9-5-2020 Passed Ball Show. John spends this show talking about the great career of the legendary Tom Seaver, who passed away this past week. Seaver will always be synonymous with the New York Mets, as his nickname describes. John tells about how the Braves did not do anything wrong by signing him after he was taken with the 20th overall pick of the June 1966 MLB draft. The Mets had a chance to take him at 18, instead going with Dalllas, TX outfielder James Taylor, not to be confused with the singer. The Mets rode their gift (by winning a lottery of being among the three teams willing to match the Braves offer) to a World Series champion and another National League pennant before making the decision to trade him in 1977. Seaver had demanded to be traded, likely because of a story published by New York Daily News columnist Dick Young talking about Seaver’s wife Nancy. The Mets were later given another gift with the Reds, the team Seaver was traded to, falling on some hard times and who traded Seaver back to the Mets for the 1983 season. This should have been the signal for Seaver to finish his career with the Mets. But the Mets screwed it up. First, by leaving him unprotected in the free agent compensation draft to be selected by the Chicago White Sox because they lost Dennis Lamp to the Toronto Blue Jays. Second, by not opting out to signing type- A free agents that offseason. They did not sign a type- A free agent anyways, and they could have kept themselves from having to protect any players. Seaver winning his 300th game at Yankee Stadium not wearing a Mets Jersey was a travesty, one that could have been averted. Perhaps he could have been in the Mets dugout for the final out of the 1986 World Series and not wearing a Boston Red Sox uniform. He also asks why the Atlanta Braves were not allowed to be part of the Seaver lottery in 1966. Finally, John breaks down his top ten starting pitchers of all time and makes a case for why Seaver could be on the list.
