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Until Seaver started mowing down collegiate batsmen at U.S.C., he had appeared to be anything but a prize major league prospect—even in his own eyes. "I frankly thought I was too small," says Seaver, who now stands 6 ft. 1 in. and weighs a respectable 200 Ibs. "I had decided to become a dentist." He was still fairly small when he graduated from high school, he recalled recently, "but there was one advantage in it. I couldn't throw hard enough to rely on my fastball, so I concentrated on sliders and curves."
Six months of lifting crates for the Bonner Packing Co. of Fresno, Calif., of which his father is vice president, and another six months of active duty in the Marine Reserves put 4 in. and 35 Ibs. on Seaver's frame. "People didn't even recognize me," he says. Nor did they recognize his pitching style. The extra heft had added a searing fastball to his precocious collection of "junk" pitches.
After a year of seasoning with the Jacksonville Mets, Seaver was summoned to New York in 1967. He became an overnight sensation. He pitched 18 complete games, and won 16 while chalking up 170 strikeouts. Of his 13-losses, seven were by one run. He was named the National League's Rookie of the Year.
For all that, Seaver was very nearly overshadowed last year by Jerry Koosman, a gangling (6 ft. 3 in., 205 Ibs.), grinning pitcher who learned to throw the ball in the family barn, has a brother named Orville and says things like "I haven't had this much fun since my third-grade picnic." If Seaver's acquisition was fortuitous, Koosman's was truly preposterous. Who but the Mets would act on a tip from one of their stadium ushers? The usher's son, who caught for an Army nine at Fort Bliss, Texas, wondered whether the Mets might be interested in the team's pitcher, who had won 20 games, lost only three and averaged 18 strikeouts a game. The Mets were interested in anyone who even sounded that good. Koosman was signed and packed off to the minors in 1965. There his record was not overwhelming. He enjoyed his best season in 1966, winning twelve and losing seven for the Auburn, N.Y., Mets. But his performance in New York was all that mattered.
Koosman's fastball shrieked, and he threw roundhouse curves like a poised veteran. In his first two appearances, he astonished baseball buffs by registering shutouts. He pitched a total of seven shutouts to tie a 63-year-old record for rookies, won 19 games, and posted a 2.08 ERA. He lost out to Cincinnati's rugged Catcher Johnny Bench as Rookie of the Year by a single vote —the closest balloting ever for the honor.