Tom Seaver, baseball player, 1967-1986

Tom Seaver

⭐ Hall of Fame 1992

Born: 11/17/1944 in Fresno, CA, USA

Died: 8/31/2020 in Calistoga, CA, USA

MLB Debut: 1967-04-13 | Final Game: 1986-09-19

Bats: R | Throws: R | Height: 6'1" | Weight: 195 lbs

Full name: George Thomas Seaver

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Biography

Tom Seaver, born in 1944, was a legendary pitcher who made a profound impact on Major League Baseball from 1967 until his retirement in 1986. Known for his exceptional fastball and devastating changeup, Seaver was a cornerstone of the New York Mets' pitching staff during the franchise's early years. He finished his career with a remarkable record of 311-205 and an impressive earned run average (ERA) of 2.86. Seaver’s dominance on the mound was underscored by his 3,640 strikeouts, placing him among the all-time greats in baseball history. Seaver's accolades included four Cy Young Awards, earned during an era characterized by fierce competition and some of the best hitters in the game. He was also honored as the National League Rookie of the Year, marking the beginning of a storied career that would see him selected to the All-Star Game 12 times. His induction into the Hall of Fame in 1992 solidified his legacy as one of the sport’s all-time greats. Seaver's contributions not only transformed the Mets into a competitive force but also left an indelible mark on the game, inspiring future generations of pitchers.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
311 205 656 647 231 61 1 4782.7 3971 1521 380 1390 3640 2.86 0

Career ERA 2.86 vs. league average 3.70 across their career seasons — 22.7% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1967 NYN NL 16 13 35 34 18 2 0 251.0 224 77 78 170 2.76 3.30 (+16%) 943.0
1968 NYN NL 16 12 36 35 14 5 1 277.7 224 68 48 205 2.20 2.98 (+26%) 5622.6
1969 NYN NL 25 7 36 35 18 5 0 273.3 202 67 82 208 2.21 3.61 (+39%) 3665.9
1970 NYN NL 18 12 37 36 19 2 0 290.7 230 91 83 283 2.82 3.89 (+27%) 10454.9
1971 NYN NL 20 10 36 35 21 4 0 286.3 210 56 61 289 1.76 3.47 (+49%) 11657.8
1972 NYN NL 21 12 35 35 13 3 0 262.0 215 85 77 249 2.92 3.26 (+11%) 4732.7
1973 NYN NL 19 10 36 36 18 3 0 290.0 219 67 64 251 2.08 3.75 (+44%) 9041.7
1974 NYN NL 11 11 32 32 12 5 0 236.0 199 84 75 201 3.20 3.63 (+12%) 4419.4
1975 NYN NL 22 9 36 36 15 5 0 280.3 217 74 88 243 2.38 3.71 (+36%) 10100.4
1976 NYN NL 14 11 35 34 13 5 0 271.0 211 78 77 235 2.59 3.51 (+26%) 7493.5
1977 NYN NL 7 3 13 13 5 3 0 96.0 79 32 28 72 3.00 4.00 (+25%) 2294.6
1977 CIN NL 14 3 20 20 14 4 0 165.3 120 43 38 124 2.34 4.00 (+41%) 4818.5
1978 CIN NL 16 14 36 36 8 1 0 259.7 218 83 89 226 2.88 3.69 (+22%) 3507.5
1979 CIN NL 16 6 32 32 9 5 0 215.0 187 75 61 131 3.14 4.00 (+22%) 3759.7
1980 CIN NL 10 8 26 26 5 1 0 168.0 140 68 59 101 3.64 3.84 (+5%) -2766.8
1981 CIN NL 14 2 23 23 6 1 0 166.3 120 47 66 87 2.54 3.58 (+29%) 14.2
1982 CIN NL 5 13 21 21 0 0 0 111.3 136 68 44 62 5.50 3.86 (-42%) -1825.2
1983 NYN NL 9 14 34 34 5 2 0 231.0 201 91 86 135 3.55 3.87 (+8%) 631.2
1984 CHW AL 15 11 34 33 10 4 0 236.7 216 104 61 131 3.95 3.81 (-4%) -
1985 CHW AL 16 11 35 33 6 1 0 238.7 223 84 69 134 3.17 3.89 (+19%) -
1986 CHW AL 2 6 12 12 1 0 0 72.0 66 35 27 31 4.38 3.97 (-10%) -
1986 BOS AL 5 7 16 16 1 0 0 104.3 114 44 29 72 3.80 3.97 (+4%) 1847.7

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
677 1315 99 202 28 5 12 86 4 108 485 0.154 0.219 0.210 0.429 -7734.7

Career AVG .154 vs. league average .256 across their career seasons — 40.0% below league average.

Career OBP .219 vs. league average .322 across their career seasons — 31.8% below league average.

Career SLG .210 vs. league average .378 across their career seasons — 44.5% below league average.

Career OPS 0.429 vs. league average 0.700 across their career seasons — 38.7% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1967 NYN NL 36 77 5 11 2 0 0 5 2 8 24 0.143 .242 (-41%) .306 (-25%) .357 (-53%) .663 (-40%) -472.0
1968 NYN NL 38 95 5 15 2 0 0 3 0 3 44 0.158 .236 (-33%) .298 (-39%) .340 (-47%) .638 (-43%) -628.5
1969 NYN NL 39 91 7 11 3 0 0 6 1 7 34 0.121 .248 (-51%) .320 (-38%) .369 (-58%) .689 (-49%) -720.3
1970 NYN NL 42 95 9 17 1 1 1 10 0 10 31 0.179 .253 (-30%) .325 (-21%) .385 (-37%) .711 (-30%) -472.3
1971 NYN NL 39 92 8 18 3 0 1 7 0 6 31 0.196 .249 (-22%) .316 (-23%) .365 (-29%) .682 (-26%) -389.2
1972 NYN NL 36 89 5 13 3 1 3 4 0 5 41 0.146 .243 (-40%) .310 (-38%) .353 (-14%) .664 (-26%) -394.3
1973 NYN NL 39 93 9 15 2 1 1 5 1 7 34 0.161 .256 (-37%) .325 (-32%) .378 (-38%) .703 (-35%) -556.4
1974 NYN NL 32 71 3 7 0 0 0 4 0 9 28 0.099 .256 (-62%) .324 (-38%) .369 (-73%) .693 (-57%) -641.7
1975 NYN NL 37 95 7 17 1 0 0 5 0 8 24 0.179 .257 (-31%) .327 (-24%) .374 (-49%) .701 (-37%) -567.2
1976 NYN NL 35 82 5 7 0 0 0 3 0 9 26 0.085 .255 (-67%) .320 (-45%) .360 (-76%) .681 (-62%) -798.2
1977 NYN NL 13 31 1 5 0 0 0 4 0 2 12 0.161 — — — — 0.0
1977 CIN NL 20 55 10 12 1 0 3 5 0 2 21 0.218 .264 (-17%) .329 (-25%) .401 (avg) .730 (-12%) 0.0
1978 CIN NL 36 74 5 9 1 0 0 4 0 8 31 0.122 .257 (-53%) .323 (-36%) .378 (-64%) .702 (-51%) -613.8
1979 CIN NL 33 76 3 12 3 0 2 8 0 1 29 0.158 .265 (-41%) .329 (-49%) .397 (-30%) .727 (-39%) -519.0
1980 CIN NL 26 46 5 6 3 0 0 3 0 7 17 0.130 — — — — -282.9
1981 CIN NL 23 55 3 11 1 0 1 6 0 8 16 0.200 .255 (-22%) .320 (-7%) .368 (-26%) .688 (-17%) -138.3
1982 CIN NL 22 34 3 6 2 0 0 0 0 2 16 0.176 — — — — 0.0
1983 NYN NL 34 64 6 10 0 2 0 4 0 6 26 0.156 .260 (-40%) .324 (-31%) .389 (-44%) .714 (-38%) -421.3
1984 CHW AL 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1985 CHW AL 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1986 CHW AL 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1986 BOS AL 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
8 20 1 2 2 0 0 1 1 6 0.100

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1979 NLCS CIN 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
1973 NLCS NYN 2 6 1 2 2 0 0 1 1 1 0.333
1973 WS NYN 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000
1969 NLCS NYN 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
1969 WS NYN 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
3 3 8 8 0 61.7 51 19 16 51 2.77

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1979 NLCS CIN 0 0 1 1 0 8.0 5 2 2 5 2.25
1973 NLCS NYN 1 1 2 2 0 16.7 13 3 5 17 1.62
1973 WS NYN 0 1 2 2 0 15.0 13 4 3 18 2.40
1969 NLCS NYN 1 0 1 1 0 7.0 8 5 3 2 6.43
1969 WS NYN 1 1 2 2 0 15.0 12 5 3 9 3.00

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 656 647 328 692 42 54

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1967 NYN P 35 34 17 38 1 3
1968 NYN P 36 35 21 48 1 4
1969 NYN P 36 35 18 48 2 7
1970 NYN P 37 36 19 46 3 3
1971 NYN P 36 35 17 38 1 3
1972 NYN P 35 35 17 40 3 3
1973 NYN P 36 36 26 35 5 1
1974 NYN P 32 32 9 42 1 7
1975 NYN P 36 36 21 43 4 6
1976 NYN P 35 34 12 41 1 3
1977 NYN P 13 13 6 17 1 0
1977 CIN P 20 20 7 16 0 3
1978 CIN P 36 36 15 28 6 2
1979 CIN P 32 32 22 26 2 2
1980 CIN P 26 26 16 26 0 0
1981 CIN P 23 23 8 22 1 1
1982 CIN P 21 21 7 11 2 1
1983 NYN P 34 34 22 28 4 0
1984 CHA P 34 33 11 40 0 2
1985 CHA P 35 33 20 43 2 2
1986 CHA P 12 12 4 7 0 0
1986 BOS P 16 16 13 9 2 1

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 656

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
2017 Bob Feller Act of Valor Award - HOF Player
1985 Player of the Week Week of 1985-08-02
1981 Pitcher of the Month September
1981 TSN All-Star RHP
1979 Player of the Week Week of 1979-06-29
1978 Player of the Week Week of 1978-06-16
1977 Pitcher of the Month April
1977 Pitcher of the Month August
1977 Player of the Week Week of 1977-04-15
1975 Cy Young Award
1975 Pitcher of the Month June
1975 Player of the Week Week of 1975-09-05
1975 Player of the Week Week of 1975-06-13
1975 TSN All-Star RHP
1975 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1973 Cy Young Award
1973 Player of the Week Week of 1973-06-01
1973 TSN All-Star RHP
1969 Cy Young Award
1969 TSN All-Star RHP
1969 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1967 Rookie of the Year

Featured In Rankings

#8
Top 25 Starting Pitchers in History of MLB Baseball
Ranked 8 of 25
→

Salary History

Year Team League Salary
1986 CHA AL $1,132,652
1985 CHA AL $1,136,262
Total Career Earnings $2,268,914

College History

School Name City State Years Attended
Fresno City College Fresno CA 1964
University of Southern California Los Angeles CA 1965

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1981 Cy Young Award NL 2nd 67.0 120 8
1981 Most Valuable Player NL 10th 35.0 336 0
1979 Cy Young Award NL 4th 20.0 120 0
1979 Most Valuable Player NL 21th 9.0 336 0
1977 Cy Young Award NL 3rd 18.0 120 2
1977 Most Valuable Player NL 25th 1.0 336 0
1976 Cy Young Award NL 8th 1.0 120 0
1975 Cy Young Award NL 1st 98.0 120 15
1975 Most Valuable Player NL 9th 65.0 336 0
1973 Cy Young Award NL 1st 71.0 120 10
1973 Most Valuable Player NL 8th 57.0 336 0
1972 Cy Young Award NL 5th 6.0 120 0
1972 Most Valuable Player NL 25th 2.0 336 0
1971 Cy Young Award NL 2nd 61.0 120 6
1971 Most Valuable Player NL 9th 46.0 336 0
1970 Cy Young Award NL 7th 4.0 120 0
1970 Most Valuable Player NL 29th 2.0 336 0
1969 Cy Young Award NL 1st 23.0 24 23
1969 Most Valuable Player NL 2nd 243.0 336 11
1967 Most Valuable Player NL 22th 5.0 280 0
1967 Rookie of the Year NL 1st 11.0 20 11