Well done Sal. You captured the intense competitor that was Seaver. In a blog post I wrote about a year ago when Seaver left public life. I recalled this little story about Seaver I witnessed. Thought you night it find amusing

http://markkolier.com/2019/03/08/tom-seaver-my-boyhood-hero-isnt-gone-just-yet/

Seaver was an intense competitor and while not a man of many words to the press, always gave thoughtful if not straightforward answers.

He was also not known as a guy with a great sense of humor, at least not to the public, but his Met teammates have long described him otherwise.

However in the late 1980’s I was treated to one random special moment that displayed Seaver’s quick wit and humility. For some reason I tuned into a New York Yankee broadcast which had longtime announcer Phil Rizzuto working with a variety of people which included Tom Seaver.

While Seaver did pitch for the Yankees late in his career (this pained me deeply), having him on a Yankee broadcast made it worth watching at least a little bit.

Anyone that watched Phil Rizzuto over the years knew him to be a wacky and fun-loving broadcaster who sometimes forgot that he was actually live on the air.

Rizzuto and Seaver had a warm on-air relationship borne out of mutual respect and admiration. Neither were great broadcasters but both were memorable ones.

The moment in question started with a camera shot of a large bright full moon. Rizzuto says something like:

Rizzuto - ‘Hey Seaver, lookit that moon!’

Seaver – ‘no Scooter that’s not the moon’.

Rizzuto (puzzled) – ‘It's not?’

Seaver – ‘Nope. It’s a home run I gave up to Mike Schmidt five years ago finally coming back to Earth’ .

Rizzuto –Speechless. Then laughter.

My boyhood hero had demonstrated a humor and humility that I had never seen before and I loved him all the more for it.