no-hitter of his career a year later. Before pitching his final game in 1986, Seaver returned briefly to the Mets, and subsequently pitched for Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992, Seaver enjoyed a successful second career as popular sports broadcaster.
