Tiny Memoir
Tom Seaver Made Me Queer
And I’m so grateful.
I grew up in Queens, New York and am, therefore, a Mets fan. It’s a strange coincidence of geography. If I had been raised in the Bronx, I would probably have been a Yankees fan. I knew all about the Mets and their pitcher Tom Seaver.
Inextricably linked with the Mets’ 1969 World series win, he was “The Franchise” and a common topic of conversation in my family. 22 wins, 9 loses with 243 strikeouts in 1975 the year I turned nine.
It was that year when I realized that Tom Seaver was married. He actually got married three months before I was born. They mentioned it on TV when he became the first pitcher to strike out 200+ batters 8 years in a row.
I was devastated. Tom Terrific married?!
I walked to the kitchen in tears. My mother, father, and grandmother were sitting at the table. “Tom- Tom Seaver-” I was trying to talk between heaving sobs. “He’s married!”
Once I could catch my breath, I stared at them, “If I can’t marry Tom Seaver, I’m not marrying any man.” I pronounced. True to my word, I never did.
