Remember yesterday when Steve D brought up this Seaver jersey that Tom never wore in a game (because the design changed)…well, some interesting things popped up in the comments section.
Stephen checked in:
Hello Officer,
I was the co-owner and editor of New York Sports when we launched that first issue in April 1983. We did a cover photo shoot with Seaver at Shea that January or February before the team went to spring training. A couple of side stories: The only reason we got Tom Terrific to smile the way he did was by his asking Jay Horwitz to stand next to the camera lens so Seaver could look at him and, as Tom said, “laugh his ass off.”
Also, in that issue we have a profile of Neil Allen in which he blasted Mets management and many players during a interview at his home while he was downing many beers. The fallout from that story is what spurred Frank Cashen to try to trade Allen and he found a taker in the Cardinals who were looking to unload Keith Hernandez. So I take at least a little credit for getting Hernandez to the Mets.
and Joe D. from Mets Merized Online tacked on…
The former owner and senior editior of New York Sports magazine is Stephen Hanks who is now the senior staff writer at Mets Merized Online and co-host of our upcoming Metsmerized Radio.
Here is an article from him that explains the backstory written in 2009.
http://metsmerizedonline.com/2009/12/a-winters-tale-the-keith-hernandez-trade-and-me.html
Ironically, he has a new Seaver post coming up this week from the Veterans Luncheon at Citi Field complete with pictures.
And I suggest the next thing you do is go read the Neil Allen stuff in that link. Wow it’s amazin’ and made me chuckle with this one from Neil, “Stearns may not be able to throw the whole year and that leaves Ron Hodges at catcher, a guy people think died because they confuse him with Gil Hodges”
As a kid, yep we would confuse Gil and Ron. I know that seems absurd now. Hilarious.
And this right here is why I love doing the blog…random old Seaver photo, an answer, some memories. I love when you guys have suggested topics and when you help with answers.
Most of all I like the randomness…sure I’ll have runs of uniforms or Seaver or Mazzilli but for the most part it’s a fun mix. Thanks for reading, and always open to ideas and guest posts at [email protected]
Stephen,
Great story…let’s check your memory…was Tom really wearing number 41 in that picture, or are his arms covering up 4-something? After all, there would be no reason to have a 41 in a 1982 style laying around from the previous year…and no reason to make one since new unis were coming for 1983.
So Cashen vehemently disliked guys like Neil Allen..that 1986 bunch likely drove him near insanity, thus likely explaining the McReynolds and Dykstra trades, and letting Strawberry go.
Also, funny to see Keith, our captain and clubhouse leader, called a cancer in the Cardinals clubhouse…will the real Keith please stand up.
Neil Allen will always have a special place in my heart.
Around 81 or 82 (I was 9 or 10 at the time), I was getting his autograph at a card show on a bat that had dozens of former & current (at the time) Mets autographs on it.
After signing the bat, he asks me & my dad if he could take the bat to Shea so he could get the rest of the team to sign it. Of course we agreed and he told us to come to Shea a day or two later to pick it up.
We went to Shea to pick it up and sure enough, all of the Mets had signed it.