If you think last Friday night’s disaster was the darkest day in Mets history, guess again. No doubt when Castillo dropped the pop up that ended the game in the Yankees favor; it had to mark one of the 10 worst Mets moments of all time. But perhaps the darkest of all days in the history of the Mets occurred on this date thirty two years ago.
On June 15, 1977, the Mets traded Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds for Pitcher Pat Zachery, infielder Doug Flynn, outfielder Dan Norman and outfield prospect Steve Henderson. If you were old enough to remember it, you would have to agree that day was far worse than Friday night's shocking loss.
Tom Seaver, whose number 41 is the only retired number of any Mets player, was known as The Franchise. A Hall of Fame pitcher who won three Cy Young awards, was the 1967 National League Rookie of the Year, won twenty or more games five times, a world champion, won over 300 games with over 3200 strike outs, and most importantly a fan favorite, was traded away over a contract dispute with the worst baseball executive of all time—M. Donald Grant.
At the time of the trade the Mets were 26-35 going nowhere. But Seaver was the only starter with a winning record. He was 7-3 having won the last game he pitched in a Mets uniform the previous Sunday in Houston. Seaver was still in the prime of his career, a career with the Mets that ended because of a disagreement between what Seaver felt he should be earning compared to other stars in baseball who had accomplished far less than he.
M. Donald Grant, who never saw a nickel he didn’t like, felt that Seaver had a contract and should abide by it. Many agreed with Grant including Daily News sports writer Dick Young who decided his pen would side with the Mets owner. Young wrote many articles on how ungrateful Seaver was and that he signed a deal and should stick to it. Much was written of Seaver’s unhappiness with the Mets who were unwilling to spend money in the new free agent era that had begun. And while Young may have had a point in regards to a contract being a contract, baseball fans did not have to look far to see how the face of baseball was changing in the 1970s.
Just across the river, George Steinbrenner started pouring money into players to bring them to the Bronx and in short time, built a championship team. In 1976, the Yankees won the AL Pennant but lost to the Reds in the World Series. Steinbrenner then went out and spent millions bringing in super star Reggie Jackson and others for the 1977 season. What did the Mets do prior to 1977 as far as free agency goes? They signed pitcher Ray Sadecki who they ended up releasing in early May. Grant and the Mets hierarchy did not believe in free agency and the results on the field proved it.
Toward the end leading up to the trade deadline, Dick Young wrote an article blaming Nancy Seaver, Tom’s wife, for orchestrating much of the problem. That was the last straw for Seaver. Tom demanded to be traded and much to the shock and dismay of Mets fans it happened. On the evening of June 15, 1977, the old trading deadline, a creeper message on my early cable TV system notified me that Seaver had been dealt. The disappointment and anger was much more severe than what happened last Friday night. Castillo’s dropped pop up lost a game for an injury riddled team still being competitive with a chance to win something this season. Seaver’s departure 32 years ago marked the beginning of a dark age for the Mets which did not turn around for seven years.
Everything we experience is all a matter of degree. While we agree this was a lost weekend for the Mets and Friday night’s loss was horrible, it could be so much worse. I’ll take the 2009 Mets currently at 32-29 and 4 games out, over the 26-35 Mets from 1977 going nowhere, who just traded away the greatest Mets player of all time. You have to ask yourself would you rather be watching a Mets team lose a terribly tough game in a season they can still win or a Mets team that has no shot at anything now or in the foreseeable future as was the case with the 1977 club. It really is a matter of perspective.
