Dick Schaap (1) (1931–2001)

This book, published soon after the Mets' 1969 championship season was over and updated slightly a few years later, covers the first "crucial" set of games in Mets history, a nine-game stretch in July 1969 during which they played two series against the Chicago Cubs, the team they were then chasing for their division title, and one against the Montreal Expos, that year an expansion team themselves trying to play the "spoilers" role. The authors walk us hour-by-hour and even minute-by-minute through these games, but also through the pre-game and post-game hours. We see it all in short episodes (everything from one paragraph through two or three pages in length), seen through the eyes of the players, the coaches, the sportswriters and even the fans. Nothing goes too in depth, here, but we are left with an enlightening picture of that mid-season stretch. And since things have changed quite a bit in many ways over the intervening 44 years, we also get a picture of what it was like to be a player, and a fan, in that memorable but now bygone era. For example, many of the players and coaches mention fervently wanting to make the post-season because they need to money. With today's major league salaries, the post-season paychecks are essentially an afterthought to all but the least experienced players.

What's ironic on a personal note is that when these games were taking place, I was a 14-year-old living in New Jersey and, as a die-hard Yankees fan, infuriated by the whole Mets success, especially since by then the Yankees had become quite mediocre. I would never had read this book when it first came out. While I have maintained my teenage immaturity in many crucial areas, I can at least now read books about the 1969 Mets.… (mere)