Seaver, Back in New York, Claims His 300th Victory

In the city where he began a career that will certainly end in the Hall of Fame, Tom Seaver Sunday became the 17th pitcher in major-league history to win 300 games.

“It’s a huge day for me,” said the 40-year-old right-hander who fired a six-hitter to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 4-1 victory over the New York Yankees. “That’s the happiest I’ve been after a game in a long time.”

Seaver, who broke into the majors with the Mets in 1967, struck out six and walked one, improving his season record to 12-8. He has 189 career losses.

“I got a little tired and had to have a couple of guys kick me in the rear end to get me going,” said Seaver, who recorded his fifth complete game of the season and 231st of his career. “I was nervous before the game and it didn’t go away, but for the most part, I executed.”

Oscar Gamble, a former Yankee, singled home the winning run in the sixth, when the White Sox rallied to take a 4-1 lead. Chicago supported Seaver with a 13-hit attack.

Starter Joe Cowley (9-5) allowed two runs on seven hits in 5 innings. Characteristic of his recent seasons, Seaver was effective but not overpowering. No longer able to simply challenge hitters with a dominating fastball, he retired them with guile and control, mixing sliders, sinkers and slow curves with well-located fastballs.

“I was off the ground nervous,” he said. “Sometimes the ball felt like a shot put, and sometimes it felt like a feather.”

He worked out of jams in the fourth, eighth and ninth, and retired 10 straight Yankees in the fourth through seventh innings.

“Sure you have to admire Seaver,” said Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who presented the White Sox star with a silver bowl commemorating the event. “But you don’t have to be the team he beats for 300. I wish the players hated to lose as much as Billy (Martin) and I. A couple of our performances left something to be desired.”

Chicago pitching coach Dave Duncan, acting manager for Tony LaRussa who was ejected in the sixth, visited the mound in the eighth and ninth.

“This is the one you’ve been waiting for,” was all Duncan needed to say.

Said catcher Carlton Fisk: “I was very aware in the seventh and eighth he was throwing some great pitches. But at the same time, there was the combination of him having thrown 130-some pitches, and the game being on the line. He was a little tired, but he didn’t want to come out of there.

“He’s been throwing a lot of pitches his last three starts, but that’s because he loves to work the hitters--and isn’t that the art of pitching?”

In the eighth, the Yankees put runners at first and third with two out on Ken Griffey’s fielder’s choice and Don Mattingly’s single to right. With the capacity crowd cheering wildly, Seaver struck out Dave Winfield on a 3-2 breaking ball to end the threat.

The White Sox took a 4-1 lead in the sixth on an RBI double by Tim Hulett, a run-scoring single by Ozzie Guillen and Bryan Little’s two-run single.

The Yankees went ahead 1-0 lead in the third. Pagliarulo led off with a single and went to second on a fielder’s choice. With two out, Ken Griffey singled to right, and Pagliarulo scored, sliding under catcher Carlton Fisk’s tag at the plate.

The 300-victory milestone, attained in his first attempt, is the crowning achievement of a fabulous career for Seaver. “Tom Terrific,” as he was known to Mets fans, took the mound in the first inning amid an ovation from the capacity Yankee Stadium crowd of 54,032.

Seaver’s milestone coincided with California’s Rod Carew becoming the 16th player to ever collect 3,000 hits earlier in the day. Both marks were recorded in the shadow of Tuesday’s strike deadline.

With Seaver’s family and baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth in attendance, Dan Pasqua led off the ninth with a line single. Seaver struck out Ron Hassey for the first out and right fielder Harold Baines made a leaping catch to haul in Willie Randolph’s line drive to the wall. With the crowd on its feet, chanting “Seaver, Seaver, Seaver,” the veteran right-hander walked Mike Pagliarulo on four pitches to put runners on first and second. However, he retired Don Baylor on a fly to left for the final out then was mobbed by his teammates.

He embraced his wife and children near the railing by the third base dugout as the crowd cheered wildly. In 18 major league seasons, he has won three Cy Young Awards (1969, 1973, 1975), pitched a no-hitter, captured three National League ERA and strikeout titles, and ranks fourth on the all-time ERA list, behind Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Whitey Ford. His 3,499 strikeouts is the fifth highest total in history, and he ranks eighth in career shutouts.

The first pitcher to win 300 games was Pud Galvin with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1888 and the last was Steve Carlton with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1983. Of the 16 previous 300-game winners, five accomplished the feat before the modern era. Only five have reached the milestone in the last 40 years, two in the last two--Carlton and Gaylord Perry with the Seattle Mariners.

It was coincidence that Seaver should attain his 300th victory at New York in the American League. The majority of his career highlights came with the Mets, a team that twice allowed him to leave their organization.

In 1977, the Mets outraged New York fans and brought Seaver to tears by trading him after 10 years with the club to the Cincinnati Reds. Six years later, after posting the first losing record of his career, 5-13, due in part to a shoulder injury, Seaver was traded back to the Mets. That year he went 9-14 with the last-place Mets.

Last year, New York left Seaver unprotected in the free-agent compensation draft, and the White Sox snapped him up.

Seaver, an eight-time All-Star, helped turn the lowly Mets into World Series champions in 1969, anchoring the pitching staff with a 25-7 record and 2.21 ERA. During that season, he came within two batters of hurling a perfect game, but he settled for a one-hitter when Chicago’s Jimmy Qualls singled with one out in the ninth. It was the only baserunner he allowed.

His 19-strikeout performance against the Padres in 1970, tied Carlton’s major-league record. In that game he struck out the last 10 batters, a record.