HEADLINE

Mets to QB Brady: There’s only one ‘Tom Terrific’

Field Level Media

June 05, 2019 at 1:04 am.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s request to trademark the nickname “Tom Terrific” is getting slammed, particularly by two former New York Mets who were teammates of Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver.

“Maybe it’s the new athlete,” former Mets first baseman Ed Kranepool said Tuesday in a USA Today story. “Maybe it’s the ‘I’ generation, who can only think about himself. He’s the greatest quarterback who ever lived and I supported him over the years, and any time I’m rooting in football, I’m rooting for Tom Brady. But when you ask me about Tom Terrific and having played behind a guy like (Seaver), there’s only one guy who can be called Tom Terrific and that’s him. But when you’re first in line, I think there should only be one of any kind. (Brady) is the second model.”

Seaver, though, never filed for a trademark of the nickname that first was popularized by the “Tom Terrific” cartoon. Seaver is now battling dementia.

According to the USA Today report, Brady’s company, TEB Capital, has filed for two “Tom Terrific” trademarks, one for trading cards, posters, and signed photographs, and another for clothing.

On Monday, the Mets tweeted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, making their point with a photo of the right-handed Seaver during his heyday with the Mets.

“Hey @uspto, with all due respect to @TomBrady…There’s only one #TomTerrific to us. #LGM #Mets,” the tweet read.

A planned protest Tuesday at an Upper East Side restaurant in New York never gained momentum as, along with Kranepool and former Mets outfielder Art Shamsky, only a few fans showed up. But some reportedly grabbed Brady No. 12 jerseys and threw beans at them, then tossed them in a trash can.

Shamsky, who played with the Miracle Mets team that included Kranepool and Seaver and won the 1969 World Series, interviewed Seaver in 2017 for a book he was writing about the aftermath of that team.

“Tom Seaver will always be known as ‘Tom Terrific,'” Shamsky said Tuesday. “He will always be the face of the Mets, and one of the greatest pitchers who ever pitched in the major leagues.”

Seaver won 311 games in a 20-year career. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame with a then-record of appearing on 98.84 percent of voters’ ballots.