Reese Kaplan -- Thank You, Tom Seaver, For All That You Did

So here we sit after the opening road trip with a highly respectable 5-2 record and today we are hosting Opening Day at Citifield.  The big news, of course, is that in addition to the usual pomp and circumstances associated with the first game played on the home field there will be a special revelation of a statue to the man who actually made the New York Mets respectable and relevant during his initial tenure with the team, George Thomas Seaver.

No matter how you slice it, the Mets always seem to come up short or veer slightly off to miss their intended target.  The cynics (ones way worse than I am) are already proclaiming their disgust at the Wilpon regime for never having done this work during their tenure at the helm of the team.  Then others are bemoaning the fact that this unveiling is happening almost two full years after the man died, denying him his day of honor in front of his many fans and friends in the ballpark and around the world watching on TV and over the Internet.  Granted, Seaver's last years were a bit spotty when it came to cognition due to his degenerative Lewy body dementia.  Still, the long (and overdue) applause would have surely resonated deep within him to let him know how much he was loved and appreciated.

Kudos goes to Steve Cohen for pushing this agenda forward, albeit too late for the in-person occurrence to happen.  Yes, his widow and family will be there for the honors and in no way will the fans' and media's affection for the man and what he meant to the Mets history diminish one iota even though he could not be alive to receive the outpouring of cheers.  The videos and audio played during the celebration of Seaver's career will rekindle feelings people didn't even remember they had.  He transitioned the team from barroom joke into a World Series winner.  No one can take anything away from what his presence meant to remaking New York into a two-team town.

We all have specific memories of various accomplishments Tom Seaver made on the mound while performing for the Mets.  No one can deny his quality as a pitcher, but it was his uncanny ability to stay healthy, to dominate whomever he was facing and to offer a fully professional execution of his role that finally gave substance to the heretofore laughable and fledgling National League franchise.  

His April 22nd accomplishment 52 years ago fanning 19 San Diego Padres (including the last ten in a row) both set major league records.  While people gush over his 1969 Cy Young Award winning season when he went 25-7 with a tiny 2.21 ERA, to me it was his 1971 season in which he went 20-10 with an even lower 1.76 ERA with his strikeouts going up and walks going down that spelled pure dominance to everyone but the voters of the Cy Young Award.  Ferguson Jenkins posted an ERA a full run higher but won 4 more and completed an unheard of 30 games pitched.

In total Tom Seaver did win two more Cy Young Awards for the Mets during his tenure at Shea Stadium.  In 1973 when the Mets again made it to the World Series and two years later in 1975 Seaver got the trophy as the best pitcher in the National League.  For his career he finished with a record of 311-205, 106 games over .500, with an ERA of 2.86 which was inflated by his final eight years in uniform.  Think about that for a moment...his ERA prior to this eight-year stretch was an unbelievable 2.48.  As good as Jacob deGrom has been for the Mets, he's not quite at that level.  

As you sit back to enjoy the festivities and the new Tom Seaver statue that will reside permanently at Citifield, take a moment to reflect what the man meant not only to the team but to you personally.  Offer your cheers or your silent thanks but show the man the appreciation he so richly deserves even if it comes a few years too late for him to hear personally.  Tom, you were called The Franchise for a very good reason.  We miss all that you meant to our team and to your fellow ballplayers who got to know what it meant to be playing alongside the best of the best.