The Friendshipof Elena and Tom

Ten years later she hadn’t budged. Even when presented with a handwritten letter from the Mets center fielder Mike Cameron, who pleaded with her to come back.

“Nope,” Ms. Gustines said. “I told you, it has to be Tom Seaver.”

Ms. Gustines had rooted for and cherished Mr. Seaver, a Hall of Famer who retired in 1987, since watching him pitch for the Mets against Oakland in the 1973 World Series.

“Even though the Mets lost, those games sparked my interest in baseball,” she said.

She also remembered listening to the radio in amazement in 1974 as Mr. Seaver, mired in a subpar season with health issues, struck out 14 Philadelphia Phillies in his last appearance to finish the year with 201 strikeouts. He became the first National League pitcher to strike out 200 batters in seven consecutive seasons.

“It seemed that 200 strikeouts would be unreachable,” Ms. Gustines said. “I watched all of his starts that season, and though he finished 11-11, I came to appreciate the kind of intelligent pitcher he was. On that night in particular, he became my Superman.”

So in 2004, determined to get her back to the game, a few of Ms. Gustines’s friends and colleagues at The New York Times, where she still works, tried the only thing left to try. They crafted a letter to Jay Horwitz, the longtime public relations officer for the Mets. They described Ms. Gustines’s situation, and practically begged him to reach out to Mr. Seaver.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/07/insider/the-friendshipof-elena-and-tom.html