Tales of the 1962 New York Mets: a collection of the greatest stories ever told

by Janet Paskin

Legendary manager Casey Stengel is featured prominently in a book recapturing the spectacle of a season where the expansion Mets set a record for losses but gained a legion of fans.

Genres: Baseball

200 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2004

Reviews

[Marshall Merims · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy reading about the pathetic times experienced by the players of the inaugural Mets team of 1962. The book chronicles the years just before the team was created, Spring Training of 1962, and that fateful 40 win (and 120 loss) season that may forever be the worst single season winning percentage (0.250) in the history of MLB. Some of the other possible names for the team were Continentals, Rebels, Burros, and Skyliners. I believe they chose wisely. In one game, a relief pitcher got the chance to hit because he told manager Casey Stengel "Yeah, I'm a good hitter". After getting a base hit on the first pitch, Casey promptly sent in a pinch runner for him. Too funny! Supposedly, there was a banner displayed at the Polo Grounds (Mates initial home field) reading "We don’t want to set the world on fire, we just want to finish ninth" (ahead of the Houston Colt .45's who were the other expansion team that year). In May, the Mets won both games of a double header against the Braves with the win in each game going to relief pitcher Craig Anderson. Many know the weirdly "famous" original Met named "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry who was a decent slugger but was not much of a fielder. His middle name was Eugene so his initials were MET. How ironic. Janet Paskin is the author of this book and the granddaughter of Seymour and Hilda Weingarten. Hilda was a childhood friend of my Grandmother Muriel who stayed friends for over 80 years. Enjoy this book like I did as I also learned about what many of the players did in their years after baseball and how close the 2003 Tigers came to tying or eclipsing the 1962 Mets record.

[Ron Kaplan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mets

[Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to read - interesting and funny stories about the lovable 62 Mets.