TOM SEAVER STATUE TO BE UNVEILED

By Steven Marcus

The Mets expect to unveil Tom Seaver’s statue in July, a source confirmed Sunday. The long-awaited tribute to the team’s late Hall of Fame pitcher has been eagerly anticipated by Seaver’s family, fans and former teammates.

The statue, which will be placed in public view outside Citi Field, was set to be unveiled last summer but that plan was scuttled due to the pandemic. Seaver died at 75 on Aug. 31, 2020. death was attributed to Lewy body dementia and the effects of coronavirus.

After his baseball and broadcasting career, Seaver turned to his passion for growing grapes for his winery in Northern California. Several of his teammates from the 1969 World Champion Mets visited him a few years before his death and though the effects of his dementia were evident, all reported Seaver’s spirits were buoyed by their visit.

The Mets renamed the Citi Field address to 41 Seaver Way in the summer of 2019 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the ’69 champions. Seaver was unable to make the long flight due to his declining health but his daughters and grandchildren were in attendance.

In 2016, Seaver’s wife, Nancy, criticized the Mets for not erecting a statue of her husband and the others with retired numbers. “It’s ridiculous . . . I’m embarrassed for [the Mets],’’ she told the Daily News.

At the time, Seaver said of a potential statue: “I wouldn’t want people throwing rotten eggs and pigeons [messing] all over me . . . I have a plaque up in Cooperstown that’s across from Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson.