Mets Player Retrospective - Tom Seaver 1967

Signed as an amateur free agent in 1966, Tom Seaver didn't waste much time making an impact on the National League. While he'd leave the game without getting a decision, the Mets won their second game of the season 3-2. He'd have to wait a week later to earn his first career victory, and on April 20, Seaver held the Cubs to a single run.

He'd finish the season with a 16-13 record which doesn't look impressive until you consider the team as a whole only won 61 games. In the 34 games that Seaver started, the Mets would go on to win 20 of those games, or nearly a third of their overall wins. It was all good enough to earn Seaver the Rookie of the Year award, despite an equally impressive season by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dick Hughes. And it was also good enough to earn him a spot on his first of twelve All Star teams. In the 1967 game, he pitched the fifteenth inning to earn a save for the National League in their 2-1 win.

His 16 wins were good for fifth in the league, and his 180 strikeouts put him in eighth place. Most impressive was his durability. He finished over half the games he started (18), a total exceeded only by Fergie Jenkins (20).

Here's a run down of the Tom Seavers's 1967 statistics, courtesy of Lee Sinins Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia.

Wins 16
Losses 13
Games 35
Games Started 34
Complete Games 18
Innings Pitched 251
Hits 224
Runs 85
Earned Runs 77
Walks 78
Strikeouts 170
ERA 2.76
Runs Saved Above Average 18
Shutouts 2
H/9 8.03
BR/9 11.01
SO/9 6.10
BB/9 2.80
SO/BB 2.18
Neutral Wins 17
Neutral Losses 12