DALLAS, TX.- Few people in any profession receive universal appreciation as the best in their field. One icon who enjoys such recognition is Tom Seaver, the legendary pitcher who took the hill for four franchises during his 20-year career in Major League Baseball. More than 12 seasons — and his best performances — came with the New York Mets. While playing in Queens, he piled up 198 of his 311 career victories and all three of his Cy Young Awards as the National League’s top pitcher, earning him widespread acclaim as the greatest player in franchise history.

Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan, who played against Seaver before they played together in Cincinnati, stood in awe of the ace’s ability, as an opponent and as a teammate.

“It is something to watch him pitch,” Morgan once said. “I always marveled at him when I was on the other team. But now, seeing him all the time, I say to myself: ‘How did you ever get a hit off him?’”

The list of statistical accolades and accomplishments is as long as the career that led Seaver to enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The legend known as “The Franchise” and “Tom Terrific” was named the National League’s Rookie of the Year in 1967 and was a 12-time All-Star. He won three Cy Young awards, led the NL in wins three times, pitched a no-hitter and had his No. 41 jersey retired by the Mets. Two teams, the Mets and Reds, honored him with enshrinement in their team Hall of Fame.

His biggest accomplishment was leading the Mets to the 1969 World Series title, an achievement forever commemorated through his 1969 New York Mets World Championship Ring, which will go to a new collection when it is sold in Heritage’s Feb. 28-March 1 Winter Platinum Night Sports Catalog Auction. The championship capped Seaver’s remarkable season that remains one of the most impressive in modern baseball history, a year in which he compiled a 25-7 record and an earned run average of just 2.21 over 273.1 innings. He struck out 208 while allowing just 82 walks and held opponents to a paltry .209 batting average.

“What Tom Seaver did was beyond impressive,” says Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage Auctions. “In the previous seven seasons of their existence, the Mets never even managed a winning record, and to say he led the turnaround would be an understatement. To put up the numbers he did would have been remarkable with any franchise, but to do it with that team, when he did, forever changed the reputation and the future of the franchise, and cemented his place among the greatest pitchers in baseball history.”

This magnificent keepsake from one of the greatest pitchers in the history of baseball is just one of 190 lots from the Tom Seaver Collection that will be offered in the auction.

If leading the Mets from laughingstocks to champions is his biggest team accomplishment, his top individual accomplishment was his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, a milestone forever celebrated in his 1992 Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Plaque. He was enshrined in his first year of eligibility, thanks to a then-record 98.8 percent of the vote that resulted in his bronze plaque being added to the wall of MLB immortals. Offered in this auction is the scaled-down personal model that was awarded to Seaver.

Also among the mementos from his induction is Seaver’s 1992 Hall of Fame Induction Presentational Bat, a relic awarded by Louisville Slugger to all former clients who earn the game’s highest individual honor.

The only hat that Seaver wore in a game that appears in the collection is a 1969-71 Tom Seaver Game-Worn New York Mets Cap with Exceptional Wear from The Tom Seaver Collection that dates to a three-year stretch that went a long way toward earning the star pitcher the “Tom Terrific” nickname. In those three seasons, he finished first, seventh and second, respectively, in the voting for the Cy Young Award for the National League’s top pitcher.

The collection includes three league championship rings: his 1986 Boston Red Sox American League Championship Ring, his 1973 New York Mets National League Championship Ring and his 2000 New York Mets National League Championship Ring.

The American League and National League both now replace pitchers in the batting order with a designated hitter, but for years, NL pitchers also swung the bat, a part of Seaver’s job captured in the watercolor-and-pencil 1969 “Next Up” Original Artwork by LeRoy Neiman.

Other top lots from the collection include, but are not limited to:

• 1994-2014 Tom Seaver United States Passports Lot of 2
• Seaver’s 1985 300th Career Victory Chicago White Sox Presentational Ring

Seaver’s daughter, Anne, says that while the family’s decision to offer her father’s collection brought with it some feelings of sentiment and nostalgia, it also means the items will end up with fans who got so much joy from his brilliant career.

“It is difficult to say goodbye to some of these things, but we wanted to share his legacy with his fans,” she says. “Knowing that there are some items of his at the Hall of Fame means that family, friends and fans can always visit and celebrate his career. But this auction also is about sharing with his fans. I think he would want his fans to enjoy a part of his accomplishments, too.”