Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver, who led the New York Mets to an unlikely World Series title in 1969, has died at the age of 75, the Baseball Hall of Fame said Wednesday.
The Hall of Fame said in a statement that Seaver died on Monday of complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19.
Seaver had retired from public life in March of 2019.
"We are heartbroken to share that our beloved husband and father has passed away," his wife, Nancy, and daughters Sarah and Anne told the Hall of Fame. "We send our love out to his fans, as we mourn his loss with you."
Seaver, a hard-throwing righthander known as "Tom Terrific" won a Major League Baseball-leading 25 games in 1969, earning the first of his three Cy Young Awards.
Home run hero Hank Aaron called Seaver "the toughest pitcher I ever had to face.
George Thomas Seaver was born November 17, 1944 in Fresno, California and played 20 seasons in the major leagues, the first 11 with the Mets.
Seaver won 311 games, had a 2.86 earned-run average and struck out 3,640 batters in a major league career that lasted from 1967-1986.
He earned 12 All-Star selections and led the National League in wins three times.
Seaver was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992 when he was named on 98.8 percent of ballots cast by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, the highest voting percentage ever received at the time.
Seaver, who served in the US Marine Corps, was obtained by the Mets in a special draft lottery in 1966 and earned the 1967 National League Rookie of the Year Award.
He helped transform the Mets from "lovable losers" into the "Miracle Mets" as he led them to their first World Series title in the club's eighth year of play.
Seaver had pitched five one-hitters when he no-hit the St. Louis Cardinals in 1978. In 1981 he became the fifth player in history to record 3,000 strikeouts.
He returned to the Mets for the 1983 season, then won a total of 31 games for the White Sox in 1984 and 1985 before officially retiring during the 1987 season.