Seaver got pissed because Young wrote about his wife. At that point, it apparently became “personal” and Seaver went nuts on the Mets front office and demanded to be traded (again). Had Young not written the article, Seaver probably would have remained a Met.

That wasn’t mentioned until the trade talks heated up in 1977 and then it only came up because Seaver gave the Mets a list of teams to whom he’d approve a trade. In almost every article that came out about contract negotiations between Joe McDonald and any of the Mets, McDonald would tell reporters, “It’s not about the contract length, it’s about the money.” In fact, that was his standard answer about everything, “It’s about the money.”

The Mets were in no hurry to trade Seaver. They told him on a handful of occasions that they’d honor his request to be traded, then they’d drag their feet. Seaver later recounted that that was one of the things that left a bitter taste in his mouth, that and the fact that they either lied about their intention of signing free agents to improve the team or kept low-balling him during contract negotiations. When he signed his $25,000 contract in 1968, newspapers reported it as generous on the part of the Mets. Seaver later said that they wanted to bump his salary from the minimum $10,000 to $15,000 and hinted he should be grateful that they were giving him a 50% raise. He said that’s when he realized what he’d have to deal with as long as he remained a Met.

Mike

Tom Stanley