Tom Seaver
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50 free Tom Seaver trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Tom Seaver arrived in New York in 1967 and changed what the Mets were. Within three seasons a club known for losing had won a World Series, and its young right-hander had picked up a pair of nicknames that fans never stopped using. He went on to win more than 300 games, collect three Cy Young Awards and enter the Hall of Fame with a record share of the vote. This quiz starts with those nicknames and where they came from, then follows his whole career: the college summer that earned him a scholarship, the strange way the Mets won the right to sign him, the Miracle Mets of 1969, the strikeout records, the trade that broke New York's heart, his lone no-hitter and his 300th win. There are also questions on his awards, his Hall of Fame election, his time in the broadcast booth and his life after baseball. It is pitched for Mets fans and baseball history buffs alike, with plenty of easy openers and a few deep cuts for those who remember the box scores.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which nickname, shared with a 1950s cartoon boy hero, did fans and writers give pitcher Tom Seaver?
Tom Terrific
Tom Terrific stuck so firmly to Seaver that quarterback Tom Brady was refused a trademark on the phrase in 2019, to avoid confusion with the pitcher.
Q 02Three writers left Tom Seaver off 1992 Hall of Fame ballots to protest the ban on which player?
Pete Rose
Pete Rose had been ruled ineligible for the ballot a year earlier, so three writers sent in blank ballots. Seaver drew a then-record 98.84% of the vote anyway.
Q 03How did the New York Mets win the right to sign Tom Seaver after his first pro contract was voided?
A lottery drawing
A lottery drawing among three clubs willing to match the voided offer sent Seaver to New York. The Phillies and Indians were the teams that lost out.
Q 04In which state did Tom Seaver pitch summer ball for the Goldpanners to earn a college scholarship?
Alaska
Alaska was his audition: unsure he deserved a scholarship, his future college sent him to Fairbanks, where he won a national tournament game with a grand slam.
Q 05What rare feat did Tom Seaver pull off on May 9, 1984, with help from a suspended 25-inning game?
Two wins in one day
Two wins in one day came from a quirk: he pitched the final inning of a game held over from the night before, then started and won the regularly scheduled game.
Q 06Which 109-win team did Tom Seaver and the 'Miracle Mets' upset in the 1969 World Series?
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles lost in five games. Seaver dropped the opener, then won Game 4 by pitching all ten innings of a 2–1 victory.
Q 07Which branch of the U.S. military did Tom Seaver join in 1962, before he ever pitched in college?
Marine Corps
The Marine Corps Reserve came between high school and college for Seaver, who stayed a part-time reservist until 1970, the year after he won a World Series.
Q 08In which ballpark did Tom Seaver win his 300th game in 1985, as a 40-year-old visiting pitcher?
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium saw the milestone: across town from the ballpark where he made his name, Seaver pitched a complete game to win 4–1.
Q 09What did Tom Seaver start on his estate in Calistoga, California, in 2002, after his pitching days?
A vineyard
A vineyard became his second career: Seaver Family Vineyards produced its first vintage in 2005, and its two cabernets were named Nancy's Fancy and GTS.
Q 10Which nickname did Tom Seaver earn as the star who turned the lowly New York Mets into champions?
The Franchise
The Franchise fit: the Mets had never finished higher than next-to-last before Seaver arrived in 1967, and they won the World Series in his third season.
Q 11To which team, the reigning World Series champions, did the Mets trade Tom Seaver in June 1977?
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds gave up four players for him, and Seaver went 14–3 for his new club over the rest of that season to finish with 21 wins.
Q 12Against which team did Tom Seaver throw the only no-hitter of his career, in June 1978?
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals were blanked 4–0 that night. Seaver had thrown five one-hitters as a Met without ever finishing a no-hitter.
Q 13Which National League award did Tom Seaver win in 1967 after going 16–13 for a last-place team?
Rookie of the Year
Q 21Which Cubs ace beat out Tom Seaver for the 1971 Cy Young Award despite Seaver's 1.76 ERA?
Ferguson Jenkins
Ferguson Jenkins won 24 games that year and became the first Canadian to take the award. Seaver led the league in both ERA and strikeouts yet finished second.
Q 22Which 20-year-old sensation narrowly beat Tom Seaver for the 1981 National League Cy Young Award?
Valenzuela
Fernando Valenzuela rode a craze known as Fernandomania to the award in his first season as a starter, while Seaver's 14–2 record in a strike-shortened year left him a close second.
Q 23Which Giants slugger edged Tom Seaver for the 1969 NL MVP award after hitting 45 home runs?
Willie McCovey
Rookie of the Year honors followed a debut season of 18 complete games and a 2.76 ERA, plus a save in the 15th inning of that summer's All-Star Game.
Q 14Which boyhood idol told Tom Seaver at the 1967 All-Star Game that everyone would soon know him?
Hank Aaron
Hank Aaron was the favorite player of the young Seaver, a Milwaukee fan. When the nervous newcomer introduced himself to ask for an autograph, the slugger said he already knew who he was.
Q 15Which former Mets teammate of Tom Seaver, traded away in 1971, later matched his 61 career shutouts?
Nolan Ryan
Nolan Ryan went to the Angels with three other players for Jim Fregosi, a deal often cited as one of the worst in Mets history.
Q 16Which ballpark's address became 41 Seaver Way in 2019, honoring the number Tom Seaver wore?
Citi Field
Citi Field stands on what used to be 126th Street; the city renamed it Seaver Way, and the Mets unveiled a statue of the pitcher outside the park in 2022.
Q 17Which young 1986 teammate credited Tom Seaver with helping turn him from a thrower into a pitcher?
Roger Clemens
Roger Clemens won both the Cy Young and MVP awards that season, while the 41-year-old Seaver made the final 16 starts of his career in the same rotation.
Q 18Which future Mets captain became the 3,000th strikeout victim of Tom Seaver's career in 1981?
Keith Hernandez
Keith Hernandez was traded to the Mets two years later, in time to play half a season behind Seaver before the pitcher left for the American League.
Q 19Who is the only pitcher besides Tom Seaver with 300 wins, 3,000 strikeouts and an ERA under 3.00?
Walter Johnson
Walter Johnson, the Washington Senators great who retired in 1927, is his only company in that club. Seaver finished with 311 wins, 3,640 strikeouts and a 2.86 ERA.
Q 20Tom Seaver set a major-league record by making 16 career starts on which occasion?
Opening Day
Opening Day found Seaver on the mound 16 times between 1968 and 1986, for three different clubs, breaking a record of 14 that had stood since the 1920s.
Willie McCovey was so feared that pitchers intentionally walked him a then-record 45 times that year. Seaver, a 25-game winner, finished as the runner-up.
Q 24Which Mets catcher received the ceremonial final pitch at Shea Stadium from Tom Seaver in 2008?
Mike Piazza
Mike Piazza and Seaver then walked out through the center-field exit together, and they reunited in 2009 for the first pitch at the Mets' new home.
Q 25Whose Hall of Fame voting record, set on the first ballot in 1936, did Tom Seaver break in 1992?
Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb had been named on 222 of 226 ballots, the most of anyone in that inaugural class, Babe Ruth included. His 98.2% share stood for 56 years.
Q 26Which slugger broke Tom Seaver's Hall of Fame voting record in 2016 with 99.32% of the vote?
Ken Griffey Jr.
Ken Griffey Jr. was named on 437 of 440 ballots, ending a mark that had been Seaver's for 24 years. Three voters left him off, two fewer than had omitted Seaver.
Q 27Tom Seaver's 41 was the first number the Mets retired for a player; which manager's 37 preceded it?
Casey Stengel
Casey Stengel, the Mets' original manager, had his 37 retired in 1965. Seaver's number followed in 1988, at a ceremony held in his honor.
Q 28Which legendary play-by-play announcer was Tom Seaver's partner on NBC baseball telecasts in 1989?
Vin Scully
Vin Scully got Seaver as his analyst after Joe Garagiola left NBC, and the pair called that year's All-Star Game and National League Championship Series.
Q 29Which five-time World Series champion reportedly said blind fans came just to hear Tom Seaver pitch?
Reggie Jackson
Reggie Jackson is credited with a second tribute too: after Seaver lost a World Series game without his best stuff, the slugger said he had pitched with his heart.
Q 30Which team beat Tom Seaver and the Mets in seven games in the 1973 World Series?
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics took their second straight title. Seaver started Games 3 and 6 and the Mets lost both, the second with the championship one win away.