Mets Essential: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Real Fan [Hardcover]

Matthew Silverman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2007 | Series: Essential: Everything You Need to Know to be a Real Fan

The New York Mets are one of baseball's most vibrant and beloved franchises. Their miraculous seasons of 1969 and 1986 are virtually unmatched in baseball lore. Their near-misses of 1973, 1988, and 2006 are equally weighty topics among the Mets faithful. Mets Essential is the only book that gives the team's complete history through insiders' accounts, anecdotes, stats, trivia, and dozens of photographs. In the franchise's unique lexicon, it's simply amazin'!

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"The tales and statistics you'll read in this book will reveal much about the New York Mets. That said, the best way for you or anyone else to learn about the team is to join us at Shea Stadium and see a new chapter in the team's history unfold before your very eyes."

--from the foreword by Ralph Kiner "Forget it, Casey, he missed second, too." --first-base coach Cookie Lavagetto to manager Casey Stengel after Stengel prepared to argue a call that Marv Throneberry had missed first base on a potential two-run triple "It's a fair ball. It gets by Buckner! Rounding third is Knight.... The Mets will win the ballgame.... They win! They win!" --radio announcer Bob Murphy's call of the ending of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series

From the Inside Flap

The New York Mets stumbled onto Major League Baseball's national stage in 1962 in a manner that no other franchise has since duplicated. Preceded by great fanfare and optimism, the expansion team set records for losses and generally shocked observers with their propensity for eye-popping futility. But by the time the amazin' events of the fall of 1969 had unfolded, they had become the most unlikely and universally embraced championship team in the history of sports.

After more lean years throughout much of the following two decades, the Mets again put their indelible stamp on baseball history by capturing one of the most talked-about and--again--unlikely World Series victories of all time. The New York Mets are truly a franchise with a flair for the dramatic, and Mets Essential is the only book of its kind that successfully tells the entire miraculous story. Everything any real fan could ever want to know about this beloved ballclub is in this fun, fact-filled reference guide. Only Mets Essential spins the complete tale of one of baseball's most cherished underdogs.

From the bad old days of "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry to the historic turnaround set in motion by Tom Seaver's arrival, this team has been a case study in contrasts. From the void that was the late 1970s and the Donald Grant era to the justified swagger of the teams of the mid- to late-1980s--who in 1986 came off of life support to win the most famous World Series game ever--this has always been a franchise about heart. All of the great players and memorable moments are honored in this book, as are the stars of today, such as David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran. Whether you are an old-school Mets fan looking to relive great memories of the past or a more casual observer simply looking to upgrade your knowledge, this book will satisfy your needs through countless anecdotes and insiders' stories; scores of trivia, lists, and statistics; and dozens of photographs.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Triumph Books (April 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572438487
• ISBN-13: 978-1572438484
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,353,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since 2007 Matthew Silverman has written Mets Essential, 100 Things Mets Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die (hardcover 2008, paperback 2010), Shea Goodbye (with Keith Hernandez), and co-authored Mets by the Numbers, Cubs by the Numbers, and Red Sox by the Numbers. He is also author of the forthcoming New York Mets: An Illustrated History, Baseball Miscellany, and Golf Miscellany. He is co-editor of the Maple Street Press Mets Annual.

An avid baseball fan growing up in White Plains, New York, he went on to be associate publisher for the former Total Sports Publishing, heading the reference division. He was managing editor for Total Baseball, Total Football, and was lead editor for Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia, a volume of 2,000 baseball biographies released in 2000. The Village Voice stated, "It's possible that the last time so much essential information was gathered in one volume was The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

Silverman also served as managing editor for books on the Packers, Cowboys, 49ers, and Steelers, among other teams, plus Total Super Bowl. He later served as managing editor for first editions of The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia and The ESPN Football Encyclopedia, along with subsequent editions. He lives in High Falls, New York.