A former outfielder on the Mets offers an insider account of the baseball team's legendary 1969 season, drawing on the voices of of the players, including the author's and that of Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver.
Shamsky is a capable, if sometimes repetitive, writer, and, while the story of the Miracle Mets has been told before...it bears telling again. Shamsky’s account of the 1969 season is exceptional, as is his handling of the team’s disparate personalities, the national context in which the Mets staged their Miracle (it was a year for miracles—the first manned moon landing took place less than three months before the World Series), and the coverage of the racial amity on the team.
The narrative of the season itself, which takes up two-thirds of the book, is informative and entertaining, and Shamsky effectively places the team’s magical year within the social and political contexts of 1969 ... Moreover, the author persuasively argues that the team helped unify New Yorkers during a turbulent time. However, the reunion itself is somewhat anticlimactic, and Shamsky probably overstates his case that the ’69 Mets inspired the nation as a whole. An enjoyable tale of a storybook season.
Former Mets outfielder Shamsky movingly revisits the 1969 Miracle Mets’ season during a reunion with his old teammates ... Pivotal moments in the rise of the cellar-dwelling new team to baseball powerhouse are chronicled in detail ... This heartfelt, nostalgic memoir will delight baseball fans of all ages and allegiances.
