May 30 2011 05:22 PM
Re: Things I Hadn't Known About the Mets
If you haven't already, I'd recommend you read Ryczek's book on the '60's Mets. I think it's one of the best books ever written about Mets history.
I purchased the book specifically to read about the Wes Westrum years, which are the least documented years of the Mets first decade. To the extent that those years are ever covered, they're treated lightly -- and typically, only as a way to gauge the oncoming miracle of a few years later -- rarely for their own merits (or lack). Most Mets books that covered the '60's couldn't wait to get through this Westrum period where the cutesy lovableness was wearing off of the team while the talent level remained somewhat grim, if embryonic.
I had little expectations from this book. Throneberry's bungled triple, for example, an otherwise fantastic story, loses its' effect somewhere on the way to its' fifteenth telling. But Ryczek didn't simply rehash what you and I already know. He sought out many ex-Mets and conducted fresh interviews, and backed his field work with diligent research -- it's a hunch, but I'm under the impression that Ryczek read the newspaper accounts of every single game the Mets ever played in the '60s to prepare for this book.
