On the Death of Tom Seaver

 AN EDITED VERSION OF THIS POST NOW APPEARS ONLINE IN LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, AND IS SCHEDULED TO APPEAR IN THE PRINT VERSION TOMORROW

As a life long Yankee fan, I believed he spent the first decade of his career with the wrong New York team, but even I had to respect Tom Seaver's greatness.

The magic was in that thick lower torso which generated such enormous power, and the stride that seemed to carry him half way to the plate before the ball was released from his hand.

And even though he left New York in 1977 and would spend most of the balance of his baseball life in other uniforms, Tom Seaver will forever be a Met. His legacy secured in 1969 when a team that had floundered before his arrival in one sudden burst miraculously became the best there was.

Our sports heroes never grow old in our minds and a half century later Tom Seaver's luminous talent remains a vivid image for those privileged to have witnessed his long shining star.

Tom was indeed terrific.