NFT: NFT: 40 years Ago Today

Calling out Dick Young of the Daily News for running Seaver out of town. As a Yankee fan, I couldn't believe that it actually happened.
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Dick Young was instrumental in forcing Seaver to ask to be traded. Once Dick Young brought Seaver's family into the argument, Tom decided it was time to go.

I felt horrible for Mets friends, he was Mr Met.

please read these articles and pay John Tavares on 7/1.

Thanks!

In comment 13500720 JonC said:

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I felt horrible for Mets friends, he was Mr Met.

As a Yankee fan I laughed my ass off.

with the Reds...

to even know who Tom Seaver was, but June 15th was also a day for good trades in Mets lore.

34 years ago today the Mets sent Neil Allen and Rick Ownby to the Cardinals for Keith Hernandez.

I remember being in the car with my Mom when I heard it on the radio. I almost cried.

Sometimes I look back and think I should've left the Mets then. But I was just a kid.

40 years later, the Yankees have won how many f*ing WS? While the Mets sign guys like Bobby Bonilla instead of Bonds, to save a few bucks, etc. etc.

Maybe Sandy will get us over the top, but the ownership/management has sucked for a majority of my life.

In comment 13500821 Dr. D said:

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I remember being in the car with my Mom when I heard it on the radio. I almost cried. Sometimes I look back and think I should've left the Mets then. But I was just a kid. 40 years later, the Yankees have won how many f*ing WS? While the Mets sign guys like Bobby Bonilla instead of Bonds, to save a few bucks, etc. etc. Maybe Sandy will get us over the top, but the ownership/management has sucked for a majority of my life.

The Mets made Bonilla the highest paid player in the league when they signed him in 1991 as a FA.

Bonds wasn't a free agent for another year. If you think the Mets signed Bonilla to a massive deal so they could avoid signing Bonds to a bigger one the next year, that's some serious dot connecting.

I was 13 and devastated. It was Seaver, Grote and Kingman for me. But Seaver at the top.

It still makes me irritated. Don't have a chance to read the article right now, but I remember Joel Fucking Youngblood and Doug Fucking Flynn. Maybe Pat Fucking Zachry?

Seaver went 14-3 for the Reds the rest of the way and was 21-6. So pissed!

Then in 83 they bring him back to finish his career, but WAIT! NO! Let's ship him to the south side of Chicago so he can win 33 games in 2-plus years (15 and 16 the first two!).

Bahhhhhh!!!!!

Bonilla was just a huge mistake. Huge.

But people forget that he was actually a really damned good player for the Pirates - finished second and third in the MVP voting his last two seasons in Pittsburgh. It wasn't a ridiculous signing at the time.

"The organization left the future Hall of Famer exposed to the free-agent compensation pool, thinking he wouldn't be taken due to his high salary and age. But he was grabbed by the Chicago White Sox, with whom he'd post his 300th career win in 1985 at Yankee Stadium."

is really misunderstood, the Mets will pay Bonilla for a long time, but financially it wasn't a bad deal at all, in fact it can be argued it was a good deal for the Mets and even for both parties since it also rid the Mets of Bonilla and they used that money (present value) elsewhere and won the NL pennant at least partly because of it.

In terms of bad Mets transactions, and there is no shortage, Bonilla doesn't make my list.

In comment 13500846 Beezer said:

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Then in 83 they bring him back to finish his career, but WAIT! NO! Let's ship him to the south side of Chicago so he can win 33 games in 2-plus years (15 and 16 the first two!).

They didn't ship him. There was a compensation system at the time where you could protect a certain number of players and the rest were exposed to be taken by another team in compensation for losing a player in free agency. The Mets elected not to protect Seaver, figuring no one would select a 39 year old pitcher with a big contract.

I became an ex-met fan.

:-)

And I think he still is. He was simply the best and those that are old enough are therefore lucky enough to have seen him pitch. I was at opening day at Shea in 1983 when the team brought him back. as he walked from the bullpen to the mound, "Welcome Back" was played for the long walk to the mound. Great moment that was ruined five months later when they left him unprotected.

I admit I might not remember the details. I wasn't living in the NY area at the time and it was before I had satellite TV, internet news, etc. I remember them being available around the same time and there were trade rumors before they hit free agency.

I do remember that I felt much more strongly about Bonds than Bonilla. Felt like Bonilla benefited from having Bonds behind him in the BO most of the time. Bonds didn't need Bonilla to be great. Bonilla OTOH...

Yes, the list of bad decisions is LONG and this isn't the top of the list. Trading Seaver is by far #1.

For old timers that can remember it NY really was a Met town from 1969-1973 because Seaver was one of the dominant pitchers in baseball.

Mr. Met given away for 4 nobodies.

Years later Yanks traded Ricky Henderson for nobodies under very different circumstances.

I guess I was at the time willing to wait a year for Bonds. The Mets weren't going anywhere in '92 with or without Bonilla. Bonds ended up getting quite a lot more the next year.

thinking they were the team of the future and Yankees the past. DOH!

In comment 13501039 Dr. D said:

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thinking they were the team of the future and Yankees the past. DOH!

LOL...timing is everything. I started following Yanks in 1968 just in time to watch Horace Clarke's entire career.