Hall of Famer and three-time Cy Young Award winner Tom Seaver discusses his legendary 20-year career in a new episode of MLB Network’s Studio 42 with Bob Costas:

Monday, December 12 at 9:00 PM ET

Seaver comments on being part of the 1969 World Champion New York Mets and his contract dispute with former Mets’ owner M. Donald Grant prior to being traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1977. Here are a few highlights…

On Being Traded to the Reds in 1977

The ownership, Grant, after Gil Hodges died, it changed tremendously. Gil would not let that stuff happen. I was my player rep. I represented my team in the labor negotiations. M. Donald Grant came to me during this period of time, right before I got traded, and looked at me and said, “What are you, some kind of communist?” So, the love affair was a one-way street. As soon as he said that, and there were things before that, he said, “Who do you think you are joining the Greenwich Country Club?” I said, “Oh, that’s interesting, that’s pretty interesting.” So, it began to die. … It was time for me to go. It was time for me to go. … It was not pretty. When you give your heart to somebody and then they rip it back out of you. … It was a lie, it was false. It was a false love affair. Not with the fans, not with the teammates, not [with] the game. Three out of four is pretty good. It never affected me with my teammates and what I did for a living.

On Winning the 1969 World Series

We were in [the clubhouse] at the celebration. It was one of the best realizations of my life. We were in there [with] the champagne. This has got to be the ultimate and you know what? It wasn’t the ultimate. It’s the field that is the ultimate. We went back on the field. …. It isn’t the celebration. … It’s what’s on the field. That’s where the art form is. That’s where the competition is. That’s where the intellectual input as a team makes this happen: on the field. I went back to the mound. … I just went back and looked. … You want that to be your last image. … There was nobody in the stands and it was disheveled and grass was torn up and taken away. But it’s on the field. … It is the journey, not the destination.

On Today’s Pitchers Coming Out of Games Early

It is the economics running the game or somebody’s theory or system that now they look for reasons to take a pitcher out. … What are you doing to this pitcher? Why don’t you go to the mound and say, “You are throwing great. Put this to bed. Put it in the casket.” You’re trying to build these individuals mentally. … Leave them in there. Let them be stud muffins.

“Let them be stud muffins”. Terrific, Tom, Terrific.  🙂