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Tom Seaton was not the best
pitcher of the Deadball Era. However, he was one of the game's best pitchers
in 1913. He was also was one of baseball's most discussed players, both
on and off the field for a couple of seasons.
Seaton was born on August 30, 1887, in Blair, Nebraska, about 20 miles
north of Omaha. Both his parents died when he was a boy. Seaton went west
in 1905 to Point Richmond, California, working at a Standard Oil Company
supply depot. He developed his pitching skills on weekends, pitching for
the local Richmond team on Saturdays and Sundays. Seaton showed enough
promise to be signed by the 1908 Oakland Commuters. The Commuters
finished the 1908 season with a 4-71 record in the California State
League. Oakland released Seaton after only three appearances because of
lack of control. He was impressive enough in the "bush" leagues
around San Francisco that winter to be noticed by the Portland club of
the Pacific Coast League. The Beavers signed Seaton for the 1909 season.
Judge Walter McCredie, Portland's owner, planned to bring continuous
baseball to Portland in 1909. His Beavers would represent Portland in the Pacific Coast League, and his new team, the Portland Colts, would play in
the Northwestern League, and serve as a farm club for the Beavers.
Although McCredie felt Seaton had potential to help the Beavers, he was
originally signed to pitch for the Colts. Seaton did pitch in 12 games
for the Beavers before the start of, and at the end of, the Northwestern
League season, finishing 4-3, but his main work came with the
Northwestern League team. With the Colts, Seaton appeared in 37 games, and
finished 17-14.
Seaton was promoted to the Pacific Coast League Beavers for the 1910
season. He teamed with Gene Krapp, Jack Graney, Bill Steen and Vean Gregg
to give the Beavers the most formidable pitching staff in the league.
Seaton was 17-17 in 52 games. Portland won the Pacific Coast League
championship in 1910, and again in 1911. Graney joined the Cleveland Naps
during the 1910 season. Gregg and Krapp followed to Cleveland for the
1911 American League season. Seaton teamed with Steen, Elmer Koestner and
Ben Henderson to again dominate PCL batters in 1911. Seaton threw 382
innings for the Beavers, finishing 24-16. He was drafted by the National
League Philadelphia Phillies for the 1912 season.
Seaton arrived at the Phillies training camp at Hot Springs, Arkansas, in the spring of 1912 in pretty good shape. That was a good thing, since cool and
wet weather made it difficult for returnees like Grover Cleveland
Alexander, Earl Moore and George Chalmers to get ready for the season.
Seaton made the Phillies roster. He struggled early in the season, with
his record falling to 4-9 by late June. He finished strong, however,
going 7-1 in the final five weeks of the season to finish the season
16-12.
The 1913 season was a breakout year for Seaton. He emerged as one of the
top pitchers in the National League, appearing in 52 games, compiling a
27-12 record in 322 innings. He led the National League in wins, innings
and strikeouts. Seaton's initial win was the first game ever played at
Ebbets Field, allowing the Superbas six hits and winning 1-0 in 37-degree
weather on April 9, 1913. Despite his success in 1912, Seaton began to
experience arm difficulties, complaining of arm pain during a 7-0 win at St. Louis on June 13. Manager Red Dooin rested him for a week in early July.
The biggest game of the year for Seaton occurred in Chicago on August 7,
while Seaton took the mound against the Cubs. His wife Rene was in labor
and in danger of losing her life. Seaton pitched seven innings that day
and lost, 5-2. He immediately returned to Philadelphia. Seaton's child
had already died, and doctors gave Rene no hope of survival. Rene did
survive. She harbored a grudge against the Phillies and Dooin, whom she
felt kept her husband from rushing to her side.
According to newspaper accounts, Dooin withheld a telegram from Seaton
urging the pitcher to hurry to Philadelphia to be with his wife. Dooin
denied it, maintaining that he had given Seaton the telegram before the
game and that Seaton had insisted that he pitch the game and leave after
the contest. Mrs. Seaton did not believe Dooin. When the time came to pay
back the Phillies, Rene Seaton was ready.
The Federal League planned to compete with the established major leagues
for the 1914 season. It had no intention of placing a team in the New York area until the Toronto franchise was relocated to Brooklyn in February under the
ownership of bakery magnate Robert B. Ward. Ward gave Federal League
President James Gilmore a check for $25,000 and told Gilmore to find him
a manager and player. Almost the entire sum was used on one player, Tom
Seaton.
On February 18, Seaton signed a three-year contract to play for Ward's
Federal League team in Brooklyn. He would receive $7,000 per year, along
with a $5,000 advance. The Phillies complained that they had a verbal
agreement with Seaton to pay the pitcher in excess of $6,000 for the 1913
season. Seaton claimed, however, that a portion of the Phillies' offer
was a bonus contingent upon him appearing in at least 35 games and
winning 60 percent of his decisions. When the Federal League appeared
with an offer for more money, Mrs. Seaton reminded her husband about how
she had been "wronged" by manager Dooin and the Phillies. She
insisted that he sign with the Feds.
But the Seaton saga was not over yet. It was announced in February that
Seaton had signed with the Brooklyn club. Still, he reported to spring
training in Shreveport, Louisiana, with the Chicago Federals. Both the
Brooklyn and Chicago teams downplayed this unusual act, stating that
Seaton just wanted some time with his former Phillies teammate, pitcher
Ad Brennan, who had signed with Chicago. As spring training progressed,
Seaton remained in Shreveport. He finally announced that he
"...would play for Chicago or not at all." Chicago attempted to
make a deal for Seaton, offering pitcher Claude Hendrix even up for
Seaton, and offering another deal involving outfielder Cad Coles and
three other players. Brooklyn ownership was determined that Seaton would
play for them. He eventually agreed after Ward agreed to increase
Seaton's salary to $8,500 a year for three years, and pay Mrs. Seaton's
expenses as she traveled with her husband on the road.
Seaton finally joined the Tip-Tops in early April of 1914. He pitched
their first Federal League game, allowing four hits as Brooklyn edged Pittsburgh, 1-0, in a 10-inning game at Exposition Park. He also pitched in the first
Tip-Tops home game at remodeled Washington Park on May 11. He lost to
Howie Camnitz and the Pittsburgh Rebels, 2-0. Seaton was 25-14 for the
Tip-Tops in 1914. He was in the top five in wins, strikeouts, complete
games, shutouts and winning percentage. Between 1911 and 1914, Seaton
pitched 1,262 innings. That work was too much.
Seaton was a big man for his day, standing six feet tall and weighing 175
pounds. Although he could throw hard, he was primarily a breaking ball
pitcher, throwing a wide, sweeping curveball which was sometimes hard to
control. All of those breaking pitches in all of those innings took their
toll. In August of 1914, Seaton visited arm specialist Bonesetter Reese,
who advised a good rest. Seaton sat out two weeks of the season in late
August and early September. He still made ten starts in the final month
of the season.
Nonetheless, the Tip-Tops expected Seaton to be their top pitcher again
in 1915. It was not to be. Seaton struggled going12-11 in 32 games with
the Tip-Tops when he was dealt to the Newark. Seaton finished a combined
14-17 with the two New York area teams.
When the Federal League folded after the 1915 season, Seaton was
available to any major league team. Newark owner Harry Sinclair had
assumed control of all outstanding Federal League contracts. He sold
Seaton's contract to the Chicago Cubs for $7,500. Seaton's three-year
deal with the Federal League still had one more year to run. He was
persuaded to void the clause allowing his wife to travel with him at the
team's expense. He reported to the Cubs training camp in Tampa. Seaton was a spot starter and reliever for the 1916 Cubs, finishing 5-6 with a 3.27
ERA. He often pitched better than that record would indicate. In his
first Cubs appearance on April 15, he lost a complete game two-hitter at Cincinnati. He also pitched in the Cubs' first game at Weeghman Field, striking out the
Reds' Bill Louden with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh
inning. By 1917, however, Seaton's arm was growing weaker. Despite a 5-4
record and a 2.53 ERA in 16 games, Seaton was dealt during the season to Los Angeles of the Pacific Coast League.
Seaton pitched for 22 games for the Angels in 1917. He then threw for San Francisco for the next three seasons. He had a stellar season with the Seals in 1919,
winning 25 and losing 16 with an ERA of 2.84 in 354 innings. As the 1920
season began, trouble was brewing for Seaton.
During his baseball career, Seaton had apparently earned himself a
reputation as a less than honest character. In the wake of the Black Sox
scandal of 1919, the Pacific Coast League targeted several players who
were considered undesirable for the league. Seaton was one of them. After
pitching in ten games for the Seals, Seaton and fellow Seals pitcher
Luther "Casey" Smith were released in May of 1920. Seals
President Charles Graham cited rumors "...regarding the practices of
the players (Seaton and Smith) and their associates." Seaton then
signed with the Manford team in the industrial San Joaquin Valley League.
After pitching three games, he was released when the Manford club was
told it would be thrown out of the league if Seaton continued to play.
Seaton then attempted a return to organized baseball by joining Smith
with Little Rock in the Southern League. Southern League President, John
Martin refused to approve the contracts, citing their questionable
conduct in the Pacific Coast League. Little Rock attempted to use Seaton
and Smith. But several teams in the Southern League announced that they
would not play Little Rock if these two players were on the roster.
Despite the promise of investigations and possible lawsuits, Seaton
instead accepted lucrative offers to play industrial ball.
Seaton reappeared in baseball in 1922, as a pitcher and possible manager
for a team in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. He then moved to the Southwest, and
for the next five years played for teams in Tucson, Juarez, Bisbee and El Paso in the Arizona State and the Frontier Leagues. Seaton finally settled permanently
in El Paso, continuing to pitch semi-pro ball for several years after
1927. He also earned a reputation as one of the top bowlers in El Paso while working as a foreman for a smelting company. Seaton lived in El Paso for the last 19 years of his life. He died of lung cancer on April 10, 1940. He
was buried in Evergreen Park Cemetery.
Sidebar
Roy P. Drachman writes in his book Just Memories about living in Arizona in the early part of the 20-th century. Drachman played semi-pro baseball in Arizona in the 1920's, and recalls playing against Seaton's Bisbee team, perhaps in 1926:
'A pitcher by the name of Tom Seaton, also a former big leaguer, pitched
for
Bisbee. He did something I had never seen before or since: Between
innings,
when he was on the bench, he would somehow get hold of the baseballs,
and,
with a large nail, would mutilate the balls so he could make them do all
kinds
of tricks. We tried to get the umpires to do something about it, but
since they
were also from Bisbee, our pleas landed on deaf ears.'
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