The Miracle Has Landed: The Amazin'
Story of How the 1969 Mets Shocked the World
Seven seasons after the Mets
debuted with the most losses in modern baseball history, the franchise was
still seen as a laughingstock, with 100-to-1 odds to win the World Series when
1969 began. The first year of divisional play started out as the Cubs' year,
while most onlookers figured the Mets would be happy if they could play .500
ball. Tom Seaver's "Imperfect Game" against Chicago showed that the Mets could
play with the big boys, but the Cubs still had a double-digit lead on the Mets
in the middle of August. The Cubs stumbled, plagued by worn-out players, black
cats, and bad luck, and magnificent Mets pitching turned the tide.
The Miracle Has Landed celebrates the loveable Mets like no other book,
complete with photos and artifacts of the time. A project of the Society for
American Baseball Research, this volume gathers the collective efforts of more
than thirty SABR members and features profiles of every player, coach,
broadcaster, and significant front-office member connected to that great Mets
squad. Included are Hall of Famers Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan, beloved manager
Gil Hodges, the talented outfield of Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee, and Ron Swoboda,
drill sergeant backstop Jerry Grote, crucial mid-season acquisition Donn
Clendenon, scrappy shortstop Bud Harrelson, and a pitching staff that went far
deeper than just Seaver and Ryan. Forty years later the Miracle Mets are still
revered, the first world champion expansion team and the club that stole New
York's heart.
$21 + s/h