David Rubin - Seaver on Costas - Memories of "The Franchise" & Mets Teams of Yesteryear: Part One

By David Rubin

It's not like the recently completed Winter Meetings were a boon to Mets' fans egos. Losing Jose Reyes, in fact, brought flashbacks of the trade of Tom Seaver some 34 years ago; Seaver's trade came at a time when the Yankees were in the midst of taking back the town that they had lost some 12 years earlier, while Reyes departure via free agency to the rival Marlins came at a time when the "Mess" once again play 2nd-fiddle (by a long way) to the Bronx-bombers yet again.

Last night, on MLB Networks' "Studio 42 with Bob Costas" seeing George Thomas Seaver as Costas' guest brought up the feelings of a 12-year old kid whose heart broke at the thought of not being able to see his baseball hero, number 41, pitch in the orange and blue anymore. I remember hating Daily News columnist, Dick Young, and Met President M. Donald Grant in equal parts, as they played the biggest roles in Seaver's exile via one of the most lop-sided trades of all time. I also remember finding photos in the Post of Doug Flynn, Pat Zachary and Steve Henderson in Met uniforms, the main players (along with Dan Norman) we received from the Reds, and gluing these photos to extra 1977 Met cards, hoping somehow they'd find a way to my heart the way that Seaver did. Not only didn't it happen, but I ended up discarding them as the thought that they were all we had left for the man we knew as the "franchise" was sickening, indeed...

However, rather than reflect on the trade, I'd rather reflect on the greatness that Seaver brought to the team and the city who loved him, just as I'd rather think about the excitement Reyes brought to the line-up over the past 9 years. Reyes has been ripped by fans for leaving for greener pastures, just as Seaver was ripped by Young for daring to want a higher salary. Neither deserved criticism for wanting the best life possible, least of all Seaver; but Seaver hasn't scored so well in the eyes of fans over the past few decades, as he's been labelled aloof, cocky and hard to deal with. It wasn't always this way, and I'd like to share another side of Seaver with you. (And, I hope, in time, Reyes will simply be appreciated for all the fun he brought to the orange and blue, too.)

I've met GTS a number of times, mostly at baseball card shows, but also at my family's favorite Chinese Restaurant growing up, Lum's in Flushing (which, sadly, is long gone.) After Met games, my family often went to Lum's, and we happened to see Seaver there on a number of occasions. Once, in 1973, we happened to be sitting down, eating, when Seaver, Jon Matlack and Jerry Koosman, along with their wives, happened in and sat down to eat. Of course, having come from a game, I had taken my program into the restaurant, reliving the game, which the Mets won by a close score, as I recall. I tried to get up to ask all 3 Met star pitchers for their autographs, not realizing (at the tender age of 9) that these players actually wanted to get AWAY from their fans while they were eating. My father stopped me twice, explaining that this was the players time with their wives and they were entitled to their privacy. Dejected, I ate in silence and, as we finished our meal, I turned one last time to look at 3 of my idols, only to meet Matlack's eye; he saw the program in my hand, and motioned me over. I looked to my dad, who nodded and off I went. Not only did Matlack sign my program, but so did Koosman and Seaver!! Imagine how much that meant to me, that in spite of not wanting to be bothered while eating, these 3 greats KNEW how much I wanted their autographs and put aside their precious family time for just a moment to make a child ecstatically happy!!! Can you ever imagine that happening today? Of course not!! When it came time for Seaver to sign, he asked me who his favorite ballplayer was, and I told him "you, sir, and my dad's is Willie Mays"; he told me my dad had good taste and he was honored to be playing on the same team with Willie. Sadly, I lost the program 2 years later, and always suspected it was stolen by a jealous neighborhood kid, but the memory of Matlack's kindness in calling me over, Koosman's signing and smiling at me, and Seaver's engaging in conversation with me left a lasting impression for years to come.


Fast forward 35 years later, to Southern California, where I'd been living for almost 15 years, and I'm telling this story to a good friend and co-worker, one Steve Zeif, born in Bayside, Queens, and transplanted to SoCal in the late 70's. He could do me one better on a Tom Seaver story- a HUGE one better!! It so happens that, in 1967, Steve's family lived next door to his aunt, uncle and cousins, mere moments from the confines of Shea Stadium. Steve was a regular there as a kid, from the time in opened in 1964 (he's a few years older than I am) until he left for SoCal, and he knew most of the ushers by name. His aunt/uncle had a basement apartment, and they had just put up a sign "apartment for rent, dogs allowed"; no sooner had the sign gone up then a handsome young man, accompanied by a pretty blonde lady and a dog named Slider came to the door, asking to see the apartment. You guessed it- Steve lived next door to Tom & Nancy Seaver for almost 2 years!!! The Seavers couldn't have been nicer; Tom used to drive Steve and his cousin to school in his convertible, then utilized the field at his school to stretch out on and jog around. Seaver wasn't yet as well-known, so he was able to work out in relative peace, while Steve had the satisfaction of riding with a future hall-of-famer on multiple occasions. Eventually, sadly, they had to move away because everyone in the neighborhood learned where he lived, and the comforts of Greenwich CT called to them. Seaver also played catch with Steve and his friends, signed autographs all the time, and couldn't have been nicer to the kids in the neighborhood. To this day, the Seavers send holiday cards to Steve's family! So, the next time we're quick to judge our sport superstars (myself included), let's remember that not only are they people, too, but are inundated with autograph requests and no matter how many they sign, no matter how much time they give, and no matter how many questions they answer, there will always be someone left without an autograph, a question unanswered, a moment not shared...


Over the years, I've accumulated a ton of Seaver memorabilia. I own over 20 jerseys and t-shirts; action figures, pins, posters, Hall-of-Fame signed induction programs, photo-signed baseballs, ticket stubs and bobble-head dolls. Best of all, some 25 years ago, my dad took me to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame. At that time, they were displaying one of the Andy Warhol paintings of Seaver, and my dad took a half dozen photos of it for me, thinking one would turn out well and I'd have a nice 4X6 photo of my favorite player by my (then) favorite artist. Once again, dad surprised me and had the best of the photos blown up into poster-size, at a time when Kinko's were not yet around and blow-ups were made at the photography store, for a LOT of money!!! A year later, at a baseball card show celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 1969 Mets, I brought the poster with me and paid to have Seaver sign it. He was really impressed by the lengths we'd gone to in order to produce the poster, and signed it in the upper left-hand corner in his beautiful signature. It certainly made up for losing that program all those years ago!! For almost 2 decades, the photo sat in an old, simple Lucite frame, but 3 years ago I had it mounted and framed in Met colors to match my other, large Met photos (Wilson-Buckner, Mays, etc)...

Part Two, coming next weekend, will take a look at the Hall-worthiness of one Gil Hodges (YES!!!), as well as a mini-review of a new book about Seaver and some other news and notes...