Was Seaver's Remark Really Offensive?

I don't know, and neither do you.

Let's go to the video tape...



Host, Kevin Burkhardt, asked Darryl Strawberry who would win a game between the 1986 Mets or the 1969 Mets.

Stawberry states the '86 team would have won.

This eventually leads to Tom Terrific making the following comment:

"You don't have handcuffs on your wrists, do you?"

As you can imagine, that went over well.

For those unaware, Strawberry has had his run-ins with the law in the past.

I have to admit that I winced a little after the comment was made.

For those willing to give Seaver the benefit of the doubt, handcuffed is a baseball term as well, defined as:

A pitch thrown high and inside may handcuff a batter because he can't get his hands far enough away from his body to swing the bat.

Maybe Seaver used the word handcuffs in that context??? If he's smart, that's the excuse he'll use.

In all likelihood, we'll never know Tom Seaver's true intentions when he made his remark to Darryl Strawberry.

I highly doubt Seaver would ever come out and say, "Yeah, I was making reference to his law-breaking days."

I've never found Seaver to be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I don't see him being dumb enough to admit making such a remark.

Strawberry was on WFAN this morning and denied that he was offended by Seaver's comment and said that he didn't think Seaver meant anything by it.

"No, he was not. No," he told WFAN’s Boomer & Carton. “Tom is great, I’ve got a great relationship with him. He wasn’t making (a joke), he was talking about, ‘Nothing stopping us. You know, there’s an opportunity, let’s go.' 

"We don’t fight, what are we fighting about?" said Strawberry. "He’s talking about, 'What’s holding you back right now? What, you got handcuffs tying you down, you can’t pick up a bat?'"

At the end of the day, if Strawberry isn't even offended by the comments, then the fans and media need to let it go.