19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

TOM TERRIFIC
Sir:
Great article by Larry Keith on Tom Seaver. The title (Tom Terrific Arms the Red Arsenal, June 27) fits perfectly. Next year, I am pleased to predict, baseball fans will see another 30-game winner. With his great pitching and the Reds' great bats and fielding, Seaver can't miss 30.
JEFF DEMPEWOLF
Colby, Kans.

Sir:
Fans of The Machine should keep in mind that the ex-Met can't win 'em all. The worst thing that can happen now is to have the fans put pressure on Tom to win every game.
STEVE THATCHER
Cincinnati

Sir:
Larry Keith told the real story and shed light on some fuzzy areas. Quite a few of us Met fans have felt cheated for quite a while when it comes to the Mets brass getting some hitters. They have given away our best players and pitchers and taken mush in return.
K. R. CUNNINGHAM JR.
East Orange, N.J.

Sir:
One part of the article made me laugh. How did Dick Young know Nancy Seaver was jealous of the Ryans? Was he at the Seavers' dinner table when she complained to Tom?
JIM CHEVIOT
Amityville, N.Y.

Sir:
With all due respect to the fabulous Tom Seaver, did you have a cover story on the equally fabulous Frank Tanana planned for your June 27 issue?
BRAD BIERMAN
Princeton, N.J.

?Until the Seaver story developed, SI intended to put the winner of the U.S. Open on the cover. As for Tanana, see page 38.—ED.

Sir:
You refer to Jim Palmer of the Orioles as the Seaver of the American League. Palmer is by far the best pitcher of this decade. He has a better won-lost record than Seaver and has led Baltimore to five divisional titles and four World Series. He is not the Seaver of the American League. Rather, Seaver is the Palmer of the National League.
GEORGE SAZAKLIS
Baltimore

THE TWINS
Sir:
To prove the Twins are for real (Minny Gets the Max from a Minimum, June 20), they fell out of first place on June 19 and then came back to take the lead again on June 24. As for the fans not going to the ball park, we drove 135 miles to support the Twins. The attendance was 18,060 on June 23 and 21,457 on June 24.
DONALD HAUGERUD
Montevideo, Minn.

Sir:
You didn't mention the Twins' double-play combination of Roy Smalley-to-Bob Randall-to- Rod Carew, which last year set a club record for double plays in a season.
TOM SHIDE
Larimore, N. Dak.

REGGIE/BILLY
Sir:
As in most other articles on the Billy Martin-Reggie Jackson confrontation (BASEBALL'S WEEK, June 27), SI seems to make Reggie the bad guy again. I've seen the replay of the bloop double off Jim Rice's bat many times. There's no way Reggie could have reached it in time. The only thing he might have done wrong was throw the ball to the wrong base. As for the ruckus between Martin and Jackson, the replay clearly shows Martin starting the yelling and doing the lunging.
ERIC K. KILHEFNER
Chambersburg, Pa.