OT: RIP Tom Seaver
- Thread starter Zak57
- Start date
@zappaa and I have talked about this in the past.
I couldn't remember if it was Rube Walker or Joe Pignatano who taught them that.
The problem was that the reds came in a close number 2 in both halves of the season and did not make the 1st half winner vs 2nd half winner playoff.
So a playoffs pitcher got the nod.
I'll give it to him.. he was a great one.
Definitely Rube, but far more shear natural ability and a gift from God.
Rube used to get his balls busted for having the entire Met organization trying to emulate Ryan and Seaver, since basically no one can do it, he ended up with a minor league system filled with hurt arms.
I often wondered why we never saw any other pitchers come up or even to this day use his leg drive. Even watching a guy like Cole or deGrom, they are basically standing up on release, Tome was dragging his knee in the dirt.
My ex wife gave me a mint condition Topps Seaver 1969 card, case sealed. Was my pride and joy.
Somehow- when we divorced and I grabbed my stuff, including a bin full of cards and a few that were also in cases, that one happened to be missing. hmmmmmmmm
My favorite Seaver story was from a book I read about 70's baseball. The Mets were playing the Cards and Seaver was pitching against Gibson. Gibson being Gibson, he was throwing inside on the Mets. Gibson comes up and Seaver nearly drills him. Gibson gives him that stare and Seaver shouts I can do this all day and I'm younger and my arm is better. Gibson smiled and no more pitches came inside from him the rest of the game.
Something also tells me that these guys like Seaver, Gibson, etc that were hitting about 95 with there fastball would have been clocked more around 98 with todays guns and maybe hitting 100 at times if they knew they only had to go 6 innings every 5 days...Couldn't imagine what JR, Randy and Ryan would have been throwing today
A lot of the pitchers today would never be able to think about doing what pitchers did 20 years ago. Their mothers probably tie their cleats in the club house before they take the field.
My dad was young enough to warm up both Seaver and Ryan when he went over to the Mets.
He always said both of them threw no harder than Ryan Duran, Allie Reynolds or Vic Rachi.
You can bet your ass, Gibson, Bunning, Big Bob Veale, Koufax, Drysdale, Seaver etc.... would all be throwing high 90s on today’s gun, Nolan well over 100
Imagine their strikeout numbers with today's batters lol These guys were striking out 250+ when it was rare to have 1 or 2 guys on a team K over 100 times.
RIP Tom terrific, my Boyhood Idol, I watched nearly every televised Mets game he pitched. he was a class act to Mets fans.
My buddy texted me that we won 8 consecutive complete games.
COMPLETE GAMES..
We won't see that for a while the way the game is played today....
My buddy texted me that we won 8 consecutive complete games.
COMPLETE GAMES..
We won't see that for a while the way the game is played today....
The Mets won the pennant on 9-24-69
They had 5 meaningless games remaining before the LCS against the Atlanta Braves.
Both Koosman and Seaver pitched 9 inning complete game shutouts within those 5 games...without even the thought of manager Gil Hodges limiting their pitch count, or skipping their turn to prepare for the playoffs
They had 5 meaningless games remaining before the LCS against the Atlanta Braves.
Both Koosman and Seaver pitched 9 inning complete game shutouts within those 5 games...without even the thought of manager Gil Hodges limiting their pitch count, or skipping their turn to prepare for the playoffs
Last edited:
That’s pretty amazing. If a manager did that today he would get fired. I still have my 1970 Gil Hodges card
Padding their stats, LOL
It's amazing how vastly different the mentality is two generations later. If that was the Nationals and Strasburg of current day, he would be under quarantine for those last 5 games!
An interesting stat is that Seaver's 231 career complete games ties him with another for only 100th place in MLB history. Of course, many on that list are from the dead ball era. But I think he's either just in or close to top 10 in that category for post-dead ball era. Other contemporaries with more complete games are Jenkins, Gibson, Carlton, Neikro, Marichal, and Blyleven, while Ryan and Palmer just behind him.
“Yes, Rube Walker, Gil Hodges, and the New York Mets put Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Nolan Ryan on pitch counts.
Seaver's limit was 135 pitches, Koosman's was 145 pitches, and Ryan's was 150.”
I remember once hearing Seaver say that all the pitchers on the staff had a pitch count but everybody’s was different. And it was his job to throw a complete game while keeping under the count. A different world today.
Edit: the link to the article won’t post.
Seaver's limit was 135 pitches, Koosman's was 145 pitches, and Ryan's was 150.”
I remember once hearing Seaver say that all the pitchers on the staff had a pitch count but everybody’s was different. And it was his job to throw a complete game while keeping under the count. A different world today.
Edit: the link to the article won’t post.
In 1969,he pitched the ninth inning nineteen times and did not allow a run or an extra base hit,only the second-and last-time this has been ever been done by a starting pitcher.The Tigers' Virgil Trucks had done it in 1949 while winning 19.
That year,he went 12-5 when the Mets scored three runs or fewer,the best ever mark.
That year,he went 12-5 when the Mets scored three runs or fewer,the best ever mark.
I assume by JR you mean JR Richard? I was in Houston for the 77, 78 and 79 MLB seasons, he was one of the most dominant pitchers I've ever seen when he was on. His biggest problem was control.
Certain players don't need full name recognition...lol
And yeah - Imagine those guys(none of them had good control) if they only knew they were pitching 7 innings every 5 days...Hell, I would love to see even Doc pitching to his 84-86 form with the same knowledge that it would only be 6-7 innings ever 5 days. Especially since he would not only be hitting 100 on the black but have that curve that would start at a batters head and hit the outside bottom corner of the zone.
Imagine how long JR would have pitched with today's focus on the health of the players? They would have done the tests and found the problems before he had those strokes, and he probably could have pitched another 8-10 years.
Part of Seaver's genius was his ability to pitch to the hitters weakness and conserve his arm. He always had something left in his arm for late in the game because he was not max effort every pitch. DeGrom seems to share some of this philosophy and will need to embrace it further as he gets older and loses a lottle bit on the fastball. Noah has never seemed to realize this.
Always felt it was the LA press pushing harder for Valenzuela and his story. Seaver was Seaver in flyover country then. I'll never accept it.
And Carlton has to do it all while warding off attacks by the Elders of Zion, low frequency sound waves designed to control him, Jewish bankers, and the other nuttiness he talked about when he started talking to the press.
True, but let’s not forget he had a mid-90s fastball with movement and a slider he could throw with pin point control behind in the count at the knees on the black.
All things you can’t teach and he didn’t think about it.
It’s easy to be cerebral when you have superior stuff with control.
Now when Jim McAndrew shut you out with the slop he threw up there...that’s doing something. Lol
