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Author’s Flashback — Confessions of a Hero Worshipper: Tom Seaver & Me
By Stephen Hanks
Published on May 11, 1978 in the Herbert H. Lehman College (CUNY) Student Newspaper MERIDIAN • One Week Before Graduation Day
On Thursday evening, September 13, 1977, my idol won his 200th career game. It was against the Los Angeles Dodgers and, of course, from that information you easily arrive at the conclusion that my idol is a major league baseball pitcher. Well, not just ANY major league baseball pitcher, but a great one. In my mind, the best that ever stepped on a pitching mound.
My hero is Tom Seaver.
On that beautiful night in Los Angeles, as Tom Seaver was pitching for the Cincinnati Reds and reaching a glorious milestone in his career, I was 3,000 miles away in the Bronx, pleading with the radio in my stereo receiver to make a more concerted effort at pulling in the monumental broadcast from Cincinnati.
Inning after inning went by with the Reds clinging to a 3–2 lead, when finally, with all five nails on my right hand being bitten off simultaneously, the great moment came — the Dodgers’ Davey Lopes bouncing meekly back to the box and Seaver racing to first base for the final out. With my heart pounding furiously as it always does when I can’t actually SEE the game, I punched my fist down on my bed…
