Seaver honored at Alumni Association dinner
Cleveland's Sizemore gets Heart and Hustle Award
MLBPAA president Brooks Robinson presents Tom Seaver with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
(David Rosenbach)
MLB Alumni News
NEW YORK -- Tom Seaver, whose stoic sense of purpose defined his Hall of Fame pitching career, was consumed by emotion on Friday night in accepting the Alumni Achievement Award from the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association at the Legends for Youth Dinner at the New York Hilton Hotel.
Following a video display of the three-time Cy Young Award winner's career, Seaver said, "How beautiful that was. It led me to believe that it was not a destination but a journey. I was a young punk coming out of the University of Southern California trying to get a job doing something he loved to do, to achieve an art form. It became something that grabs your soul. It gives you life, with all your mental and physical energy."
That energy resulted in 311 victories, five 20-victory seasons, 3,640 strikeouts, 12 All-Star selections, a World Series championship with the 1969 Mets and a first-ballot entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992 with the largest plurality in the history of the voting.
"It reminded me of when I was in Cincinnati, and you'd get beer boxes full of fan mail," Seaver said. "I got one letter from a teacher that read, 'We have a little boy here, 7 years old, who will not talk. He won't talk to his parents, won't talk to his schoolmates, won't talk to his teachers, won't talk to anybody. There is nothing physically wrong with him, he just won't talk. So I signed a photo saying, 'Good luck to you. Tom Seaver.' I got a return letter from the same teacher: Dear Mr. Seaver, Thank you very much. I gave the picture to the boy in class, and he said, 'This is really a picture from Tom Seaver, isn't it?' And it's a compliment to all the players here how we can change things just on a personal, one-on-one basis. That is what this organization is all about. It does it through the players, and I'm damn proud to be one of them."
The Alumni Achievement Award was the final order of business at the ninth annual banquet to raise funds for the Alumni Association's Legends for Youth program that sponsors baseball clinics in nearly two dozen cities.
The Heart and Hustle Award to honor a player for grind-it-out determination was announced by Orestes Destrade and awarded to Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore. Al Leiter announced the Dick Schaap Memorial Player of the Year and National League Player of the Year Awards to Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, American League Player of the Year Award to Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton, AL Pitcher of the Year Award to Indians lefthander Cliff Lee and NL Pitcher of the Year Award to Diamondbacks righthander Brandon Webb. None of the recipients were present.
A highlight of the evening was a group of former players coming on stage and interviewing one another. Leiter asked former pitcher Jim "Mudcat" Grant, the first African-American 20-game winner in the AL, about his view of the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States.
"I thought back to that wonderful day in 1947 when Jackie Robinson came into the Major Leagues," Grant said, "and a few months later when Larry Doby, who was my roommate in the Minor Leagues, came up. You couldn't help but think that baseball a long time ago showed America that we could play together, live together, worship together and really showed the world how we could change."
Grant paid homage to Alumni Association president Brooks Robinson for the Hall of Fame third baseman's example of racial tolerance in the 1960s.
"He was from Little Rock, [Ark.], and we watched him all the time," Grant said. "Listen to me, Brooks Robinson is one of the best men you will ever meet. You could always talk to him. You could feel that this was a guy who was a fair man and didn't hold to the circumstances that happened back in those days. I want to say to Brooks, 'Thank you very much.'"
Other former players in attendance were MLBPAA board chairman Jim Hannan, Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, Craig Anderson, Darrel Chaney, Ed Charles, Sammy Drake, John Franco, Paul Hartzell, Terry Leach, Tim Leary, Jim Leyritz, Phil Linz, Jim McAndrew, Brian McRae, Bob Miller, Graig Nettles, Jim Poole, Dennis Rasmussen, Ron Robinson, Mike Torrez, Frank Tepedino, Mike Torrez, Fred Valentine and Jose Valdivielso.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
MLB Alumni News
Following a video display of the three-time Cy Young Award winner's career, Seaver said, "How beautiful that was. It led me to believe that it was not a destination but a journey. I was a young punk coming out of the University of Southern California trying to get a job doing something he loved to do, to achieve an art form. It became something that grabs your soul. It gives you life, with all your mental and physical energy."
That energy resulted in 311 victories, five 20-victory seasons, 3,640 strikeouts, 12 All-Star selections, a World Series championship with the 1969 Mets and a first-ballot entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992 with the largest plurality in the history of the voting.
"It reminded me of when I was in Cincinnati, and you'd get beer boxes full of fan mail," Seaver said. "I got one letter from a teacher that read, 'We have a little boy here, 7 years old, who will not talk. He won't talk to his parents, won't talk to his schoolmates, won't talk to his teachers, won't talk to anybody. There is nothing physically wrong with him, he just won't talk. So I signed a photo saying, 'Good luck to you. Tom Seaver.' I got a return letter from the same teacher: Dear Mr. Seaver, Thank you very much. I gave the picture to the boy in class, and he said, 'This is really a picture from Tom Seaver, isn't it?' And it's a compliment to all the players here how we can change things just on a personal, one-on-one basis. That is what this organization is all about. It does it through the players, and I'm damn proud to be one of them."
The Alumni Achievement Award was the final order of business at the ninth annual banquet to raise funds for the Alumni Association's Legends for Youth program that sponsors baseball clinics in nearly two dozen cities.
The Heart and Hustle Award to honor a player for grind-it-out determination was announced by Orestes Destrade and awarded to Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore. Al Leiter announced the Dick Schaap Memorial Player of the Year and National League Player of the Year Awards to Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, American League Player of the Year Award to Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton, AL Pitcher of the Year Award to Indians lefthander Cliff Lee and NL Pitcher of the Year Award to Diamondbacks righthander Brandon Webb. None of the recipients were present.
A highlight of the evening was a group of former players coming on stage and interviewing one another. Leiter asked former pitcher Jim "Mudcat" Grant, the first African-American 20-game winner in the AL, about his view of the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States.
"I thought back to that wonderful day in 1947 when Jackie Robinson came into the Major Leagues," Grant said, "and a few months later when Larry Doby, who was my roommate in the Minor Leagues, came up. You couldn't help but think that baseball a long time ago showed America that we could play together, live together, worship together and really showed the world how we could change."
Grant paid homage to Alumni Association president Brooks Robinson for the Hall of Fame third baseman's example of racial tolerance in the 1960s.
"He was from Little Rock, [Ark.], and we watched him all the time," Grant said. "Listen to me, Brooks Robinson is one of the best men you will ever meet. You could always talk to him. You could feel that this was a guy who was a fair man and didn't hold to the circumstances that happened back in those days. I want to say to Brooks, 'Thank you very much.'"
Other former players in attendance were MLBPAA board chairman Jim Hannan, Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, Craig Anderson, Darrel Chaney, Ed Charles, Sammy Drake, John Franco, Paul Hartzell, Terry Leach, Tim Leary, Jim Leyritz, Phil Linz, Jim McAndrew, Brian McRae, Bob Miller, Graig Nettles, Jim Poole, Dennis Rasmussen, Ron Robinson, Mike Torrez, Frank Tepedino, Mike Torrez, Fred Valentine and Jose Valdivielso. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.