Amazin': The Miraculous History of New York's Most Beloved Baseball Team - Peter Golenbock -... Book

Yes, the New York Mets have appeared in five World Series since they played their first season in 1962. But they've won only one of those World Series games and that was 34 years ago. This book made you feel Mets fans' pain about not having won a Fall Classic since 1986.

Amazin' was a thick coffee table book that was primarily about Mets baseball from 1962 to 2000. This book was told through oral recollections of some of the most well known and not so well known Mets players.

My favorite parts of this book were the analysis of the 1984 through 1990 New York Mets, a period in which the Mets were transitioning into serious contenders in the NL East and throughout the MLB. But after 1990, the Mets became the same old Mets. And it's sad that the Mets couldn't string together more than one World Series title in that seven year period, because there were some high quality rosters playing in Queens in that period.

And my other favorite part of this book was the chapter dedicated to the late William Shea (Chapter 8), a lawyer and a well regarded New York go-getter who helped bring National League baseball to New York and who Shea Stadium was named after. Through this book I learned that Shea was a modest man who didn't think it was right to name the Mets' stadium after him. Well guess what? The folks who had something to do with the Mets' stadium naming rights didn't listen to him and well, you know the rest.

Amazin' book pros: The book did its job in educating its readers about Mets baseball history over a 49-year period. You can't come away from this book and not be educated on Mets baseball history. Also, the oral recollections by former Mets gave this book a jump back in time aura about it for those who didn't get a chance to experience Mets baseball from 1962 to 2000.

Amazin' book cons: Yes, this was a history book. But for many Mets teams of the 1990s, those teams got a so-so amount of ink in this book. I think the author of this book was more concerned with the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s Mets than he was about the 1990s teams. And that's been a recurring theme in Peter Golenbock's other oral history books I've read like Cowboys Have Always Been My Heroes (Dallas Cowboys) and Go Gators (Florida Gators football).

Also, where were the oral recollections of other late 1990s and early 2000s Mets? Al Leiter was the only Met from the late 1998 to 2000 period that was interviewed in the book. Where was the oral recollections of Mike Piazza, Edgardo Alfonzo, John Franco, Turk Wendell, Kenny Rogers, Orel Hershiser, John Olerud, Robin Ventura, Rey Ordonez, and others?

In conclusion, Amazin' was not a definitive history of the Mets, it was a history of the Mets. But at the end of the day it was an educational book on a franchise that has had some hard luck since 1987 with the playoffs, trades, and etc.