On April 22, 1970, Tom Seaver took the mound for the World Champion New York Mets on a Wednesday afternoon at Shea Stadium. The San Diego Padres provided the opposition. A sparse crowd of just over 14,000 showed up for the midweek matinee, and they were treated to a pitching performance for the ages.

Seaver was the National League’s reigning Cy Young Award winner, having taken home the hardware for his 25-7 record, 2.21 ERA, 1.039 WHIP, and 208 strikeouts in 1969. The Mets scored first in the game, when Ken Boswell doubled home Bud Harrelson in the bottom of the second inning. However, the Padres quickly tied the score when Al Ferrara homered off Seaver leading off the top of the third inning. The Mets took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third, when Harrelson tripled in Tommie Agee. That would be all the scoring in the game. From that point on, Seaver became the story.

The Fresno, CA native had nine strikeouts when the sixth inning began. Already, he had put in a good day’s work. Seaver struck out Ferrara looking to end the top of the sixth. After that, the Mets’ infielders and outfielders could have left their gloves in the dugout. Here are the results of the Padres’ last three at-bats:

Seventh Inning

Nate Colbert– strikeout swinging

Dave Campbell– strikeout  looking

Jerry Morales– strikeout looking

Eighth Inning

Bob Barton– strikeout looking

Ramon Webster– strikeout swinging

Ivan Murrell– strikeout swinging

Ninth Inning

Van Kelly– strikeout swinging

Cito Gaston– strikeout looking

Al Ferrara- strikeout swinging

On the day, Seaver allowed just two hits and walked two. It was a truly dominant performance, befitting the right-hander who would go on to post an 18-12 record in 1970, with a league-leading ERA of 2.82, a league-leading 283 strikeouts in 290.2 innings pitched, and a WHIP of 1.077. Those impressive numbers were not good enough for the 1970 Cy Young Award, though Tom Terrific did win the coveted pitcher’s prize two more times, in 1973 and 1975.

While the Mets are off to a solid start in 2022, one of the team’s storylines this year has been the unveiling of the Seaver statue on April 15, the date of the Mets’ home opener. The Mets are doing a much better job at embracing their history, and the Seaver statue is a critical milestone in that process. No player to wear the home orange and blue in Flushing accomplished more as a Met. Here is a look at Seaver’s Mets’ records:

Ranking Among Mets Pitchers

Wins- 1st with 198

Innings pitched- 1st with 3045.2

Strikeouts- 1st with 2,541

Games started- 1st with 395

Complete games- 1st with 171

Shutouts- 1st with 44

Pitcher bWAR- 1st with 76.1

It’s a shame only 14,000 fans were on hand for the April game 52 years ago. It’s true that one never knows what unique thing may happen in any baseball game. When Seaver was on the mound, the odds of something special taking place were just a little bit better.