On April 20th, 1967,  Tom Seaver of the New York Mets recorded his first major-league victory with a 6-1 triumph over the Chicago Cubs. Seaver went 7 2/3 innings and gave up eight hits and one run.

Tom Seaver won a total of 311 games in his 20-year career. He won 3 Cy Young Awards and led the National League in Wins 3 different times. He was a first ballot Hall of Famer.

“Tom Terrific” played for four different teams but will always be thought of as a Met.

When I lived in Chicago, Seaver was pitching for the White Sox. I always made it a point to go a Sox game when he was pitching. It is not often, after all, that you get to see a living legend in person.

Though it was late in his career, Seaver actually had some pretty good seasons with the Sox in the early 1980s. The 1984 Sox were not a successful team but I did like them. Besides Seaver they had Floyd Bannister and LeMarr Hoyt as starters. In the field and behind the plate, they had: Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines, Ron Kittle, and Greg Luzinski. Two Hall of Famers and two guys that don’t get talked about enough these days.

Seaver ended his career in Boston in 1986 at the age of 41. He was one of the dominant pitchers of his time and a player I am glad I got to see play in person.

Here are some great quotes about Seaver:

“Blind people come to the park just to listen to him pitch.” – Reggie Jackson

“But Tom does everything well. He’s the kind of man you’d want your kids to grow up to be like. Tom’s a studious player, devoted to his profession, a loyal cat, trustworthy – everything a Boy Scout’s supposed to be. In fact, we call him ‘Boy Scout.’” – Cleon Jones

My idea of managing is giving the ball to Tom Seaver and sitting down and watching him work.” – Sparky Anderson