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SPORTS Friday 8 March 2019

Tom Seaver Tommy Agee, the Mets

overtook the Chicago
Continued from Page 17 Cubs to win the NL East with
a 100-62 record.
A five-time 20-game win- They swept Atlanta in the
ner nicknamed Tom Ter- first NL Championship Series
rific, Seaver was elected to reach the World Series
to the Hall in 1992 with a against highly favored Balti-
then-record 98.94 percent more, which had gone 109-
of the ballots, appearing 53. Seaver lost the opener
on 425 of 430. His mark was 4-1 in a matchup with Mike
surpassed in 2016 by Ken Cuellar, then pitched a
Griffey Jr. and this year by 10-inning six-hitter to win
Mariano Rivera, the first Game 4, and the Mets won
unanimous selection. the title the following after-
Seaver pitched for the noon.
Mets from 1967 until 1977, His most memorable mo-
when he was traded to ment on the mound was
Cincinnati after a public at Shea Stadium on July 9,
spat with Mets chairman 1969, when he retired his
M. Donald Grant. first 25 batters against the
“My biggest disappoint- Chicago Cubs. Pinch-hitter
ment? Leaving the Mets Jimmy Qualls had a one- In this July 26, 2015, file photo, National Baseball Hall of Famer Tom Seaver arrives for an induction
the first time and the diffi- out single to left-center in ceremony at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y.
culties I had with the same the ninth before Seaver Associated Press
people that led up to it,” retired Willie Smith on a “I had every hitter doing my wife was in tears and I shutout with 10 strikeouts.
Seaver told The Associated foulout and Don Kessinger what I wanted,” Seaver re- remember saying to her: What more could I ask
Press ahead of his Hall in- on a flyout. called in 1992. “Afterward, ‘Hey, I pitched a one-hit for?’”q
duction in 1992. “But even
that I look back at in a
positive way now. It gave
me the opportunity to work
in different areas of the
country.”
He pitched his only no-
hitter for the Reds in June
1978 against St. Louis and
was traded back to New
York after the 1982 season.
But Mets general manager
Frank Cashen blundered
by leaving Seaver unpro-
tected, and in January
1984 Seaver was claimed
by the Chicago White Sox
as free agent compensa-
tion.
While pitching for the White
Sox, Seaver got his 300th
win at Yankee Stadium,
and he did it in style with
a six-hitter in a 4-1 victory.
He finished his career with
Boston in 1986. He was a
12-time All-Star and led the
major leagues with a 25-7
record in 1969 and with a
1.76 ERA in 1971.
Among baseball’s worst
teams from their expansion
season in 1962, the Mets
lost more than 100 games
in five of their first six sea-
sons and had never won
more than 73 games in
their first seven years. With
cherished Brooklyn Dodg-
ers star Gil Hodges as their
manager, a young corps
of pitchers led by Seaver,
Jerry Koosman, Gary Gen-
try and a still-wild Nolan
Ryan, and an offense that
included Cleon Jones and