Tom Seaver will now be immortalized in Queens on the same day a Brooklyn legend is celebrated.
The Mets had previously announced that they would unveil their statue of Seaver outside Citi Field on Opening Day 2022, and will still do so – only now, thanks to the lockout canceling a week’s worth of games, that home opener will come on April 15, which is Jackie Robinson Day around MLB.
Per Newsday’s Tim Healey, the Mets will hold the ceremony of the unveiling prior to the game against Arizona on April 15, eight days later than the intended home opener, which was April 7 vs. Washington before games were canceled.
The Seaver statue was originally supposed to be unveiled last year, but due to the pandemic, the artist creating it asked for more time, hence the push back to Opening Day 2022.
Robinson, whose number is retired league-wide, and Seaver represent two of the Mets’ current six retired numbers, so it’s somewhat fitting that Tom Terrific is honored on the 75th anniversary of the date Robinson broke MLB’s color barrier just a few miles away at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field.
The statue was announced in 2019 and official plans were unveiled that June, around the time Citi Field’s address was re-routed to 41 Seaver Way, and will sit near the Home Run Apple outside Citi Field’s main entrance – the entrance that, coincidentally, leads into the Jackie Robinson Rotunda.
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