Download or read book Miracle Year 1969 written by Bill Gutman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sports fans in New York will always remember the incredible events of 1969. It was the year that two of the city’s underdog teams would rise above all expectations to be crowned world champions. On January 12, 1969, the underdog New York Jets faced the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Up to this point, no former AFL team had ever won a Super Bowl. Leading the Colts were future Hall of Fame coach Don Shula and quarterback Johnny Unitas (also a future Hall of Famer).The team looked unbeatable finishing the season with a 13–1 record. But then, in historic fashion, “Broadway Joe” Namath, the quarterback of the Jets, made an incredible “guarantee” that the Jets would be victorious. And behind Namath’s strong arm they were, as he led his team to a 16–7 victory. For a city that had not housed a championship team since the Dodgers in ’65, one championship was more than enough. But who would have expected that just seven months later, another New York team would rise to stardom? The New York Mets completed their first season in 1962 and would go down in history with the worst record ever recorded at 40–120 (a record still unbroken). They averaged over 100 losses in their first seven seasons and were seemingly permanent cellar dwellers of the National League. That was until the ’69 season, when the Mets—led by Tom Seaver (a future Hall of Famer) and Jerry Koosman—would complete an improbable run by not only leading their team to a winning record (which they’d never done before), but by defeating the Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 1 for their first World Series championship. Miracle Year 1969 tells the story of how two teams defied almost insurmountable odds to win it all for a city that has always loved champions, underdogs, and its heroes. 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 After the Miracle written by Art Shamsky and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A great and insightful” (Keith Hernandez, New York Mets legend and broadcaster) New York Times bestselling account of an iconic team in baseball history: the 1969 New York Mets—a 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 who reminisce about that legendary season and their enduring bonds decades later. 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. In this “enjoyable tale of a storybook season” (Kirkus Reviews), and with the help of sportswriter Erik Sherman, Shamsky has written the “revealing” (New York Newsday) After the Miracle for the 1969 Mets. “This heartfelt, nostalgic memoir will delight baseball fans of all ages and allegiances” (Publishers Weekly). It’s a book that every Mets fan must own.

Download or read book The Wonder Year written by Bert Flieger and published by . This book was released on 2017-08-25 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine you're a ten-year-old suburban New York kid, growing up on a dead-end street with dozens of sports-crazed friends. Your daily routine burns thousands of calories, playing in the street every minute your parents allow, imitating your favorite players from your local sports teams. But while the games are fun to watch, your teams are not so good, at least not good enough to raise a trophy at the end of the season. Then it all changes, when not one but three underdog teams chase-and catch-glory. Fantasy movie script? No, this was very real. Framed by the first lunar landing, the legendary Woodstock festival, the tragedies of the Vietnam War, and the tribulations of Catholic school, this funny and nostalgic chronicle written through the eyes of a ten-year-old enthusiastically recounts the high emotions of this special year in the history of the country. It reveals the closeness and camaraderie that shined through in all aspects of family and community life. The Wonder Year transports the reader to a place that for some is long forgotten, but can now be fondly remembered-and to a time that in some ways was very simple, but simultaneously extraordinary. It captures the spirit of the times: the family values, neighborhood friendships, the common and comfortable rituals, the shared experiences. In short, 1969 was nothing short of The Wonder Year.

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 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 Miracle on Second Avenue written by Mukunda Goswami and published by Torchlight Publications. This book was released on 2016-01-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Miracle on Second Avenue is a short, carefully researched documentary book written in a you-are-there style, that catalogs the start and growth of the Hare Krishna movement. The work is a memoir of Mukunda Goswami, one of the pioneers of the religious group that is now known throughout the world formally as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Miracle on Second Avenue is a series of historical events that include the movement's founder, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and his interactions on two continents with the author over the three-year period from August 1966 until December 1969. Mukunda Goswami's book Miracle on Second Avenue won the 2012 National Indie Excellence Award, as their 2012 Biography-General prize winner.

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 Turning Two written by Bud Harrelson and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-04-10 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Turning Two, Bud Harrelson delivers a team memoir as he takes fans through the early seasons, sudden success, lean years, and return to glory. Only one man, Harrelson, can say he was in uniform for both New York Mets world championships: as the shortstop who anchored the infield of the 1969 "Miracle Mets" and then as the third-base coach for the storied 1986 team. Born on D-day 1944, the Alameda County, California, native made his Major League debut with the Mets in 1965. At 147 pounds he was the team's Everyman--a Gold Glove, All-Star shortstop who won the hearts of fans with his sparkling defensive skills and trademark brand of gritty, scrappy baseball. Harrelson recalls how the gentle yet firm guidance of manager Gil Hodges shaped a stunning success story in ‘69. Bud remembers the game's legends he played with and against, including Hall of Famers Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Roberto Clemente, Bob Gibson (against whom he compiled a .333 career batting average), and his idol, Willie Mays--Harrelson's teammate on the 1973 "Ya Gotta Believe" team. Harrelson writes of his famous fight with Pete Rose in the playoffs that autumn as the Mets upset the Cincinnati Reds to win the National League pennant and squared off against the mighty Oakland A's in a dramatic seven-game World Series. After retiring as a player, Bud returned to Shea Stadium as Davey Johnson's third-base coach in 1985 and waved Ray Knight home for the winning run in the unforgettable Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Harrelson takes us in the dugout and on the field as he tells thrilling tales from his career and speaks candidly of the state of the game today. Turning Two is the ideal souvenir from the first half-century of the New York Mets--and from the pre-steroid era when players played the game the right way and did the little things to help their teams win. Bud Harrelson in Turning Two On Gil Hodges "Hodges accomplished his goal with compassion and a gentle hand and attained discipline simply by being such an imposing physical specimen. He rarely lost his temper, but on the few occasions that he did, you can bet he got our attention." On Battling at the Plate "I have always said I'll take God to three-and-two and take my chances. I might foul two off before He gave me ball four." On 1969 "Torre hit a smash to me at short and I'm thinking, Don't screw up the throw; don't rush it. I knew I could catch it. I just wanted to be sure to make a good, firm throw right at the chest of Al Weis at second base. I tossed it to Weis and he turned it over to Clendenon at first for the double play and we had won the Mets' first title. We were the first champions of the National League East." On Playing with Willie Mays "I reached up to catch the ball and as I did, I stepped on Willie's foot. Oh, no! ‘Hey, Pee Wee, what are you doing out here?' he squealed. ‘I didn't hear anything,' I said. ‘I don't call for the ball,' he said. ‘Well,' I said, ‘if you don't want to get stepped on again, you better start calling for it.' The next time he was in center field and there was a pop fly, he called for it." On Tom Seaver to M. Donald Grant "Mr. Grant, you know why we're doing so well? See that little guy in the corner over there"--and he was pointing right at me--"that guy whose salary you cut? He's the reason we're winning." On Game 6 "I leaned over to Mitchell and reminded him to be alert and be ready to take off if Stanley threw one in the dirt."

Download or read book If These Walls Could Talk New York Mets written by Mike Puma and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mike Puma of the New York Post provides insight into the team's inner sanctum as only he can The New York Mets are one of the most historic teams in Major League Baseball, with superstars over the years including Jacob deGrom, Mike Piazza, David Wright, and Tom Seaver. Aided by dozens of new, exclusive interviews, readers will gain the perspective of players, coaches, and personnel from Mets history in moments of greatness as well as defeat, making for a keepsake no fan will want to miss. Few fan bases display as much rabid devotion to their team as the New York Mets', win or lose. That spirit is celebrated in this colorful collection of stories about the Lovable Losers. The If These Walls Could Talk series is a one-of-a-kind, insider's look into the great moments, the lowlights, and everything in between in your team's history. Other New York titles include: If These Walls Could Talk: New York Giants If These Walls Could Talk: New York Yankees If These Walls Could Talk: New York Jets

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 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 Captain written by David Wright and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A memoir from one of the most admired players in baseball, the captain of the New York Mets, David Wright David Wright played his entire Major League Baseball career for one team, the team he dreamed of playing for as a kid: the New York Mets. A quick fan favorite from Virginia who then earned his stripes in New York, Wright came back time and again from injury and demonstrated the power of hard work, total commitment, and an infinite love of the game. Wright’s stats are one thing. He was a seven-time All-Star, a two-time Gold Glove Award winner, and a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner. He holds many Mets franchise records and was nicknamed "Captain America" after his performance in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. But there is more: The walk-offs. The Barehand. The Subway Series and World Series home runs. And the electricity that swept through Shea Stadium then Citi Field whenever number 5, “the Captain,” was in the game.

Download or read book 1969 written by Rob Kirkpatrick and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-01-24 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the fortieth anniversary of 1969, Rob Kirkpatrick takes a look back at a year when America witnessed many of the biggest landmark achievements, cataclysmic episodes, and generation-defining events in recent history. 1969 was the year that saw Apollo 11 land on the moon, the Cinderella stories of Joe Namath’s Jets and the “Miracle Mets,” the Harvard student strike and armed standoff at Cornell, the People’s Park riots, the first artificial heart transplant and first computer network connection, the Manson family murders and cryptic Zodiac Killer letters, the Woodstock music festival, Easy Rider, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, the Battle of Hamburger Hill, the birth of punk music, the invasion of Led Zeppelin, the occupation of Alcatraz, death at Altamont Speedway, and much more. It was a year that pushed boundaries on stage (Oh! Calcutta!), screen (Midnight Cowboy), and the printed page (Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex), witnessed the genesis of the gay rights movement at Stonewall, and started the era of the “no fault” divorce. Richard Nixon became president, the New Left squared off against the Silent Majority, William Ayers co-founded the Weatherman Organization, and the nationwide Moratorium provided a unifying force in the peace movement. Compelling, timely, and quite simply a blast to read, 1969 chronicles the year through all its ups and downs, in culture and society, sports, music, film, politics, and technology. This is a book for those who survived 1969, or for those who simply want to feel as alive as those who lived through this time of amazing upheaval.

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 Once Upon a Time in Queens written by Nick Davis and published by Hyperion Avenue. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A four-color celebration of the New York Mets' iconic World Series championship, with oral history-style text throughout and a new foreword by Jimmy Kimmel. October 2021 will mark the 35th anniversary of the 86 Mets' World Series win. ESPN will be airing a multi-part 30 for 30 documentary series on the subject, which will also be produced by ESPN Films, Jimmy Kimmel, Cousin Sal Iacono, and Major League Baseball and directed by Nick Davis. The show will feature never-before-seen footage, as well as remembrances from almost all of the key players. This tie-in book will be an oral history with new contributions from Keith Hernandez, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Lenny Dykstra, and many others. Also included will be unique photographs of the team and the era. A foreword by Kimmel, discussing what the Mets and their triumph means to him, will round out this fantastic package. The perfect gift for baseball fans and New Yorkers alike!

Download or read book The Miracle of Forgiveness written by Spencer W. Kimball and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: