The Case for Tom Seaver As the Most Terrific Right-Handed Pitcher Ever

The Iconic New York Mets Hurler Known As “Tom Terrific” Died on August 31 at 75, but His Legacy As One of the Greatest Pitchers In Baseball History Will Live Forever

Until the breaking news alert flashed on my cell phone in the early evening of Wednesday, September 2, 2020, I hadn’t cried over Tom Seaver for 43 years. That time was also on a Wednesday — June 15, 1977 to be exact — when the New York Mets inexplicably and unconscionably traded my ultimate idol and the best pitcher in baseball to the Cincinnati Reds. It was aptly called the “Midnight Massacre,” and it was a dagger through my 21-year-old heart. Perhaps at that age, I should have handled the news in a more mature fashion, but I wasn’t ashamed over being distraught and almost inconsolable for days. This was TOM SEAVER we were talking about — THE FRANCHISE — and frankly, I’m about to turn 65 and I still haven’t completely gotten over it.

While I shed many quiet tears watching the TV tributes and reading the newspaper retrospectives in the wake of Seaver’s passing, this tragic news was much less of a shock than the ’77 trade. I knew my hero had been diagnosed with Lyme Disease in 1991, a condition that re-occurred in 2012 and led to…