It's not hard to lose 120 games when you're an expansion team in 1962 and two, brought back old-timers who used to play in NY. As bad as the 62 Mets were, they go down as one of the most memorable and beloved teams in NY history because they gave back to the city and its NL fans what those fans believe was stolen from them. The 62 Mets, as non-sensical as it sounds, are iconic because they returned NL baseball back to a city where if you dug up the concrete of NYC - all you're going to find is NL baseball.
Honestly, Gibson gets a lot of mirage on that '68 season plus his World Series record but Seaver had the better career with the exception of Gibson 1967-70.
@Lordeverfall100 No. Johnson was clearly better than Ryan, and I'd give Seaver the edge over Johnson. Nolan Ryan, despite those 7 no-hitters and all those strikeouts, was overrated in comparison to the all-time greats. He's not in my top 25. Ryan was marginally better than the teams he played on: he had a winning % of 52.6% on teams with a winning % of 50.4%. Ryan lost (292) as many as he won (324). How does that stat compare with either Seaver or Johnson? Both Seaver and Johnson were greater pitchers.
Koufax at his very best (1962-1966) gets the edge over Seaver at his very best. Tom had a more consistent and longer career, start to finish, than Koufax. Seaver gets the edge over Gibson because of the numbers.
@@ronnywestbrooks3794 dan clearly does not have the facts correct. he is talking about a great pitcher and man who passed away, he should at least do proper research. Not all that hard to do these days.
I was 10 when Tom got traded to Cincinnati. Being a huge Reds fan at the time, it was like a dream come true. He had some great years in Cincy but the Big Red Machine was past their prime from '77-'82.
Tom Seaver was TRULY "The Franchise" of the Mets. The Mets of course had other great pitchers with them including Jerry Koozman, and Nolan Ryan is an original Met Hall of Famer that to the Mets chagrin they gave up on in favor of the elusive third baseman that they desired in the person of Jim Fregosi, and in 1985 original Met Dwight Gooden was actually better than Seaver or Ryan EVER were, but he sadly faltered thereafter and didn't play the Hall of Fame career expected of him. But Tom Seaver is to the the Mets' organization what Babe Ruth is to the Yankees', but even more so because unlike the Yankees, the Mets didn't cultivate the same breed and number of superstars that the Yankees did e.g. Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle nor enjoyed great dynastic eras in their history. Tom Seaver will always be remembered as the man who introduced youth, vigor, competence, hope and victory to the Mets' organization. It was a disgusting travesty that Mets' owner M. Donald Grant let Tom get away. The only 2 people in the City of New York who were indifferent re: Tom's departure from the Mets were Grant and NY Daily News sportswriter Dick Young. How sad that 2 bad but powerful men caused that to happen. The crux of Tom's departure from the Mets was his insistence re: a contract renegotiation that Grant (a blueblooded white capitalist who had a plantation owner mentality re: the Mets' ownership and who never accepted free agency when it came into vogue and was instead a proponent of the age-old reserve clause and forced indentured servitude imposed upon major league baseball players) wanted no part of and thus the Mets were doomed to mediocrity in the late 1970's so for Tom's sake it was best that he leave because he would have never achieved 300 career wins if he'd stayed with the Mets through that period. Once Tom left, the Mets were hopeless and not worth rooting for anymore until 1983 with Tom's return and the introduction of Darryl Strawberry and in 1984 Dwight Gooden. It takes only 2 bad men to ruin a great thing for everyone else concerned including the legion of loyal Mets fans and neither man will ever be forgiven or for that matter remembered. Thank you.
