A New York Post sportswriter once referred to Tom Seaver as “the last of the non-adulterous ballplayers.” A fascinating new book, “The Last Icon: Tom Seaver and His Times,” details how The Franchise was so respected that Mets teammates, notorious for playing around on the road, remained faithful to their wives out of homage to Seaver.
“I felt the 1969 Mets are the single most compelling sports story ever, and that Seaver’s public image at that time was as great as any athlete in history,” author Steven Travers wrote in an email. “Later he changed a bit and his image was not as shiny, but the ‘69 Mets were a very innocent story. Free agency, Watergate, steroids — the country lost its innocence after 1969, but in ‘69 the New York fans would run on the field in wide-eyed wonder, like the saved entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
“Many great New York athletes have followed Seaver, but they were often free-agent creations like Reggie Jackson, or tarnished by temptation like Lawrence Taylor. …Derek Jeter is an icon and a hero, but I cannot help but note that Seaver made less than $80,000 in 1969, and if you look at the record was vastly underpaid all through the late 1970s, if you compare him with Jackson, Dave Concepcion, Pete Rose and others.
“Jeter, like so many, is paid so much more than his worth to society that folks have a hard time truly relating to him. The first years of Seaver’s career, the public identified with him and his wife Nancy in a personal way that few, if any, athletes have been known for in the years since.”
Travers, a former minor-league picther with the Cardinals and A’s, adopted Seaver’s drop-and-drive delivery.
“Being a USC graduate I liked the fact that Seaver, a suburban white kid, became great friends with Trojan baseball and Heisman winner Mike Garrett, an inner city black man, at USC,” Travers wrote. “This was what that school was all about, excellence rising to the occasion. Baseball players never lifted weights but Garrett helped devise a weight program that Tom made use of to great benefit, and I believe you can trace this to the beginning of weight training in baseball. Ultimately this led to steroids but Seaver never did that stuff.”
Ojeda: Mets in Terry good hands
SNY Mets postgame ace Bob Ojeda said he believes the team is in good hands with manager Terry Collins.
“I would have loved playing for him,” Ojeda told the Rumble.
Collins, who signed a two-year contract, would welcome an extension. Ojeda contends that the men who play for Collins won’t be looking at him as a lame duck if he doesn’t get one.
“I would love to see anyone get all the money in the world they want,” Ojeda said. “I love that. But [players] really don’t care if he has a two-year deal or a 10-year deal. His credibility, his leadership skills are what they care about.” …
Mets David Wright and Jason Bay received special edition GameTime watches for being honored as Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks.
Cervasio doesn’t stay on sidelines for cancer fight
Tina Cervasio loves her work as the Knicks sideline reporter on MSG. An even bigger passion is her work with various cancer awareness organizations, especially because her husband Kevin McKearney was diagnosed with colon cancer. Tomorrow night she emcees the second annual Coaches vs. Cancer Dinner Benefit at the New York Athletic Club. St. John’s coach Steve Lavin (also a cancer survivor), Tom Pecora (Fordham) and Mike Rice (Rutgers), among others from the National Association of Basketball Coaches, will join CNN executive vice president and COO Greg D’Alba to benefit the life-saving work of the American Cancer Society and its Coaches vs. Cancer initiative.
Bed-Stuy swimmers get Torres tutelage
As part of her work as a Bengay brand ambassador, Olympic swimmer Dara Torres visited The Bed-Stuy YMCA on Wednesday to act as “coach for the day” to the Piranhas Swim Team, a developmental team for boys and girls ages 7-17.
Sharing tips and tricks for succeeding both in and out of the pool, Torres spoke about what it takes to be an Olympic athlete and the importance of never giving up on your dreams. She led the team’s practice, where she gave each swimmer personal pointers on how to perfect their dive and stroke. A donation to the Piranhas team was also be made on behalf of Bengay to help the team purchase new swimsuits and gear for the upcoming season.
Dennehy: Jeter resurgence no act
Earlier this month, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo had a surprise caller to his SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio show — Brian Dennehy. The award-winning actor and Yankees fan phoned in from Canada, where he’s working on a couple of theater productions, to talk baseball and taunt Mad Dog about the success of the Yankees and the resurgence of Derek Jeter in the second half of the season.
“This guy Derek Jeter, in April when I left New York, he was a bum and he was going to be out of the business in five minutes,” Dennehy said, teasingly. “What’s happened to him anyway?
“The only mistake [Jeter]’s made is he should have done the All-Star Game,” Dennehy added. “You know, I always suspected when he backed out of that, I wonder if he did it deliberately so whoever was second should have been up there. He’s made up for it since. … He’s a fantastic guy.
Legends on hand for paralysis benefit
Jerry Rice, Chris Mullin, Harry Carson, Don Shula, Ernie Els, Nancy Kerrigan, Clark Gillies, Andre Dawson and John Force will be honored at the 26th annual Great Sports Legends Dinner to benefit The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis at The Waldorf-Astoria tomorrow night. For tickets and more information, visit http://www.thebuonicontifund.com.
Oh baby! Girl’s got good genes
Baby girl Brooke Hansen Blaney (seven pounds, six ounces, 191/2 inches), born to Tara Blaney on Thursday in Manhattan, has just a little bit of basketball in her blood. Baby’s dad is assistant Providence hoops coach Brian Blaney. Her grandparents are Fordham athletic director and former Rams star Frank McLaughlin, his wife Susan, and Holy Cross icon George Blaney (now Jim Calhoun’s associate coach at UConn), and his wife Mary Ellen. Reports are that she “has very long legs,” so a court career just may be in the offing.