A newspaper columnist libeled them, but they got the last laugh.
by Rich Watson
Tom Seaver was the lynchpin of the astonishingly successful 1969 Mets, an expansion team that went from cellar-dwelling losers to World Series champions in seven years. The Mets won a second National League pennant in 1973. Seaver and his wife Nancy were the toast of New York.
In 1977, contract renegotiations between Seaver and the Mets broke down. A newspaper column by a firebrand sportswriter made matters worse by implicating Nancy as a factor in the breakdown.
The next day Seaver had been traded.
I watched Seaver on television during his great years. Thoughts of the Big Red Machine still makes me shake my head in that unbelieving way.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't matter that he was past his prime when he played the Jays at The Ex; he was already a legend.
I happened to see the game when he won his 300th against the Yanks here in New York. I knew he had to have been someone important because the hometown crowd rooted for him to win. The more I read about him the more impressed I was.
ReplyDeleteI like looking at old covers of magazines! CLASSIC TV FAN
ReplyDeleteThat PEOPLE cover was a fortuitous find. It was exactly the kind of image I was looking for.
ReplyDelete