Tag: Tom Seaver

This day in baseball: Luck of the draw

April 3, 2014

In 1966, University of Southern California pitcher Tom Seaver signed a contract with Atlanta’s Richmond farm team.  Baseball Commissioner William Eckert voided the contract, however, due to Seaver’s having played two exhibition games already with USC.  Unfortunately for Seaver, signing a professional contract also left him ineligible to play any longer at the collegiate level.  When Seaver’s father threatened a lawsuit on his son’s behalf, a special draft was held, in which three Major League teams offered to match Richmond’s $40,000 contract.  The Indians, Phillies, and Mets all participated in the draft, where one team would be drawn from a hat.  The Mets won Seaver’s contract, and on April 3, 1966, Tom Seaver signed with New York with a reported $50,000 bonus.

New York Mets Tom Seaver
Baseball: Closeup of New York Mets Tom Seaver (41) during game vs Atlanta Braves. Atlanta, GA 7/9/1975 MANDATORY CREDIT: Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated SetNumber: X19696 TK1

One-hit wonders

May 11, 2013

“My job isn’t to strike guys out. It’s to get them out, sometimes by striking them out.”  ~Tom Seaver

“Relax, all right? Don’t try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they’re fascist. Throw some ground balls – it’s more democratic.”  ~Crash Davis, Bull Durham

*

Two one-hitters were thrown in baseball yesterday.

Boston’s Jon Lester threw his one-hit shutout against the Toronto Blue Jays.  It would have been a perfect game, except for the sixth-inning double given up to Maicer Izturis.  Retiring 27 of 28 batters using only 118 pitches, Lester improved his season record to 5-0.

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, rookie right-hander Shelby Miller started off the game by giving up a single to Colorado’s Eric Young, but then proceeded to retire the next 27 batters.  Miller recorded thirteen strikeouts during the game, eight of which were called, and improved his record to 5-2.

Congratulations to these two gentlemen on their fine performances.

Shelby Miller (Source: MLB.com)

This day in baseball history: Seaver’s game of K’s

April 22, 2013

seaver

On April 22, 1970, during the pregame ceremony, New York Mets pitcher Tom Seaver was presented with the 1969 Cy Young award.  In the game that followed, Seaver struck out a record ten consecutive batters as he led the Mets to a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres.  He struck out nineteen total hitters over the course of the game, which tied another Major League record.  Even better, four of those batters struck out looking.

I guess Seaver didn’t want to leave any doubt that he really did deserve that Cy Young, eh?