On a breezy, sun-drenched, mid-April morning at the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and the corridor formally known as 126th Street on Friday — 41 Seaver Way, to be exact — the New York Mets righted a long overdue wrong with the unveiling of William Behrends’ breathtaking bronze dedication to inner-inner-circle Hall of Famer and the Mets legend, Tom Seaver.
Long overdue is probably an understatement. As would be bittersweet. Seaver not being able to enjoy this day himself stings. Thankfully, the Seaver family — and, by extension, the Mets family — celebrated Tom in the only fashion they (and we) know how: pridefully and vociferously.
Hearing Tom’s wife Nancy and his daughters, Sarah and Anne, address the denizens in attendance as if they were all part of the Seaver family lifted hearts, tightening the seam between fan and team to impenetrable levels.
“Hello, Tom,” the matriarch of the Seaver family said, speaking in the direction of the statue, but, at heart, directly to her late husband. “It’s so nice to have you here where you belong.”
The ceremony is on the SNY app. Good luck holding back tears.
Anyone with orange-and-blue rooting interests had been clamoring for years for the opportunity to shower praise and thanks on the man who — not single-handedly, but pretty darn close — carried this franchise to glory from its at-times laughable infancy.
This was a chance for the Mets to not only honor the greatest player to ever wear their uniform but to present younger generations of Mets fans with soaring tales of Seaver’s unprecedented peaks on that old Shea Stadium pitching mound from their elder brethren in fandom.
The first time I ever saw my father cry was at Tom Seaver Night at Shea following his Hall of Fame election in 1992. This is the level of emotional attachment that generation of fans has for this team and that man.
True sports heroes are tough to come by. Good on the Mets for finally honoring theirs properly.
Image credit: Chris Simon
On the field, the Mets honored Seaver — as well as Jackie Robinson, who made his MLB debut as the first Black man to play in the modern major leagues 75 years ago Friday — with a 10-3 thrashing of the Diamondbacks in their home opener at Citi Field.
Chris Bassitt went six extremely strong innings, allowing one run on two hits with six punch-outs and two walks. Bassitt (0.75 ERA) and Mets starter Tylor Megill (0.00 ERA) are now alone atop the early-season MLB ERA leaderboards. Nice start.
Another note on Bassitt: This guy is dripping with versatility.
Looking at his first outing of the season, the 33-year-old relied heavily on his four-seam and slider (54 percent of his offerings, combined). On Friday, Bassitt turned his repertoire on its end, letting his cutter and sinker lead the way (35% and 24%, respectively).
After throwing his slider 23 times on April 9, Bassitt and James McCann called on it just six times on Friday. Keep ‘em on their toes. We love that.
The Mets’ offense is still cooking, leading the majors in fWAR (2.5) and ranking near the top of the list in OPS (.810, third) and wRC+ (138, second).
Francisco Lindor hit a homer from each side of the plate in Friday’s win. His 0.7 fWAR is tied for fourth in MLB with Vladimir Guererro Jr., Manny Machado, and the Guardians’ Owen Miller. Big year coming, we think.
Starling Marte went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer. Robinson Canó added a solo shot of his own. Canó — noted namesake of Jackie Robinson — is now 16-for-54 (.296) with four homers and three doubles in his career on April 15.
The energy around this group — even in the face of Brandon Nimmo and Mark Canha hitting the COVID-19 injured list on Friday — is elite. Early momentum has been achieved.
All Terrific things. Let’s keep this [ball] rolling.
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