In a re-pack the other day I happened to get one of these 1991 Pacific Tom Seaver packs. I first of all loved that the pack still had a .69 cent price tag on it. Not only was it interesting to see the price tag was still on but I also thought the number was befitting of Seaver, especially for a Mets fan. I kind of like these retrospective or career sets and Pacific as done others (Nolan Ryan off the top of my head – funny he was a Met too).
Thoughts on Seaver
This isn’t fair to Tom probably, but I always got the impression he was a jerk. I really had nothing to base that on other than hearing stories and seeing interviews and things like that. As a Mets fan who grew up with them in the ’80s, I’m not tied to Seaver like maybe my Dad was. While I recognize Seaver is a Mets great and I think a baseball great overall, I just didn’t have that attachment to him because I never saw him in a Mets uniform in his prime. I just felt he was cocky too and that’s probably what made him a great pitcher too.
Somewhat recently I got the above picture and signature from my Aunt (she’s in the picture, but I doubt she wants to be part of my dumb blog). She kind of confirmed my thoughts about him with a story behind the picture. My Great Aunt always was in Florida for Spring Training (huge Pirates fan) and she would take my Aunt down with her. My Great Aunt basically shamed Seaver into this photo. My guess is they got it autographed in subsequent years. Nice to have a Seaver autograph for sure.
Regardless of what type of guys he was (or is), he was a great baseball player.
Taking It From The Top
Each card in the set has either a “headline” title, a statistic, or a quote on the front of the. The picture on the front then follows with a story on the back. In the case of these cards (10, 20, and 31) they represent is time as a Met (1967 – 1977). Card 10 is a quote from then Phillies manager Gene Mauch who said, “You can’t feel too badly wen Seaver beats you. He’ll be in a dozen All-Star games before he’s finished.” He wasn’t wrong.
Card #20 was about a specific 1971 performance, but I find card #31 the kind of thing I look for in a set like this. This was about Seaver playing in a “King and His Court” softball game at Dodger Stadium after a game between the Mets and Dodgers in 1976. While I think it’s awesome he participated in an alumni game, this type of thing would never happen these days. I actually saw a clip during a game the other day where a fan gave Seaver and another player calves at the stadium and Seaver picked it up and carried it. A player these days might pull a lat muscle and be done for the year after doing that.
Team Colors
Wile I’m not a super big fan of the design (it’s fine), I do like that the colors of the cards change based on what teams Seaver was on at the time the card represents. It’s kind of hard to tell that for the Mets and White Sox, but that is royal blue and orange for the Mets and darker blue and red for the White Sox. The Reds were represented by silver and red and the Red Sox were Red with a darker blue.
These three cards are #s 44, 52 and 62. #44 is Tom in Spring Training of 1982 with the Reds. The back as a picture, but it’s kind of just the next picture of him hitting the ball from the same scene. The other cards have stories on the back. Card #52 is about how the Mets left Seaver unprotected in the free agent compensation pool and the White Sox picked him up in January of 1984. Card #62 is from the White Sox celebration of Seaver’s 300th win before a game.
Stats On The Front
Some of the cards have stats on the front to represent what they are about. Card #76 shows an old picture of Tom as a Met and talks about him returning for an Oldtimer’s game in 1988 and then the Mets retiring is #41. The other cards (#93 and #95) above represent some of Tom’s accomplishments. I know Seaver played with the Red Sox, but I’m not sure why you would choose that to represent this stat regarding K’s/9 innings. Seaver averaged 6.85 (the card notes that Nolan Ryan is the all-time leader with a 9.57 average – I don’t know if that still stands).
Card #95 includes some National League records that Seaver holds plus some trivia. These are the PERFECT cards for trivia. There’s probably a missed opportunity to include trivia on each card. Maybe a little trivia that’s included on the other cards were you could read tem and learn more… yeah how many people do that right? (Well… besides probably most people who might read this blog.)
Quotables
The last cards are #s 99, 109 and 110. The last two have pictures on the back so not much there. Card #99 includes a quote from Seaver and notes that he didn’t make the varsity squad as a junior in high school.
Again, I love this set and I would love to see more of this type of thing for great players. I think these days you really see them as inserts like the Derek Jeter inserts in Topps 2018 flagship. But I also don’t think a set like this would be in packs like these were. They would probably be more like a set to open.