Tom Seaver Dies At 75 Years Of Age

Legendary hurler Tom Seaver has passed away, Bill Madden of the New York Daily News reports. He was 75 years of age.

Seaver had recently suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. The Hall of Famer spent time as a broadcaster after wrapping up his playing career and ultimately founded Seaver Family Vineyards.

Over two full decades of excellence at the game’s highest level, Seaver compiled 4,783 innings of 2.86 ERA pitching. He claimed three Cy Young awards and still stands as one of the best pitchers of all time.

Seaver will always be remembered most for his dozen-year run with the Mets, which covered all of his very best seasons. His greatest campaign, perhaps, was a monumental 1971 effort in which he ran up a 1.76 ERA with 9.1 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 over 286 1/3 frames.

In full, Seaver worked to a 2.57 ERA in over three thousand frames in a Mets uniform. The quality continued over a half-dozen campaigns in Cincinnati. Seaver contributed over a thousand innings of 3.18 ERA ball to the Reds before spending one more season with the Mets and then moving on to the White Sox.

Impressive as he was at his peak, the full measure of Seaver’s excellence is revealed in his ongoing effectiveness even at the tail end of his career. Seaver was one of the twenty or so best pitchers in baseball in his age-40 season with the White Sox, when he worked to a 3.17 ERA in 238 2/3 innings. The legend was dealt to the Red Sox in the middle of the ensuing season, which turned out to be his last.