There’s a saying that “athletes die twice: once when they take their last breath and the other when they hang it up.” For baseball legend Tom Seaver, a third death looms: dementia, which led the 74-year-old former pitcher to announce that he will make no further public appearances. He will be missing when the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Miracle Mets is commemorated in June. For a man as proud of his cerebral presence on the ballfield as Seaver was, retiring to a vineyard in California is preferable to being in public when he no longer feels in command.
In his …
This article appears as “The Perfectly Balanced Pitcher” in the April 8, 2019, print edition of National Review.