Tom Seaver left lasting impact on Lee Mazzilli’s career: ‘Things I cherish’

Among the highlights of Lee Mazzilli’s playing career was hitting a home run in the 1979 All-Star Game with his former Mets teammate Tom Seaver in the booth as a guest announcer for NBC. 

“I’ve got the tape of it and [Seaver] was the one talking about me,” Mazzilli said Thursday. “That was so cool, Seaver saying nice things about me.” 

Mazzilli’s thoughts will be with the Seaver family Friday, when the Mets unveil a statue in the Hall of Fame pitcher’s honor outside Citi Field before the home opener against the Diamondbacks. 

The Brooklyn native Mazzilli debuted with the Mets in 1976 and spent the end of that season and part of the next as Seaver’s teammate, a stretch in which the right-hander was still among the game’s most dominant pitchers. The two became friends and remained in contact after their respective playing careers concluded. 

“I’m excited for Tom’s family,” Mazzilli said. “The one downside to this, that statue should have been there when he was alive. I could just see him cackling — he had that cackle, you know — and I could just see him laughing with that little cackle when they unveiled it.” 

Mazzilli credited Seaver for teaching him about hitting. 

“I learned a lot about hitting from him, meaning how he would pitch hitters,” Mazzilli said. “How he would set up hitters. What he would do early in a game as opposed to late in a game with certain hitters. It was fascinating. Those are the things I cherish.” 

Mazzilli recalled the last conversation he had with Seaver, one or two years before the former pitcher’s death in August 2020. Seaver at the time was battling dementia. 

“I really called him to thank him for what he did for me,” Mazzilli said. “I said, ‘Tommy I just want to call you and thank you for everything and when I came up how much you taught me about the game and his answer was, ‘Are you kidding me? That was fun. We had fun.’ 

“When I got off the phone I felt so much better that I got to speak to him and I felt like it was good medicine for him at that time. It was a weird feeling. It was good medicine and it was great for me. That phone call meant a lot to me and just by hearing him and the way he was talking, he just got a kick talking about stuff.”