Rest in Peace, Pitcher Tom Seaver

On Monday, Major League Baseball lost a legendary former starting pitcher in Tom Seaver. 

He passed away at the age of 75 to Dementia and Lyme Disease. It is an extremely sad and devastating loss that spans across generations.

Seaver had a career that lasted 20 years from 1967 to 1986. 12 of those with the New York Mets, six with the Cincinnati Reds, three with the Chicago White Sox and one final season in Boston with the Red Sox before retiring at the age of 42.

On the hill, Seaver would use the “Drop and Drive” technique. This is where he would lean down and his back foot would firmly push on the rubber towards the batters’ box. It would allow pitches to be thrown with more velocity and was, in part, a big reason for such great success over the years.

Many would say Seaver is the Mets’ greatest player to ever play. That is a high honor amongst the many other stars in such a profound New York franchise.

The right-hander had a career WAR of 109.9, a win-loss record of 311-205 and an earned run average of 2.86. This in a total of 647 games started, 4,783 innings pitched and 3,640 strikeouts in an illustrious career.

Sadly, the realization comes that these athletes are human just like the rest of us. 

Unfortunately, father-time is undefeated even to Hall-of-Fame baseball stars.

Once again, rest in peace, Tom Seaver.