The Last Icon by Steven Travers

Author:Steven Travers [Travers, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
Published: 2011-06-12T16:00:00+00:00

10

The Franchise: 1973

Seaver spent another off-season studying in his quest for a degree from the University of Southern California. The Trojans were in the middle of a remarkable run of College World Series championships, winning five straight between 1970 and 1974. Rod Dedeaux’s team included such stalwarts as Fred Lynn and a football-baseball star named Anthony Davis.

When Spring Training began in 1973, labor strife again reared its ugly head. Locked out of camp, Seaver organized a quasi–Spring Training, taking on unofficial “managerial” duties that included supervising the workout routines of Mets pitchers and “ordering” Buddy Harrelson to get a haircut. For 10 days players went through the paces in what came to be called “Seaver’s underground camp.”

“One of the most organized camps I’ve ever seen was Seaver’s Underground,” wrote the New York Post’s venerable sports columnist Dick Young, a veteran of some 30 Spring Trainings. “He ran it with precision and efficiency. No doubt if he chooses, Tom Terrific will be a manager of the future.”

When the dispute ended, Seaver’s Guerrillas were in top shape. Seaver kept detailed charts of their conditioning progress, handing them to the coaches. Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack were both in the camp. Each was highly influenced by Seaver, on and off the field.

“Tom Seaver was . . . a friend,” Koosman said. “He’s younger than me. We came up to the big leagues the first year in ’67, and we made a little pact between us that our goal was to win 20 games each year and get five years in the big leagues so we could qualify for the pension plan. He was a college graduate, well-spoken, well-read, a man who handled himself well with the press.”

“I learned an awful lot from having my locker stuck between Koosman and Seaver,” said Matlack. “It was a very, very good location to be in. For the first two, three years Tom, Jerry, and I had a competition among ourselves as to who would get the most hits during the course of the season. The losers bought dinner for the winner. There was some friendly competition plus a whole lot of help for me early on from those guys.”

Relieved of the responsibility of the camp, Tom settled down with general manager Bob Scheffing for contract negotiations. Steve Carlton and Bob Gibson were both being paid $160,000. Seaver felt he was worth as much as either of them.

Scheffing offered two years at $150,000 each, a $30,000 raise, but Seaver wanted more. He agreed to a one-year deal at $140,000 with the proviso that if he came through with a “normal Tom Seaver year” in 1973, he would get a raise that might go as high as $200,000 for 1974. Aaron was the only $200,000-a-year player. That was the figure Seaver talked about after the 1969 season, the nice round number he made as his goal. Seaver saw salary as a validation of his worth and place in the baseball hierarchy. To be paid more than Gibson, Carlton, even Aaron, meant he was better than they were.

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