Maury Allen (1932–2010)

The Incredible Mets was written by sportswriter Maury Allen, who covered the team for many years, and was published the month after the Mets won the World Series in 1969. I thought the book would be entirely about the '69 season, but the first half of it was instead a history of the Mets franchise, showing the tortured route they took from being the joke of the league to the toast of the country. Then the second half is a look at the '69 season. I was seven when the Mets came into being in show more 1962, so while I have some memories of the team's first few years, I enjoyed the refresher course.

I would absolutely recommend this book for any fan of baseball and baseball history. Without doubt Allen adds more than a little "homerism" to his account, but the book is also well written, quickly paced and entertaining, and there is a rewarding number of fun and funny anecdotes about the players who populated the Mets' early history, from lovable losers to "incredible" winners. show less

Being one veteran sportswriter's attempt to take on the fool's errand of attempting to rank baseball players. Opinion is always valuable, but the task is impossible; different eras are too difficult to compare and pitchers can't really be jumbled in with field players. He doesn't help his book by omitting nineteenth-century players, and much, much worse is his inclusion of active players--how do numbers 75, 97, and 77 look to you now?

A great look into the life of Casey Stengel by someone who experienced a bunch of it with him. Well done.

For a real old-time Dodgers fan, this book is a must. Not a great read, but it brings back the great memory of the Dodgers 1955 World Series win over the hated Yankees! Maury Allen treats that memory well ...