Tom Seaver, Hall of Fame Pitcher Dies at 75

NEW YORK -- Tom Seaver transformed a franchise and captivated a city, setting enduring standards as he whipped his powerful right arm overhead for the Miracle Mets and dirtied his right knee atop major league mounds for two decades.

A consummate pro and pitching icon, he said he was fulfilled after a career remembered with awe long after his final strikeout.

"It is the last beautiful flower in the perfect bouquet," Seaver said on the afternoon he was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame.

Seaver, the galvanizing force who steered the New York Mets from the National League cellar to a stunning World Series title in 1969, has died. He was 75. The Hall said Wednesday night that Seaver died Monday from complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19. Seaver spent his final years in Calistoga, California.

Seaver's family announced in March 2019 that he had been diagnosed with dementia and had retired from public life. He continued working at Seaver Vineyards, founded by the three-time NL Cy Young Award winner and his wife, Nancy, in 2002 on 116 acres at Diamond Mountain in the Calistoga region of Northern California.

Seaver was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992 when he appeared on 425 of 430 ballots for a then-record 98.84%.