The Bad Guys Won!

Even though I am a diehard Red Sox fan, I absoulety loved this book. It was funny, out-rageous, informative, honest, everything you could possibly want from a sports book.

And yes, I almost tore the book into when Pearlman gave a detailed account of Game 6.

I was only 2 years old when the Mets won it all in 1986, but reading this book made me feel like I lived through it all. Pearlman does a fantastic job bringing the highlights (and lowlights for that matter) of the 1986 season to life in full detail. A must read for any Mets fan or any fan of baseball.

Stylistically, this is pretty conventional sports-writing, with lots of overwrought melodrama and awkward analogies ("The Boston right-hander had as much right pitching in Game 4 of the World Series as Spuds McKenzie [sic] did distributing political advice"). But Pearlman is a decent story-teller, and as a long-time Mets fan, with fond memories of 1986, I found the story compelling. While hardly comprehensive, the book offers interesting behind the scenes perspectives, albeit with a strong emphasis on the most negative aspects. Even more general baseball fans, with no emotional ties to the year or team, should find much of interest here. And, of course, it's endlessly fascinating (and fruitless) to look at the young Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, and the amazing chemistry of this team, and wonder what might have been.

I'm the type of guy who likes to read only the sports section, but I must admit,that this was one of the most interesting books that I have ever read. It goes into great details and discusses the off field antics that made the 86' Mets so notorious. If you are looking for a great read, pick it up!

Maybe every woman secretly loves the bad boys, but maybe it's because they're fun! 1986 was the most fun I've ever had in my life. That wild ride with that baseball team was the most profoundly satisfying baseball season I've ever experienced, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Frankly, after years of suffering with the Mets of Grant's Tomb, the Mets and their long-suffering fans were ready to cut loose, to dance and sing and win, win, win. Where others saw obnoxiousness and arrogance, we saw exuberance and cameraderie. We saw teamwork, butt-busting effort, and hard-earned celebrations. The Sox fans often maintain that the 86 Series was lost on an error as if the Mets should NOT have capitalized on their jittery Schiraldi and Stanley, and the tough-but-fragile Bill Buckner (BTW, off Buckner, everybody-- he was a hell of a ball player and a very classy guy, and you guys sure are doing a lot better in the post-season than we are recently!)

It was pure, unadulterated joy, the kind of joy only amazing baseball can afford, and for that, I can never think of those guys as bad. The Mets are a good, contending team now, but when I see the DVDs of the '86 Series, I remember really transcendent baseball played by really vivid personalities. I just loved them.