New York Mets: Five great pitching performances in home opener through the years
1977: Tom is Terrific One More Time
Unfortunately this was the last opening day that Tom Seaver would pitch for the Mets for a while. In June, what is now known as the “Midnight Massacre”, Seaver was traded to the Reds for four players in a move that marked the beginning of the end of a bad era of Mets history. After this move the fan base turned negative and they had a tough time drawing 10,000 fans to Shea Stadium. But we aren’t quite there yet as we discuss this one.
This one took place on April 12, 1977 as Tom Seaver took the hill at Shea to face Eric Rasmussen and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets got the scoring going early with a first inning home run by left fielder John Milner. Seaver helped himself in the bottom of the second with a one out, two run single to make the score 3-0. A John Stearns home run in the bottom of the sixth gave the Mets an insurance run and a 4-0 lead.
The festivities on the pitching mound were handled by Seaver without any help. He got stronger as the game went along retiring the final nine batters he faced on his way to the complete game five hitter. Mr. Terrific didn’t walk a batter and struck out five. No Cardinals runner even made it to third base in the game. It was one heck of a performance.
Too bad it was his last for a while.