 We were all kind of rocked At four o'clock when it came across Bill shaken of the LA Times Reporting that the the Hall of Fame announced that Tom Siever His family has said that he is suffering from dementia He is going to not make any more public appearances, which means he will not be part of the 50th anniversary Celebration of the 1960 not met. I know my boss it. Yes is is Really really shaken up he and Siever were very close to the point that Tom Siever is flips old the son's godfather Okay, oh wow, so he's he's devastated right now. They live next to each other in Connecticut Wow, they became very close friends and it's just I mean there's so many don and I were talking off the air There's so many people Maybe not you know 20 30 year olds, but of Don's age my age Tom Siever Was a god? I mean Tom Siever I mean he took a Downtrodden franchise like the New York Mets and he made them important and special and was the leader of the 1969 Mets And I mean the things that he did and he had the highest percentage of any Hall of Famer Before Ken Griffey and then Mariano ever when no one got that many votes I think he was a couple of votes short of being unanimous You can make the case if you look at Roger Clemens and say that Clemens Is is compromised because of his connection with PD's That Tom Siever is the greatest right-hand to pitcher of all time you can make that argument You might not win the case, but I think you have a legitimate case to make that's how great this guy was He was a shining light of the New York Mets It got ugly toward the end with the feud with them Donald Grant and with Dick Young And he ends up getting traded which I think still rips the heart out of met fans of a certain age And then to hear this and you know, I was telling Don this off the air and and I think I can speak about this Because I went through it with my mom This guy led one of the the great American lives He was one of the best whoever did it I just had his profession a Beautiful loving wife to beautiful daughters. He was living his dream with with his winery out in Napa and All of that's going to slip away from his mind and I don't want it to sound terrible, but that's that's That's the ugliness and the insidiousness of this disease and I plead With people who control the money in government and in private equity and things like that There has to be more money for research into Alzheimer's and and into and into all all these Things that just rob you of your memories I mean they call it dementia because you can't say I can't really judge Alzheimer's until someone's dead And and you can look at their brain. It's it's I don't want anybody within the sound of my voice Or that could watch us on TV. They ever have to go through this with their loved ones ever it rips your heart out Because not only does it happen to the person and you lose the person twice you lose their mind Then you lose their body, but what what what the caregivers go through? I don't want to turn this into a macabre show But when when a Tom sever goes through it the only good thing that could come of this is that somebody as famous as Tom Sever is suffering. It's not some nameless Faceless person that you don't know who has his vacuous look as they're sitting on a park bench with their caregiver This is Tom sever. This is Tom terrific This Tom sever who made your life great if you're a met fan and you watched him pitch And now all of his memories are gonna be robbed from him because of this disease It has to have more funding for research You would think that something like this should be able to be cured and they're not close from everything I hear I follow it very closely. I've worked with the Alzheimer's Association. It's not close It's not close and in this year where he was supposed to come back to city field to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the miracle Mets 1969 one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports He's not gonna be able to make it He's just gonna have a private life now because obviously can't go in front of people But the Mets have announced that they had play plan a special tribute for him. This is this statement. Thank you I was I almost forgot this is statement Peter from Jeff will pond We've been in contact with the sever family and are aware of his health situation Although he's unable to attend the 69 anniversary We are planning to honor him in special ways and have included his family in our plans or thoughts are with Tom Nancy and the entire sever family See when we're talking off the air too is that you know when you say retired from public life that means we're not gonna see him again ever So there's not gonna be that you know goodbye You know ceremony. There's not gonna be that last interview if he retired from public life He's not we're not gonna see him again. So it just tells you that maybe how far along that this is With his disease. So you wish him nothing but the best but for a generation of Mets fans This is a really really tough day man because he was the face of that franchise. He was a star Tom terrific And you don't throw that nickname out there unless you're really good at what you do So, um, it's tough. Yeah, it's just an awful story. You know, we try to keep the light on this show So it's hard to keep the light when you talk about this. It just is and unfortunately um I at first hand Experience which I wish I didn't it's just terrible. It's just terrible. So again Our thoughts go out to the siever family Nancy and his daughters obviously Um, we'll be right there with him. He's going to continue to work in his vineyard and you hope that He has he has peace and you know some semblance of happiness But it's just a it's a terrible blow for baseball fans and particularly for met fans. He is They're mantle. He's their Ruth. He's their garig. He's their demaggio. He is their icon There will never be another Tom siever for the New York Mets and the Mets don't retire a lot of numbers He's only he was the first player number ever retired 41 Gil Hodges that retired kasey stangle and mike piazza. That's it. It's interesting though. They do currently have their best Well, a chance to be their best since him, don't they is there a chance? No, I mean good was probably yeah You don't think de grom could eclipse doc. He could yeah depends how long it lasts. Yes, right? Absolutely And it really set the tone for the franchise where it's always been about pitching with the Mets their best players were always their pitchers really starting with siever and Right on through with with good and and darling and Fernandez and you know And then right right through to what you have today where the best part of the Mets is they're starting pitching So, you know, they've had great hitters. No question strawberry. Hernandez carter piazza for sure right But it's always been about pitching and for a franchise that's always been about pitching Tom siever was the best of all of them