An amazin’ look at the Mets

Posted Oct 31, 2011 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated Oct 31, 2011 at 10:45 PM

I still own a copy of the Oct. 17, 1969, edition of the New York Daily News. It’s a little tattered, but the headline on the back page still looks solid: “Mets Are No. 1” in capital letters. A large photograph shows pitcher Jerry Koosman jumping into the arms of his catcher, Jerry Grote, while Donn Clendenon and Ed Charles circle the mound in their own victory dance.

That was the day the Amazin’ Mets won the World Series against the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles. I am not a Mets fan, but being New York-born, I knew the paper was a keeper.

That cover adorns the inside of another keeper, “The Mets: A 50th Anniversary Celebration” by Andy Martino and Anthony McCarron (Stewart, Tabori & Chang; $40 hardback, 320 pages). It’s hard to believe the Mets have been around that long, but the team’s 50-year history has been full of colorful, controversial and humorous moments.

Martino and McCarron, both Daily News staffers, have compiled a rich history of the Mets, with plenty of stories and anecdotes. The book is divided into decades and gives full attention to the team’s bumbling beginnings to its shocking World Series victory in 1969.

The 1970s brought another pennant (1973), but also saw the team’s decline that was epitomized by the 1977 “midnight massacre” that saw the Mets trade franchise pitcher Tom Seaver to the Reds and slugger Dave Kingman to the Padres.

But after several years of mediocrity, the Mets re-emerged as a power in the mid-1980s, culminating with the 1986 squad of cocky, talented players that won a memorable NLCS against Houston and a seven-game World Series from the Boston Red Sox.

The Subway Series against the Yankees and other great moments are also written about in great detail.

Having the Daily News as a photo source is an absolute blessing, because that paper’s archives have some awesome pictures — both black and white, and color. The book contains more than 250 shots, and plenty of thought was put behind the ones used. For example, there’s a black-and-white shot of Ron Swoboda making a difficult catch against the wall at Shea Stadium beneath a sign that reads “Either you have it, or you don’t.”

It’s very clear after looking through this Mets retrospective that the authors “have it.”