Miracle In New York: The Story of the ’69 Mets from Thor Neureiter on Vimeo.

Special Thanks to Matt for taking the time out to do this interview and to The Society For American Baseball Research for contacting me about this book.

Question: Within the acknowledgments section, there is mention of a number of Mets related blogs. How big of a role did Mets Blogs play in the research and information gathering of the book?

Answer: There have been many times in Mets history where you had to wonder, “Am I the only person who cares about this? It’s 10-1, they’re 20 games out, and I’m worried that they’re using a reliever for the third night in a row.” Blogs are unequivocal proof that we are not alone. While a few people I thought would be anxious to help weren’t, just about every blogger I asked–most of whom aren’t even in SABR–couldn’t wait to be a part of it. And bloggers like yourself writing about the finished product and furthering the discussion on this great team also helps get the word out. People with questions about the book can contact me at my blog at metsilverman.com.

Question: In your words, why should a young Mets (or general baseball fan) not alive in 1969 read this book?

Answer: Well, first of all I actually missed the 1969 season–and 1973. At age four in ’69, I remember seeing the show Underdog but not the Underdog Mets. I didn’t start following the Mets until it was too late (1975–the ship was starting to go down–and the team was horribly run). I always wanted to know everything I could about the time I missed, like a dynamic relative you heard so much about but you never got to meet. The more you look at the ’69 season, the more you realize it will never be duplicated. Not just by the Mets, but by any team. The Mets were so hideously bad in their early years, losing 100 games five out of seven seasons–plus the worst record of the century–and then bam: 100 wins and a World Series title against a 109-win Orioles team filled with All-Stars and future Hall of Famers (as were the Cubs). That Mets lineup was not what you call power-laden, but their manager made sure they knew how to play. Gil Hodges used everyone on the roster. They all had career years or were platooned perfectly by Hodges. The ’69 Mets are not just some legend. It’s your team. They may win another World Series someday, but it will never be anywhere close to this level of hysteria…even with ESPN, the Internet, MLB channel, and twittering till your thumbs fall off. The ’86 team was an echo of the ’69 club–only that was a club of All-Stars that did the unMetly feat of running away with a division–yet even they needed divine intervention. There had to be a little 1969 mojo in the air at Shea for that ’86 team to win three times in their last at-bat in the NLCS or the Game 6 and 7 comebacks against Boston. I’m just hoping these 23 long years since ’86 are building up to some other celestial jackpot we can’t yet see.

Question: Give me one or two things you learned from the book that you didn’t already know about the 69 Mets?

Answer: Rain and doubleheaders. The ’69 Mets actually benefited from a lot of rainouts. The Mets had a really tight early schedule, no days off–and back then they played almost all day games until May (what a concept). So the rainouts happened when the team was struggling and they benefited from the time off. Then in August and September, the Mets had all these doubleheaders, the pitching was at its peak, and they charged past everyone. They went 11‑3‑8 in doubleheaders, including six sweeps in their last nine twinbills, fueling their 38-11 finish. The Cubs had the worst record in the league over the same period and lost a double-digit lead. A Chicago blogger and an Orioles fan were gracious enough to write what it was like being a kid and seeing this upstart Mets team crush their dreams. It’s a feeling modern Mets fans can understand, but it’s reassuring to know it can happen to someone else.

Question: Closing thoughts or anything additional you want to add?

Answer: Thanks for your interest, Kerel. The books is available at local bookstores for under $25 and for even less at Amazon–in Mets dollar terms: for less than the price of a sandwich and beer run for one person at Citi Field. It’s for a good cause and a great team and the book, if I dare say, will have you saying “wow” more than a few times. And when was the last team the current Mets made you say that in a good way. There’ll never be another team like the ’69 Mets.

Matt is a big time Mets fan and has authored, co-authored and edited a number of baseball and sports related books and publications. Please check out the interview below and leave a comment! Also remember, if interested in the book it can be purchased here.

Question: A little background on you and your role in the book?

Answer: I’ve worked on some books on the Mets (Mets Essential, 100 Things Mets Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Maple Street Press Mets Annual, Mets by the Numbers with Jon Springer, and Shea Goodbye with Keith Hernandez). I grew up in White Plains in the 1970s and got to see a couple of years of Tom Seaver, Jerry Grote, Jerry Koosman, Wayne Garrett, and Bud Harrelson before they were scattered across the earth by the narrow-minded and clueless front office. I can’t even begin to tell you how unpopular the Mets were then (though there’s an epilogue in the book by Jason Kanarek that does a good job of it). My role for The Miracle Has Landed was as editor–Ken Samelson was in charge of proofing with help from Len Levin and Bill Nowlin–and we coordinated biographies on every Met who played on the 1969 team, plus coaches, the owner, GM, chairman of the board, and of course, the announcing crew of Kiner, Murphy, and Nelson, written by the leading writer in the field, Curt Smith. Even if they pitched two innings (as Jesse Hudson did), a full bio is included and their baseball card. I wrote a lot of smaller pieces as well as biographies of Tug McGraw, Don Cardwell, and Cal Koonce and helped out with a couple of others. My Q&A with Ralph Kiner about broadcasting in 1969 is also in there.

Question: How did the idea of the book come about?

Answer: The Society of Baseball Research (SABR) has commissioned several books on different championship teams–including two teams that preceded the ’69 Mets in the World Series: the 1967 Red Sox and 1968 Tigers. SABR is an organization with a few thousand members and there was no shortage of people who wanted to help. It’s a volunteer project, so the people were really into and did a great job. Maple Street Press served as publisher and they made the ideas work on paper.

Question: Beginning to end, how long did the book take to come together?

Answer: I was first contacted in March 2007 and I saw the last page proof just as the 2009 season ended…so that’s two and a half years. It was done piecemeal at times and the publisher and I agreed to put it out in the fall because there would be less competition, it would be in stores for the holidays, and the extra time allowed us to get in some of the festivities they had for the 40th anniversary in 2009.

Question: You have Authored, Co-Authored and been Editor in numerous other baseball books. What was the one thing that stands out or was most enjoyable about this book?

Answer: I started in newspapers and the aspect of being a sports editor I miss most is laying out art and text and figuring out how to present things on a page. I got to write a lot of the sidebars that appear at the end of many bios and essays–snippets of stuff that wouldn’t fit in a longer piece–and it let me play around with subjects like the ’68 Jets and ’70 Knicks, who won world championships before and after the Mets, plus what the Yankees were doing in ’69 (finishing fifth–that felt therapeutic), where the Mets were for the Moon landing, future Mets born in 1969, the ’69 Mets Vegas lounge act, and about 30 other subjects.

Tomorrow I will post Part III of this book review which will be a continuation of this interview.

I just wanted to let you guys know that I just received a copy of the book in the mail today. I hope to do a full review of the book (and possibly interview one of the books Editors) over the next week or two. In the meantime if you are interested in purchasing the book, you can get it for $24 over at Amazon.com.

This weeks pick for New York Mets photo of the week is a photo I took a couple years ago on my visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This year has been such a negative one for the Mets, I wanted to post this photo to remind us all that it is possible for the Mets to actually win

You can check out past Photo’s of The Week here. If you would like to submit a pic for Photo of The Week, please email me directly. If it’s not your original photo please provide the source. I will not post a photo that is not your original work if you do not provide the source.

With the Mets set to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Champion New York Mets, below is a collection of links that will give you some insight into this team. For those of you who would like to learn more about one of the greatest teams in New York Mets history I highly recommend you check these out:

–Team Photo: 1969 New York Mets via bobster855′s flickr photostream

–Stats: 1969 New York Mets Batting, Pitching & Fielding Stats via Baseball Reference

–Article: Miracle Mets via SI – special thanks to Twitter Follower @pymrod for the recommendation

–The Hodges remember 1969:  Hodges Family talk to Gary, Keith and Ron via SNY.tv

–Winning It All: Mets Win The 1969 World Series via MLB

–Fan Tribute: Tribute to the 1969 New York Mets via LaurMatFilms YouTube Channel (video below)

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