Download or read book They Said It Couldn t Be Done written by Wayne R. Coffey and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1962, the New York Mets spent their first year in existence racking up the worst record in baseball history. Things scarcely got any better for the ensuing six years--they were baseball's laughingstock, but somehow lovable in their ineptitude, building a fiercely loyal fan base. And then came 1969, a year that brought the lunar landing, Woodstock, nonstop antiwar protests, and the most tumultuous and fractious New York City mayoral race in memory--along with the most improbable season in the annals of Major League Baseball. It concluded on an invigorating autumn afternoon in Queens, when a Minnesota farm boy named Jerry Koosman beat the Baltimore Orioles for the second time in five games, making the Mets champions of the baseball world. It wasn't merely an upset but an unprecedented, uplifting achievement for the ages. From the ashes of those early scorched-earth seasons, Gil Hodges, a beloved former Brooklyn Dodger, put together a 25-man whole that was vastly more formidable than the sum of its parts. Beyond the top-notch pitching staff headlined by Tom Seaver, Koosman, and Gary Gentry, and the hitting prowess of Cleon Jones, the Mets were mostly comprised of untested kids and lightly regarded veterans. Everywhere you looked on this team, there was a man with a compelling backstory, from Koosman, who never played high school baseball and grew up throwing in a hayloft in subzero temperatures with his brother Orville, to third baseman Ed Charles, an African-American poet with a deep racial conscience whose arrival in the big leagues was delayed almost a decade because of the color of his skin. In the tradition of The Boys of Winter, his classic bestseller about the 1980 U.S. men's Olympic hockey team, Wayne Coffey tells the story of the '69 Mets as it has never been told before--against the backdrop of the space race, Stonewall, and Vietnam, set in an ever-changing New York City. With dogged reporting and a storyteller's eye for detail, Coffey finds the beating heart of a baseball family. Published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Mets' remarkable transformation from worst to best, They Said It Couldn't Be Done is a spellbinding, feel-good narrative about an improbable triumph by the ultimate underdog.

Download or read book The Miracle Has Landed The Amazin Story of How the 1969 Mets Shocked the World written by Matthew Silverman and published by Society for American Baseball Research. This book was released on 2021-02-26 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Celebrate the 1969 Miracle Mets in this new, updated SABR edition of The Miracle Has Landed. including updated bios of every player on the roster including Tom Seaver, Ed Kranepool, and more.

Download or read book After the Miracle written by Art Shamsky and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2019-03-19 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inside account of an iconic team in baseball history: the 1969 New York Mets—a consistently last-place team that turned it all around in just one season—told by ’69 Mets outfielder Art Shamsky, Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver, and other teammates as they reminisce about what happened then and where they are today. The New York Mets franchise began in 1962 and the team finished in last place nearly every year. When the 1969 season began, fans weren’t expecting much from “the Lovable Losers.” But as the season progressed, the Mets inched closer to first place and then eventually clinched the National League pennant. They were underdogs against the formidable Baltimore Orioles, but beat them in five games to become world champions. No one had predicted it. In fact, fans could hardly believe it happened. Suddenly they were “the Miracle Mets.” Playing right field for the ’69 Mets was Art Shamsky, who had stayed in touch with his former teammates over the years. He hoped to get together with star pitcher Tom Seaver (who would win the Cy Young award as the best pitcher in the league in 1969 and go on to become the first Met elected to the Hall of Fame) but Seaver was ailing and could not travel. So, Shamsky organized a visit to Tom Terrific in California, accompanied by the #2 pitcher, Jerry Koosman, outfielder Ron Swoboda, and shortstop Bud Harrelson. Together they recalled the highlights of that amazing season as they reminisced about what changed the Mets’ fortunes in 1969. With the help of sportswriter Erik Sherman, Shamsky has written After the Miracle for the 1969 Mets. This is a book that every Mets fan—and every baseball fan—must own.

Download or read book 1969 Miracle Mets written by Steven Travers and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2006-03-17 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1977 movie Oh, God!, George Burns, playing the deity, is asked to prove his divinity by performing a miracle. Burns replies, “The last miracle I did was the 1969 Mets. Before that, I think you have to go back to the Red Sea.” This book tells the tale of the single most impossible, unbelievable, and wonderful sports story of all time—of the 1969 “Amazin' Mets” and their incredible spring, summer, and fall. But it does much more than simply recount how the worst sports franchise ever ascended to greatness in a few short months. The 1969 Miracle Mets is the story of tumultuous times: the 1960s. Against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the New York Mets proved to be a metaphor for a changing America and, in retrospect, the catapult for the eventual comeback of a battered-yet-unbowed Metropolis. Tom Seaver and his teammates come alive in these pages as the final symbols of an innocent age, an age when the greatest icons in American culture—New York sports heroes—mounted the stage in awesome splendor, before Watergate, before free agency, before the mercenaries took over.

Download or read book The Amazin Mets 1962 1969 written by William J. Ryczek and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-03-10 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the history of the New York Mets from the franchise's inauspicious beginnings--the 1962 team, led by Casey Stengel and made up of players like Rod Kanehl and Jay Hook, lost 120 games--through the miraculous championship season of 1969. Based on interviews with more than one hundred former players and extensive research by one of the more highly regarded baseball historians writing today, the book covers the era in unprecedented detail. Any Met fan from the 1960s will find some familiar stories along with some they've probably never read before. Presented in an easy-to-read, narrative style, this book traces the rapid ascent of the Mets and explores the reasons for their early failure and dramatic success.

Download or read book Here s the Catch written by Ron Swoboda and published by Thomas Dunne Books. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In time for the 50th anniversary of the Mets' miraculous 1969 World Series win, right fielder Ron Swoboda tells the story of that amazing season, the people he played with and against (sometimes at the same time), and what life was like as an Every Man ballplayer. Ron Swoboda wasn’t the greatest player the Mets ever had, but he made the greatest catch in Met history, saving a game in the 1969 World Series, and his RBI clinched the final game. By Met standards that makes him legend. The Mets even use a steel silhouette of the catch as a backing for the right field entrance sign at Citi Field. In this smart, funny, insightful memoir, which is as self-deprecating as a lifetime .249 hitter has to be, he tells the story of that magical year nearly game by game, revealing his struggles, his triumphs and what life was like for an every day, Every Man player, even when he was being platooned. He shows what it took to make one of the worst teams in baseball and what it was like to leave one of the best. And when he talks about the guys he played with and against, it’s like you’re sitting next to him on the team bus, drinking Rheingold. Here's the Catch is a book anyone who loves the game will love as much.

Download or read book Gil Hodges written by Mort Zachter and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2015-03 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In descriptions of athletes, the word "hero" is bandied about and liberally attached to players with outstanding statistics and championship rings. Gil Hodges: A Hall of Fame Life is the story of a man who epitomized heroism in its truest meaning, holding values and personal interactions to be of utmost importance throughout his life--on the diamond, as a marine in World War II, and in his personal and civic life. A New York City icon and, with the Brooklyn Dodgers, one of the finest first basemen of all time, Gil Hodges (1924-72) managed the Washington Senators and later the New York Mets, leading the 1969 "Miracle Mets" to a World Series championship. A beloved baseball star, Hodges was also an ethical figure whose sturdy values both on and off the field once prompted a Brooklyn priest to tell his congregation to "go home, and say a prayer for Gil Hodges" in order to snap him out of the worst batting slump of his career. Mort Zachter examines Hodges's playing and managing days, but perhaps more important, he unearths his true heroism by emphasizing the impact that Hodges's humanity had on those around him on a daily basis. Hodges was a witty man with a dry sense of humor, and his dignity and humble sacrifice sometimes masked a temper that made Joe Torre refer to him as the "Quiet Inferno." The honesty and integrity that made him so popular to so many remained his defining elements. Firsthand interviews of the many soldiers, friends, family, former teammates, players, and managers who knew and respected Hodges bring the totality of his life into full view, providing a rounded appreciation for this great man and ballplayer.

Download or read book Amazing Mets Trivia written by Ross Adell and published by Taylor Trade Publications. This book was released on 2003-11-22 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book will test the memories of Met fans of all ages with hundreds of questions and facts about the players.

Download or read book Tom Seaver written by Bill Madden and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-11-24 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative, “must-read” (Keith Hernandez) biography of Hall of Fame pitching legend Tom Seaver, still the greatest player ever to wear a Mets jersey, by a journalist who knew him well. He was called Tom Terrific for a reason. Tom Seaver is “among the greatest pitchers of all time” (Bob Costas). He is one of only two pitchers with 300 wins, 3,000 strikeouts, and an ERA under 3.00. He was a three-time Cy Young award winner, twelve-time All Star, and was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame with the highest percentage ever at the time. Popular among players and fans, Seaver was fiercely competitive but always put team success ahead of personal glory. Born in Fresno, California, Seaver signed with the New York Mets in 1967, leading them to their stunning 1969 World Series victory. After a legendarily lopsided trade, he joined the Cincinnati Reds, then later played for the White Sox and the Red Sox before ending his career following the 1986 season. After his playing days, Seaver retired back to California to establish a successful vineyard. The in 2013, a recurrence of Lyme disease severely affected his memory, which Madden was the first to report. In 2019, Seaver’s family announced that he had been diagnosed with dementia and was withdrawing from public life. Tom Seaver died on August 31, 2021. Madden began following Seaver’s career in the 1980s. Seaver came to trust Madden so completely that, eager to return to New York from Chicago, he asked Madden to explore a possible trade to the Yankees which never materialized. Drawing in part on their long relationship, Madden “has crafted a biography as terrific as the subject” (Jane Leavy, New York Times bestselling author of Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy).

Download or read book A Magic Summer written by Stanley Cohen and published by Skyhorse Publishing Inc.. This book was released on 2009-04-14 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Magic Summer tells of that remarkable season by chronicling the major events as viewed twenty years later. Interviews conducted twenty years after with members of the team--Seaver, Ryan, McGraw, and others--provide immediacy and, with that, fascinating updates and insights. This is a unique record and celebration of a season that Mets fans--and all baseball fans--will not soon forget. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports--books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Download or read book So Many Ways to Lose written by Devin Gordon and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-03-16 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This is a weird, wonderful, and essential book about both America and its pastime. It’s about a place as vast as New York City and as intimate as the human heart. Fred Exley meets Richard Ben Cramer—a funny, wild, heartfelt, and keenly observed portrait of yearning itself.”—Wright Thompson, New York Times bestselling author of The Cost of These Dreams “Mr. Gordon’s ability to explain the Sisyphean plight of all Mets fans is truly remarkable. Bravo!”—Ron Darling, New York Times bestselling author of Game 7, 1986 The Mets lose when they should win. They win when they should lose. And when it comes to being the worst, no team in sports has ever done it better than the Mets. In So Many Ways to Lose, author and lifelong Mets fan Devin Gordon sifts through the detritus of Queens for a baseball history like no other. Remember the time the Mets lost an All-Star after Yoenis Céspedes got charged by a wild boar? Or the time they blew a six-run ninth-inning lead at the peak of a pennant race? Or the time they fired their manager before he ever managed a game? Sure you do. It was only two years ago, and it was all in the same season. The Mets have an unrivaled gift for getting it backward, doing the impossible, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, and then snatching defeat right back again. And yet, just ask any Mets fan: Amazing and/or miraculous postseason runs are as much a part of our team's identity as losing 120 games in 1962. The DNA of seasons like 1969, the original Miracle Mets, and the 1973 “Ya Gotta Believe” Mets, who went from last place to Game 7 of the World Series in two months, and the powerhouse 1986 Mets, has encoded in us this hapless instinct that a reversal of fortune is always possible. It’s happened before. It’s kind of our thing. And now we've got Steve Cohen's hedge-fund billions to play with! What could go wrong? In this hilarious history of the Mets and love letter to the art of disaster, Devin Gordon presents baseball the way it really is, not in the wistful sepia tones we've come to expect from other sportswriters. Along the way, he explains the difference between being bad and being gifted at losing, and why this distinction holds the key to understanding the true amazin’ magic of the New York Mets.

Download or read book The 1969 Cubs written by Fergie Jenkins and published by . This book was released on 2019-01-19 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1969 at Wrigley Field, the lights didn't shine at night, but they did in the eyes of every hopeful Chicago Cubs fan. The team that didn't go all the way, but they did more for the franchise and the role of its fans than many teams before them. Hall-of-Fame legend Fergie Jenkins gives his first-hand accounts on that loved team and painful seaso

Download or read book The Original Mr Met Remembers written by Dan Reilly and published by . This book was released on 2007-11 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1964, Dan Reilly landed the dream job of every New York Mets fan. Pulled from his humble position in Shea Stadium's ticket office to become the Mets' mascot-and Major League Baseball's first official mascot-Reilly donned the baseball-shaped, papier-mâché head of Mr. Met and began a career rubbing elbows with some of the game's most illustrious players.The Original Mr. Met Remembers is packed with never-before-told anecdotes, detailed team history, and intimate glimpses of players on and off the field. With a cast of characters that include the inimitable Casey Stengel, the bumbling Marv Throneberry, and Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, Reilly delivers a rollicking ride from the Mets' celebrated first season in 1962 to their unexpected and thrilling 1969 World Series victory. A must-read for baseball fans and sports historians alike, The Original Mr. Met Remembers recalls America's favorite pastime in all its glory, and is a devoted fan's personal tribute to one of New York's most celebrated teams.

Download or read book From First to Worst written by Jacob Kanarek and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-06-11 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "Miracle Mets" of 1969 had great hopes and enormous expectations for the coming decade. Unfortunately, they would be forced to watch hopes and dreams slowly fade to despair. This book details the Mets' climb from last place in August of 1973 to within one game of the world championship, followed by annual struggles and a collapse in 1977. The revised edition expands on the failures of the last two seasons of the decade, which necessitated the Payson family's decision to sell the beloved franchise.

Download or read book The Miracle of 1969 written by Rich Coutinho and published by Sports Publishing. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a country in turmoil, Americans rally around a ballclub for the hope of a miracle. In 1957, the Dodgers and Giants left New York for the West Coast, leaving a huge void in a city of National League baseball fans. Five years later, headed by the seventy-one-year-old Casey Stengel, NL baseball was back in the Big Apple in the form of the New York Metropolitans. However, it was anything but smooth sailing. In their first season of 1962, the Mets went 40–162, a record of futility. While Stengel called his team the “Amazin’ Mets,” they were amazingly inept. But at the same time, they were loved by a fan base that gave new definition to the word loyalty. But seven years later, that all changed. The Miracle of 1969 is the story of the Miracle Mets though the eyes of a nine-year-old boy from the Bronx, who would later grow up to cover the organization professionally. Rich Coutinho takes you back in time half a century ago, sharing how a country and city knee-deep in social turmoil was able to rally around a ballclub on the verge of greatness. But to fully grasp the impact of this story, you must also understand where the country was at this time in history. Whether it be man landing on the Moon, Woodstock, Charles Mansion’s cult killings, the conviction of Muhammad Ali for draft evasion, the Chappaquiddick Ted Kennedy incident, protests against the Vietnam War, or even pop culture events like the Beatles last public appearance, the late ’60s were a time of change. With the great play of the Mets, who rumbled back from being back 9 1/2 games in mid-August, Coutinho paints a picture of baseball and the country during this incredible time in our nation’s history. The Miracle of 1969 is not just a story of a team winning the World Series, but how a single ballclub could so dramatically affect a single boy from the Bronx while uniting people and a city despite the world trying so hard to have hate in the daily diet of every American. The Miracle Mets proved that dreaming of great things in life is not only possible—it is mandatory.

Download or read book Total Mets written by David Ferry and published by Triumph Books (IL). This book was released on 2012-10-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in conjunction with the franchise's 50th anniversary, Total Mets is the definitive historical and statistical compendium for the famed New York ball club. Spanning the team's entire history--from their inception in 1962, through the World Series championships of 1969 and 1986, and right up to the most current star-studded squads--this volume is loaded with fantastic features that include season recaps of every Mets season, statistics and highlights for every game in franchise history, team and individual records in every major statistical category, and biographies for every Mets player. An entertaining guide to one of baseball's most popular organizations, this resource also includes entertaining anecdotes, memorable quotes, and insider insights garnered from interviews with more than 200 current and former players.

Download or read book 101 Reasons to Love the Mets written by David Green and published by Harry N. Abrams. This book was released on 2008-03-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through vintage and modern photos, baseball cards, memorable stories, and sports trivia, "101 Reasons to Love the Mets" celebrates this one-of-a-kind team.