Signing Tom Seaver

Thirty-eight days after baseball commissioner William Eckert voids the Atlanta Braves’ contract with Tom Seaver, the New York Mets 58 years ago today sign Seaver to a $50,000 contract with $40,000 of that being a signing bonus.

The deal is the same as the Braves’ original contract with Seaver, the one that Eckert on Feb. 24, 1966 declares null and void, saying Atlanta’s deal comes with Seaver still having college eligibility remaining at the University of Southern California.

At the same time in late February, the NCAA declares Seaver ineligible for signing with Atlanta.

Does not matter to the NCAA that Eckert already rips up that deal.

The fun then starts when Seaver's family threatens to sue Major League Baseball for not allowing him to earn a living.

The threat forces Eckert to place Seaver into a special lottery for teams willing to match the Braves’ original signing bonus of $40,000 that also comes with a $10,000 minor league contract.

The Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians and New York Mets all want Seaver – really, who wouldn’t? – so Eckert enters their names into a special lottery with the Mets getting the call.

With that, the previously woebegone Mets forever change their destiny.

A year later, Seaver reaches the majors and wins 16 games as a rookie in 1967 and then wins 16 more games for the Mets in 1968.

Seaver gets even better in his third season, leading all of baseball in 1969 with 25 victories and, more important, helping the Mets stun the powerful Baltimore Orioles in one of the greatest, if not the greatest, upset in World Series history.

The rest of Seaver’s career turns out just fine, too, as he wins 311 games over 20 seasons and ends up an overwhelming, first-ballot choice to the Hall of Fame in 1992.

He receives 425 of a possible 430 votes for the Hall of Fame, earning 98.8 percent of the vote that at the time is the highest percentage since the Hall’s first class in 1936.