Sep 2, 2020 4 min read

NEW YORK – Tom Seaver, the galvanizing leader of the Miracle Mets 1969 championship team and a pitcher who personified the rise of expansion teams during an era of radical change for baseball, has died. He was 75.

The Hall of Fame said Wednesday night that Seaver died Monday from complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19. Seaver spent his final years in Calistoga, California.

Seaver’s family announced in March 2019 he had been diagnosed with dementia and had retired from public life.

He continued working at Seaver Vineyards, founded by the three-time NL Cy Young Award winner and his wife, Nancy, in 2002 on 116 acres at Diamond Mountain in the Calistoga region of Northern California.

Seaver was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 1991, and it reoccurred in 2012 and led to Bell’s Palsy and memory loss, the Daily News of New York reported in 2013.

“He will always be the heart and soul of the Mets, the standard which all Mets aspire to,” Mike Piazza, a former Mets catcher and Hall of Famer, tweeted when Seaver’s dementia diagnosis was announced.

Nicknamed Tom Terrific and The Franchise, Seaver was a five-time 20-game winner and the 1967 NL Rookie of the Year. For his career, from 1967-86, he had a 311-205 record with a 2.86 ERA, 3,640 strikeouts and 61 shutouts. He became a constant on magazine covers and a media presence, calling postseason games on NBC and ABC even while still an active player.

He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992 when he appeared on 425 of 430 ballots for a then-record 98.84%. His mark was surpassed in 2016 by Ken Griffey Jr., again in 2019 when Mariano Rivera became the first unanimous selection by baseball writers, and in 2020 when Derek Jeter fell one vote short of a clean sweep.

Seaver pitched for the Mets from 1967 until 1977, when he was traded to Cincinnati after a public spat with chairman M. Donald Grant over Seaver’s desire for a new contract. It was a clash that inflamed baseball fans in New York.

He threw 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 off his list of 26 protected players, and in January 1984 he was claimed by the Chicago White Sox as free agent compensation for losing pitcher Dennis Lamp to Toronto.

While pitching for the White Sox, Seaver got his 300th win at Yankee Stadium.

Interleague

Toronto 2, Miami 1: Lourdes Gurriel homered and Hyun Jin Ryu pitched six solid innings to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a 2-1 win over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night.

After Miami’s Sixto Sanchez got through the first four innings on 43 pitches, Gurriel snapped the rookie right-hander’s 11-inning scoreless string with a two-run shot for a 2-0 lead in the fifth. Gurriel drove Sanchez’s 0-1 slider over the left-center wall for his fifth homer.

N.Y. Mets 9, Baltimore 4: Michael Conforto set the tone with a two-run homer in the first inning, and the New York Mets followed his lead to a much-needed victory.

Conforto went 4 for 5 with a homer and five RBIs, Pete Alonso hit a lengthy solo shot and the Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-4 to snap a five-game losing streak.

National League

Colorado 9, San Francisco 6: Garrett Hampson and Sam Hilliard homered and newcomer Kevin Pillar delivered a key triple as the Colorado Rockies bounced back from a battering, rallying to beat the San Francisco Giants 9-6.

A day after getting 27 hits in a 23-5 rout at Coors Field, and Alex Dickerson leading the way with three home runs and two doubles, the Giants again started fast. Mike Yastrzemski homered to help San Francisco score four times on six hits in the first inning.