Tom Seaver, 'The Franchise,' dead at 75

Tom Seaver, the greatest New York Met in history, has died.

UPDATE: See a new version of this story featuring interviews with several of Tom Seaver's teammates here.

Tom Seaver, the baseball Hall of Famer considered the greatest New York Met in team history, died Monday at age 75 according to a press release issued by Cooperstown.

The Hall of Fame reported that Seaver died from complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19.

“We are heartbroken to share that our beloved husband and father has passed away,” said his wife Nancy Seaver and daughters Sarah and Anne, in the press release from the Hall of Fame. “We send our love out to his fans, as we mourn his loss with you.”

The press release ran a list of Seaver’s career achievements, including 311 career wins, a 2.86 earned-run average and 3,640  strikeouts over a 20-year major league career that spanned from 1967-1986, earning 12 All-Star selections. He led the National League in wins three times, ERA three times and strikeouts five times. Seaver, known as “The Franchise,” was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992 when he was named on 98.8 percent of ballots cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, the highest voting percentage ever received at the time.

“We are devastated to learn of the passing of Mets legend and Baseball Hall of Famer Tom Seaver,” Mets owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon said in a statement sent out on Twitter.

“Tom was nicknamed ‘The Franchise’ and ‘Tom Terrific’ because of how valuable he truly was to our organization and our loyal fans, as his #41 was the first player number retired by the organization in 1988. He was simply the greatest Mets player of all-time, and among the best to ever play the game ... Beyond the multitude of awards, records, accolades, World Series championship, All-Star appearances, and just overall brilliance, we will always remember Tom for his passion and devotion to his family, the game of baseball and his vineyard.”

UPDATE

This story has been updated to include a statement from Mets owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon.