Author Commentary:
In 2007 I was contracted to work on three books about the Mets. It was a challenge as both a writer and a lifelong fan. Like everything in the Mets universe, though, there turned out to be a steep price for my good fortune. I handed in the manuscript to Triumph Books for 100 Things Mets Fans Should Know and Do before They Die the day the Mets took a seemingly insurmountable seven-game lead with just 17 games remaining. I had planned to add a piece about the ending of the 2007 season, but even the most pessimistic follower of the team could never have imagined such a lead disappearing with so little time left. I revised the manuscript somewhat—a section on Glavine was burned in effigy (though his 300th win is noted along with Pedro’s 3,000th K), and Jose Reyes had to be moved down in the order to accommodate a piece on the collapse. 100 Things won’t only tell you about the greatest moments in club history, it has several cool stories out of the mouths of other fans, like going to a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, or describing the first game at spanking new Shea, standing on top of a phone booth for the victory parade in 1969 and carrying away part of the fence, scalping tickets from a cop in the 1973 World Series, and sneaking into Games 6 and 7 in the 1986 Series. The special “Shea Goodbye” section includes a guide to the best seats in every section of Shea, how to go where you want in the park without sitting in your real seat, a history of Banner Day and how to do the Mr. Met Dash with a minimal amount of tears, plus landmark nonMets icons from Shea’s past like the Beatles and Joe Willie Namath. It ends with the future: Citi Field.
$15 + s/h