A Thought for Tom Seaver

Tom Seaver, a nearly unanimous Hall of Fame pitcher, has been diagnosed with dementia and is withdrawing from public life. In recent years, Seaver has had trouble with memory loss but it was attributed to Lyme disease which he first contracted in 1991. 

Seaver pitched the bulk of his career with the New York Mets emerging as a star in 1969 when he won the first of his three NL Cy Young Awards and was the centerpiece of the Miracle Mets who shocked the world by winning their first World Series in franchise history after being baseball's laughing stock since their expansion season in 1962 when they lost a modern MLB record 120 games. Due to his health, Seaver will be unable to attend ceremonies at Citi Field for the 50th anniversary festivities of the '69 Mets World Series title. However, the Mets plan to give a special honor to Seaver during the season. Many Mets fans believe Seaver should be honored with a statue.

Known as Tom Terrific, Seaver led the NL in strikeouts five times, in ERA thrice, was named to 12 NL All-Star Teams and finished his career with 311 wins. Seaver also had stints with the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox. A case could be made that Seaver should have won a fourth NL Cy Young in 1981 when he went 14-2 with a 2.54 ERA with the Reds during the strike shortened season, but was overshadowed by Fernandomania that summer. 

Most of Seaver's post-playing career was spent in the broadcast booth for both the Mets and the Yankees as well as with NBC. In this century, Seaver focused most of his attention on his winery in Napa County along with his wife Nancy and this is where he will spend the sunset of his years. It is a terrible diagnosis, but he will remain California's wine country where he can live his remaining days in peace.