The New York Mets Encyclopedia (Hardcover)

by Peter C. Bjarkman (Author) "If Mets history-1ike that of most big-league clubs-has been an endless roller coaster of exhilarating peaks and depressing valleys, century's end has definitely witnessed one..." (more)
Key Phrases: postseason record, postseason heroics, mound corps, New York, Other Teams, Tom Seaver (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"The New York Mets Encyclopedia" provides the full and exciting story of modern-era baseball’s most popular expansion-age franchise. From those lovable losers of 1962 and 1963, to the Miracle Mets of 1969 and 1973, and on to year-in and year-out contenders of the 1980s and 1990s, including the exciting 1999 squad, New York’s National League Mets have written some of the most exciting and colorful pages in major league history. This is the team that captured the hearts of New Yorkers and fans everywhere with its often-laughable antics under colorful and celebrated manager Casey Stengel, then, only a half a dozen years later, climbed to baseball’s pinnacle under gifted, yet tragic, manager Gil Hodges. This colorful volume combines detailed and highly readable narrative history with archival photographs, rich statistical data, and intimate portraits of the team’s most memorable personalities.

About the Author
Peter C. Bjarkman has authored more than 35 books on baseball and basketball history and specializes in big-league team histories, Latin American baseball, and NCAA basketball. His "Baseball with a Latin Beat: A History of the Latin American Game" received the 1994 MacMillan-SABR Baseball Research Award, and his recent "Hoopla: A Century of College Basketball" has been acclaimed as the definitive history of the college cage sport. He is the author of "The Boston Celtics Encyclopedia" (Sports Publishing Inc., 1999). Bjarkman also writes regular columns on baseball in Cuba for several national and international baseball publications.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Sports Publishing (May 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582610355
• ISBN-13: 978-1582610351
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,763,077 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hardly Encyclopedic, January 29, 2002

By	David Sosidka (Clinton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

I guess it's pretty easy to call something an encyclopedia these days. Most teams have them, and this one is inferior to most of the others I've seen. First, its 320 pages pales in comparison. Secondly, the last hundred pages could have been condensed into about a dozen.
Most egregious of all are the errors, and there are quite a few. Rusty Staub's bio refers to him as a "third sacker." The caption of the Willie Mays photo on pg. 154 says he "receives a shower in the aftermath of the 1969 division-clinching victory."
For the most part, the bios in the book are unoriginal and stale, particularly for anyone with even a rudimentary background in the history of the Mets. If you have any of the books this one claims to be "designed to overhaul and supplant," you need not buy this one.
On the positive side are the photos from the George Brace collection which pepper the book. It is a welcome change from the usual sources of period photography, Photo File and the Mets themselves.
I don't know if author Peter C. Bjarkman has read the Phillies Encyclopedia, but it should be the next thing he sees when another idea like this comes along. And Sports Publishing, Inc. has done little to assuage the fears that it has become the McPublisher of Sports Literature.
I am very disappointed.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars ouch! this could make even ME a yankees fan!, June 23, 2001

By	Jonathan Lapin "fletcher rabbit" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

this book kept getting delayed for nearly two years, and i had thought it was to make sure it would be thorough and correct. boy, was i ever wrong!

this is a total disaster. just a cursory reading and i noticed a dozen factual errors. i mean: listing billy taylor among the all-time season saves leaders? thats only symptomatic of the shoddy workmanship that went into this book. any longtime mets fan (and ive been there since the beginning) would be able to do a better job than this.

do NOT go near this outrageously overpriced pile of dross! it is as valuable to a mets fan as -- well, as kevin mcreynolds!

BOO! HISS!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Does not appear to be up to the necessary standard, August 5, 2005

By	Professor Rowe "Dr. Rowe" (North Colorado) - See all my reviews

This encyclopedia does does not appear to be up to the necessary standard for a team encyclopedia. Numerous errors that even a non-Mets fan, such as myself, was able to spot. Additionally, the prose is jerky and the tone is overly familiar.

It does not seems appropriate that Dr. Bjarkman reviews his own book and rates it 5 stars on this page.