Remembering "The Midnight Massacre" - The Tom Seaver Trade 1977

Background: At the time of the Tom Seaver trade, the New York Mets were at a bad point in team history. By 1975, the clubs beloved owner Mrs. Joan Payson had passed away. Mrs. Payson was on the forefront of women in sports; she loved the game was involved in the team & made the players feel they were part of a family. Times were good.

Her widower husband, the very wealthy Charles Shipman had no interest in baseball. To keep it in the family, their daughter Lorinda deRoulet took charge of the team. Ms.de Roulet was her mother; she didn't know the first thing about running a baseball team. Instead, she and let the teams long time president & Chairman- M. Donald Grant make all the decisions. Times got bad.

Grant had been a longtime friend of Mrs. Payson, together they served on the board of directors of the New York Giants baseball club in the 1950's. Grant had been with the Mets since the beginning in 1962, but his baseball knowledge was questionable & he did not want to evolve with the games many changes in that decade. 

The longtime stockbroker didn't like spending money & he refused give in to the new era of baseball free agency. He was outspoken against free agency at the winters owners' meetings & began trading off his top players, so he wouldn't have to pay them the higher salaries of the day. Grant was slowly running the Mets organization into the ground.

Tom Seaver was arguably the best pitcher of his era, the first Mets legend. He took them from the loveable losers they were, to not accepting that tag & changing the culture to a winning attitude leading them to World Champions.

Seaver was known as "The Franchise" destined for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

At the end of the 1975 season, he won his third Cy Young Award, negotiated a new contract worth $675,000, making him baseball's highest paid pitcher earning $200k a year.

But by the end of 1976 free agency was seeing players sign deals worth a million dollars. His friend & former teammate Nolan Ryan wasn't eligible for free agency until 1979, but the California Angels owner Gene Autry, gave Ryan $300,000 a year in advance.

In New York, Tom Seaver attempted to renegotiate his contract, but the meetings didn't go well. Seaver was also the Mets Union Player Rep at the time. In Spring Training, he was outspoken that the Mets were not going after any of the top free agents to improve the team.

The Mets were a big market team, still drawing big crowds & certainly were one of baseball's richest teams. They desperately needed hitting, they had needed it for years. They also were in need of a top outfielder or two.

Seaver stressed the point the Mets go after the Giants Gary Mathews who fit their needs perfectly. 

"How could they not even try" Seaver said in disgust. Gary Mathews ended up getting $1.2 million from the small market Atlanta Braves.

Rumors that Mets G.M. Joe McDonald was in trade talks about sending Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds swept the city by early June 1977. Daily News Reporter Jack Lang told Seaver to talk with Mets new owner Mrs. deRoulet instead of Chairman M. Donald Grant. Seaver agreed & made some progress in the negotiations.

On June 14th, 1977, deRoulet  & Seaver worked out a deal over the phone. Seaver would get his contract extended three years, overall earning $1.1 million.

He'd receive $300,000 the first year & $400,000 each of the next two years. Seaver informed Mets G.M. Joe McDonald to stop the trade talks with the Cincinnati Reds.

The next day, Daily News reporter Dick Young's column outraged Seaver, according to Tom, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. 

It read: "Nolan Ryan is now getting more money than Seaver and that galls Tom, because his wife Nancy & Nolan's wife Ruth are very friendly. Tom has long treated Ryan like a little brother."

Seaver was furious, he immediately called Mets PR director & said "Get me out of here, do you hear me?" The new deal was dead, Seaver said he would not allow his wife to get dragged into this mess in the press.

Meanwhile, in a time when newspapers had control over the media, Grant was getting sole support in the press by Dick Young of the Daily News. His son in law; Thorton Geary, was recently hired by M. Donald Grant as Mets V.P. of Communications. 

Dick Young sided with Mets management, he wrote that Seaver was being greedy & selfish with his demands. 

But Seaver had the support of everyone else in the media, especially his friend Jack Lang, the Mets beat writer, also of the NY Daily News. Dick Young had encouraged Lang to write what he felt, knowing the rivalry would sell more papers.

G.M. Joe McDonald completed the trade with the Reds, Seaver would go to Cincinnati for four young players: pitcher Pat Zachry, second baseman Doug Flynn, outfielders Steve Henderson & Dan Norman.

The Trade Happens: The deal was not announced until after the Mets' Sunday night game with the Braves in Atlanta. By that time Seaver had already flown home to Connecticut. 

The next day, Seaver, spoke in a sad press conference where he broke down in tears when he was asked if he'll miss the fans. 

For those of us who remember this as it happened, it was the worst day in Mets history. Our hero was gone. For someone like centerfieldmaz who grew up in the Bronx, it was Seaver who made me a Met fan, as so many of us from that era. 

This led to the team's darkest era lasting six long years. In 1977 the Mets would finish last & go on to lose 95 or more games in each of the next three seasons. 

To make matters worse, the Mets also traded away slugger Dave Kingman, the team's only power hitter the same night.

Attendance plummeted at Shea Stadium & the dreary ballpark became known as "Grant's Tomb" in honor of the stingy Chairman.

Quotes -Tom Seaver: "There are two things Grant said to me that I'll never forget but illustrate the kind of person he was." During the labor negotiations, he said to me: 'What are you, some sort of Communist?' Another time, he said: 'Who do you think you are, joining the Greenwich Country Club?"

What Ever Happened to? As for M. Donald Grant, he was forced out of the organization the next year. He told reporters he "was tired of being kicked around" insisting & whining "I'm a good guy, the press made such a martyr of Seaver that it killed me." The miserable Grant, lived until the age of 94.

Daily News writer Dick Young was forever hated by the Met fans. The next month he was booed at a ceremony where he was honored in the writers' wing of the baseball Hall of Fame. Young had a history of troubles & drama. He & Howard Cosell had a long-time public feud with each other.

Some of Dick Young Dramas: In the 1954 World Series, he called a Dusty Rhodes HR a "Chinese HR" because it went over the 258ft fence at the Polo Grounds. The comment & other terms he used caused outrage even back then. In 1970 he blasted Jim Bouton's book Ball Four & spoke against Marvin Miller who led the newly former Players Union. Young disliked the modern athlete's like of Joe Namath with his flashy style. 

Showing no sympathy, Young went over the line with comments about All Star catcher Johnny Bench's divorce & before his death told the fans to Boo Dwight Gooden upon his return after his rehab stint.

By 1981 his own greed, led him to switch to the rival New York Post paper for more money. In 1986 when the Mets won the World Series, Young was very sick & would pass away the following year at age of 69.

Reporter Jack Lang spent 40 tears covering New York baseball. In 1962 he became the Mets beat writer until his retirement in 1989, he even helped coauthor a few different Mets books. From 1966-1988 he was Secretary Treasured of the Baseball Writers Association. 

In that time, he was in charge of counting Hall of Fame votes & notifying players of their induction. He notified 44 Hall of Famers in that period. In 1987 Lang himself was honored by the Hall of Fame (1987).

In 2007, Lang passed away from liver disease in Huntington, Long Island at age 85. At the time of his passing Tom Seaver called him " a dear friend".

In 1980, when the new ownership of Nelson Doubleday & Fred Wilpon took over, GM Joe McDonald was replaced by Frank Cashen. He later worked as G.M. for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Thornton Geary was involved in negotiating the first Cablevision deal for the Mets. In 1981 he left the club & retired to North Carolina.