The 1986 New York Mets

One of two companion volumes of biographies of the players, coaches, announcers, and others involved with the 1986 World Series, one on each team, the Mets and the Red Sox. One of the most dramatic World Series in baseball history, the 1986 series featured many more twists and turns than just "the Buckner gaffe." The Mets were a colorful group of characters including Keith Hernandez, Dwight Gooden, and Darryl Strawberry, and we examine each one.

This book on the 1986 season re-tells the story of that year's classic World Series. After four games, each team had won two away games and neither had won at home. Then the Red Sox won Game Five at Fenway, and were one game away from winning their first World Championship in 86 years. It came to the point they were one pitch away from baseball Nirvana.

And then....

Just about everyone knows what happened, but there are takes on it here you might not have read elsewhere. Mostly, this is the story of each of the players, coaches, managers, and broadcasters, their lives in baseball and the way the 1986 season fit into their lives.

As with many of the books published by the Society of American Baseball Research, this was a true collaborative effort. There are 74 different SABR members who contributed to making these two books on the Mets and Red Sox a reality. It took us two books to tell the story as well as we wanted. Be sure to pick up the companion 1986 Boston Red Sox book for the rest of the story

Table of Contents:

Rick Aguilera by Alan Cohen

Rick Anderson by Joel Rippel

Wally Backman by Nick Waddell

Bruce Berenyi by David E Skelton

Gary Carter by Rory Costello

Tim Corcoran by Leslie Heaphy

Ron Darling by Audrey Apfel

Lenny Dykstra by Andy Sturgill

Kevin Elster by Joel Rippel

Sid Fernandez by Rory Costello

George Foster by Cindy Thomson

John Gibbons by Nick Waddell

Dwight Gooden by Lee Kluck

Ed Hearn by Alan Cohen

Danny Heep by Mark Simon

Keith Hernandez by Michael Martell

Stan Jefferson by Armand Peterson

Howard Johnson by Dave Raglin

Ray Knight by Ralph Carhart

Terry Leach by Jon Springer

Ed Lynch by Jon Springer

Barry Lyons by Leslie Heaphy

Dave Magadan by Rory Costello

Lee Mazzilli by Jon Springer

Roger McDowell by Jon Springer

John Mitchell by Skip Nipper

Kevin Mitchell by Joe Wancho

Randy Myers by Rich Puerzer

Randy Niemann by David E Skelton

Bob Ojeda by Alan Cohen

Jesse Orosco by Rory Costello

Rafael Santana by Leslie Heaphy

Doug Sisk by Alan Cohen

Darryl Strawberry by Shawn Morri

Tim Teufel by Rory Costello

Mookie Wilson by Irv Goldfarb

Manager, Davey Johnson by Mark Armour

General Manager, Frank Cashen by Mark Armour

Scouting Director, Roland Johnson by Alan Cohen

Coaches

Buddy Harrelson by Eric Aron

Vern Hoscheit by Jimmy Keenan

Greg Pavlick by Leslie Heaphy

Bill Robinson by Alan Cohen

Mel Stottlemyre by Gregory H Wolf

Announcers

Ralph Kiner by Warren Corbett

Tim McCarver by Dave Williams

Fran Healy by Alan Cohen

Rusty Staub by Norm King

Steve Zabriskie by Alan Raylesburg

Seven 1986 Mets Games

April 30, 1986 by Irv Goldfarb

May 27, 1986 by Gregory H Wolf

July 11, 1986 by Gregory H Wolf

July 22, 1986 by Michael Huber

September 4, 1986 -- Mets/Red Sox exhibition game by Saul Wisnia

September 17, 1986 by Gregory H Wolf

September 28, 1986 by Jack Zerby291

The 1986 National League Championship Series by Rory Costello

The 1986 World Series by Matthew Silverman

Mike Sergio by Bill Nowlin

By The Numbers by Dan Fields

How the Mets Were Built by Rod Nelson