Seaver, Out of Baseball Since ‘86, Returns as Commentator for NBC
NEW YORK — Tom Seaver is back in the rotation. It won’t be on the mound, though. It’ll be in the TV booth.
NBC, the lame duck network of baseball’s Game of the Week, announced Monday that Seaver will be its top color commentator this year, joining play-by-play man Vin Scully. Seaver replaces Joe Garagiola, who quit after last season.
“I used to practice on the days I didn’t pitch,†Seaver said of his broadcasting. “Some days I wished that I did do it on the days I was pitching, too.â€
Seaver has been out of baseball since the end of the 1986 season. He became a free agent and no one wanted him. Then, in the summer of 1987 he tried a comeback with the New York Mets but decided he didn’t have enough left in his right arm.
NBC’s final season begins on March 25 with a Dodger exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox. Seaver opens the regular season in Atlanta, where the Braves play host to the Dodgers on April 8.
After this season, the Game of the Week is no more. CBS, which takes over baseball in 1990, will show only 12 games during the season.
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