A “Terrific” Rookie Season
This year is a special anniversary for Tom Seaver. Fifty years ago, he won the 1967 Rookie of The Year Award, the first national honor in the Mets’ brief history. If not for a lucky lottery draw, he might never have made it to the mound at Shea Stadium.
The Braves had signed Tom in January, 1966. However, the contract was voided by then Commissioner William Eckert because the signing came after the start of Seaver’s college season at the University of Southern California. Three teams entered a drawing for Tom’s services (Philadelphia and Cleveland were the other two) and the Mets were fortunate enough to win the bid.
After one year at Triple-A Jacksonville of the International League, Tom joined manager Gil Hodges’ club for the ’67 season and posted a 16–13 record with a 2.76 ERA en route to the aforementioned Rookie of the Year Award. Of course, more awards were to follow.
Three Cy Young Awards, 311 wins, Hall of Fame honors and the nickname “The Franchise”.
“Looking back, it’s almost crazy to see how things turned out,” said Seaver. “First the Dodgers drafted me and I went back to USC. Then I thought for a while I was going to be a Brave and then came the lottery.
“Coming to New York was just a blessing” Seaver added. “I was so fortunate to play for Gil Hodges. He was just a great man and it was an honor to be on his team.”
It didn’t take long for Tom Terrific to earn his first win of his rookie season. After a no-decision in his major league debut versus Pittsburgh on April 13, Seaver twirled 7.1 innings of one-run ball seven days later on April 20 vs. the Cubs for his first career win. Five days later, he worked 10.0 innings in his first complete-game win at Wrigley Field and allowed one unearned run while striking out five.
“Honestly, I didn’t have very high expectations that first year,” Tom recalled.” I thought I might be sent down at any time. New York was an entirely different experience for me. It really did take a lot of adjustments for myself and my wife Nancy.”
Tom and his wife settled in a small apartment in Bayside, NY. His salary was $7,000.
He was named a National League All-Star during his rookie season and entered the midsummer classic in the 15th inning after the National League scored the go-ahead run in the top of the frame. Seaver induced a fly ball out off the bat of Tony Conigliaro, walked Carl Yastrzemski, induced another fly out off the bat of Bill Freehan and then struck out Ken Barry to end the game.
Seaver never again would pitch another game in the minors. The Seavers grew to love New York and New York loved the Seavers.
The Hall of Famer led the 1969 Mets to the club’s first World Championship and took them back to the World Series once again in 1973. Of Seaver’s 311 career victories over his 20-year career, 198 of them came as a Met.
“Signing with the Mets proved to be my quickest way to the majors,” he said. “If I had gone with any of the other teams I might have spent three or four years in the minors. It was luck. The Mets were a young expansion team and I was able to get there right away.
“The Mets of the late 1960s were the perfect club for a pitcher like myself,” Tom added. “We were built on defense with a super catcher like Jerry Grote, Buddy Harrelson to anchor the infield at shortstop and Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee in the outfield. If I could have written this story myself, it couldn’t have turned out any better.”
It was quite a story though.
