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They Said It Couldn't Be Done: The '69 Mets, New York City, and the Most Astounding Season in Baseball History
"The story of the 1969 Miracle Mets, unlikely world champions against the backdrop of the space race and Vietnam, on the 50th anniversary of their Cinderella season In 1962, the New York Mets spent their first year in existence racking up the worst record in baseball history. Things scarcely got any better for the ensuing six years--they were baseball's laughingstock, but somehow lovable in their ineptitude, building a fiercely loyal fan base. And then came 1969, a year that brought the lunar landing, Woodstock, nonstop antiwar protests, and the most tumultuous and fractious New York City mayoral race in memory--along with the most improbable season in the annals of Major League Baseball. It concluded on an invigorating autumn afternoon in Queens, when a Minnesota farm boy named Jerry Koosman beat the Baltimore Orioles for the second time in five games, making the Mets champions of the baseball world. It wasn't merely an upset but an unprecedented, uplifting achievement for the ages. From the ashes of those early scorched-earth seasons, Gil Hodges, a beloved former Brooklyn Dodger, put together a 25-man whole that was vastly more formidable than the sum of its parts. Beyond the top-notch pitching staff headlined by Tom Seaver, Koosman, and Gary Gentry, and the hitting prowess of Cleon Jones, the Mets were mostly comprised of untested kids and lightly regarded veterans. Everywhere you looked on this team, there was a man with a compelling backstory, from Koosman, who never played high school baseball and grew up throwing in a hayloft in subzero temperatures with his brother Orville, to third baseman Ed Charles, an African-American poet with a deep racial conscience whose arrival in the big leagues was delayed almost a decade because of the color of his skin. In the tradition of The Boys of Winter, his classic bestseller about the 1980 U.S. men's Olympic hockey team, Wayne Coffey tells the story of the '69 Mets as it has never been told before--against the backdrop of the space race, Stonewall, and Vietnam, set in an ever-changing New York City. With dogged reporting and a storyteller's eye for detail, Coffey finds the beating heart of a baseball family. Published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Mets' remarkable transformation from worst to best, They Said It Couldn't Be Done is a spellbinding, feel-good narrative about an improbable triumph by the ultimate underdog"--
281 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 26, 2019
58 people are currently reading
390 people want to read
About the author
Wayne Coffey
31 books18 followersWayne Coffey is an award-winning sportswriter for the New York Daily News and the author of Winning Sounds Like This, among other books. He lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
August 27, 2020
I was just a little too young to really follow the miracle that was the 1969 Mets, but I have been a Mets fan all my life. And so this book was a joy: a window into the players I would come to know a year or so later, and the group that defined so very much of my childhood. I loved it as a Mets fan but also, pure and simple, as a baseball fan.
July 31, 2019
Disappointing. I originally gave the book three stars, but writing this review I talked myself into reducing it to two stars. This just isn't that good. That's odd, because it avoids the biggest problem with a book like this. That problem is making the book a series of game recaps - a list of "and then this happened, and then this happened" forever more. But this book avoids that trip. But then falls into other traps.
This book is a failure of organization. Opening Day takes place on page 25. And the Mets clinch the division on page 75. Folks, the narrative ends on page 284. Yeah, it really gives the season short-shrift. That's one way to fall into a "then this happened" game-by-game recap. I get that you want to focus more on the postseason, but this is ridiculous. While winning the Series made the Miracle Mets legends, the fact they came from nowhere to win 100 games (!) in a season was part of it, too.
Here? You get 50 pages on the regular season. 50 pages on the NLCS. And 142 pages on the World Series. I mean, does the NLCS really deserve equal time to the regular season? Frankly, when you spend that long on the World Series, you fall a bit into the trap anyway - often the postseason does read like a series of too-long game recaps. It isn't too bad, as Coffey does mix it up with brief life recaps of some of the key players. But frankly you could space those out in the regular season as well. This book is Goldilocks worst nightmare: it's either too little or too much - but never just right.
The book tries to include some other bits of color from the year that was 1969 - the moon landing and Woodstock, for instance. But those are often ham-handed and annoyingly done. We get the story of some random Mets fan going to Woodstock, for instance. What that has to do with anything? Well, it's in the book. Frankly, it seems a little lazy to include a few pages on only the super-obvious events and then do nothing else for context. The whole regular season feels like something Coffey could be bothered to spend much time researching or focusing on it.
This book could use more background; more pre-1969 Mets stuff. Again, part of what makes the Mets so memorable was how putrid they'd been. It could give you a chance to introduce some key characters even before the season began.
Earlier this year I read a different book about a World Series champion - "They Bled Blue" about the 1981 Dodgers. That book was far superior to this one. You got a sense of the people involved on and off the field. You got a sense of the team's role in the overall franchise and city history. It was well-paced. This book does none of that. And it has a much better story than the 1981 Dodgers!
Damn disappointing.
This book is a failure of organization. Opening Day takes place on page 25. And the Mets clinch the division on page 75. Folks, the narrative ends on page 284. Yeah, it really gives the season short-shrift. That's one way to fall into a "then this happened" game-by-game recap. I get that you want to focus more on the postseason, but this is ridiculous. While winning the Series made the Miracle Mets legends, the fact they came from nowhere to win 100 games (!) in a season was part of it, too.
Here? You get 50 pages on the regular season. 50 pages on the NLCS. And 142 pages on the World Series. I mean, does the NLCS really deserve equal time to the regular season? Frankly, when you spend that long on the World Series, you fall a bit into the trap anyway - often the postseason does read like a series of too-long game recaps. It isn't too bad, as Coffey does mix it up with brief life recaps of some of the key players. But frankly you could space those out in the regular season as well. This book is Goldilocks worst nightmare: it's either too little or too much - but never just right.
The book tries to include some other bits of color from the year that was 1969 - the moon landing and Woodstock, for instance. But those are often ham-handed and annoyingly done. We get the story of some random Mets fan going to Woodstock, for instance. What that has to do with anything? Well, it's in the book. Frankly, it seems a little lazy to include a few pages on only the super-obvious events and then do nothing else for context. The whole regular season feels like something Coffey could be bothered to spend much time researching or focusing on it.
This book could use more background; more pre-1969 Mets stuff. Again, part of what makes the Mets so memorable was how putrid they'd been. It could give you a chance to introduce some key characters even before the season began.
Earlier this year I read a different book about a World Series champion - "They Bled Blue" about the 1981 Dodgers. That book was far superior to this one. You got a sense of the people involved on and off the field. You got a sense of the team's role in the overall franchise and city history. It was well-paced. This book does none of that. And it has a much better story than the 1981 Dodgers!
Damn disappointing.
June 2, 2022
I’m a New York Mets fan and there’s usually two reasons anyone is a Mets fan- they’re from New York or they were a certain age in 1986 when the Mets were the most exciting sports team on the planet. I am the latter.
A high point for the Franchise and baseball history is 1969 where the “Miracle Mets” went from a near decade of being the worst team in history to winning the World Series. In 2019, for the 50th Anniversary, a flood of books were released with the most attention given to Coffey’s book (Coffey is a long time sports writer known for writing what is considered one of the best hockey-related books of all time).
I was told by someone that read it that the book drew a lot from previous books on the subject. I wasn’t concerned as these weren’t books that I had read or was going to read.
But it is obvious from reading that this is book is drawn from a lot of different sources and interviews. Nothing wrong with that of course and Coffey admits as much in the acknowledgments. But the book does feel rather soulless.
One major issue is the book is not about the 1969 Season but about the 1969 World Series. By page 81, the Mets are in the playoffs. Pages 131-272 are about the World Series. Unfortunately, a book cannot describe action like a visual medium.
Ideally, I would like character sketches of the players. These are interspersed but not in a particularly constructive way to give the best benefit. There are fantastic characters and stories- Cleonn Jones, Ed Charles, Donn Clendenon, Jerry Koosman, Tug McGraw, Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver and many more.
These happen through the book but often in later passages.
The season should be interesting, right? The Cubs had a banner year and the pennant race was tight.
Coffey teases contemporary events- Mayor Lindsey’s re-election and the moon landing, but these are more just teases that barely scratch the surface.
In the dozen pages of the Epilogue, Coffey gets most of this stuff right, but it’s in contrast to the tedium of the rest of the book.
As a Mets fan and a baseball fan, I am glad I read it. It is a tale of getting the right players instead of all the best players. I was hoping this would be an all time great book. It is not. It is a good book, just a disappointing one.
A high point for the Franchise and baseball history is 1969 where the “Miracle Mets” went from a near decade of being the worst team in history to winning the World Series. In 2019, for the 50th Anniversary, a flood of books were released with the most attention given to Coffey’s book (Coffey is a long time sports writer known for writing what is considered one of the best hockey-related books of all time).
I was told by someone that read it that the book drew a lot from previous books on the subject. I wasn’t concerned as these weren’t books that I had read or was going to read.
But it is obvious from reading that this is book is drawn from a lot of different sources and interviews. Nothing wrong with that of course and Coffey admits as much in the acknowledgments. But the book does feel rather soulless.
One major issue is the book is not about the 1969 Season but about the 1969 World Series. By page 81, the Mets are in the playoffs. Pages 131-272 are about the World Series. Unfortunately, a book cannot describe action like a visual medium.
Ideally, I would like character sketches of the players. These are interspersed but not in a particularly constructive way to give the best benefit. There are fantastic characters and stories- Cleonn Jones, Ed Charles, Donn Clendenon, Jerry Koosman, Tug McGraw, Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver and many more.
These happen through the book but often in later passages.
The season should be interesting, right? The Cubs had a banner year and the pennant race was tight.
Coffey teases contemporary events- Mayor Lindsey’s re-election and the moon landing, but these are more just teases that barely scratch the surface.
In the dozen pages of the Epilogue, Coffey gets most of this stuff right, but it’s in contrast to the tedium of the rest of the book.
As a Mets fan and a baseball fan, I am glad I read it. It is a tale of getting the right players instead of all the best players. I was hoping this would be an all time great book. It is not. It is a good book, just a disappointing one.
March 24, 2019
The New York Mets shocked the baseball world in 1969 by winning the World Series in their eighth year of existence. In the previous seven years they had finished either last or next to last place. While they have been dubbed the “Miracle Mets” and also the “Amazin’ Mets”, this book by Wayne Coffey goes into great detail to illustrate that their win was not really a “miracle” or “amazing.” Instead, it tells the details of how the team was put together, the background of most of the players and how the season and postseason baseball played by the team was simply excellent.
By placing well-detailed short synopsizes of players within the details of key games and each postseason game of 1969, Coffey does a very good job of explaining to the reader that this Mets team was not one that surprised themselves by being good. Indeed, this team, to a man, started to believe in itself the previous season as the manager, Gil Hodges, installed a quiet yet firm atmosphere of confidence in his club. The reader can’t go more than a few pages without reading about someone stating that Hodges’ leadership was crucial to both his own success and that of the Mets.
As does most baseball books that cover a particular year or era, this book also has references to the important issues of the year such as the civil rights movement, the Woodstock music festival (there is a nice tie-in between the team and the story of a fan who attended the event) and man’s first walk on the moon that year. There are a few of these event that feel like they are simply inserted into the book without much reason, but for the most part, they match what is going on with the team. The best connections to the events of the day are how the embattled mayor of New York City that year, John Lindsey, attached himself to the Mets to gain any political advantage.
However, the best writing of the book is the very detailed description of the eight postseason games played by the Mets. The reader will learn about practically every play in the three games against the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series (a three game sweep for the Mets) and the five World Series games against the Baltimore Orioles. Some of the best player stories are here as well, tied in with some of the best description of terrific play as well. One that stood out to me was outfielder Tommie Agee – both in Coffey’s story about his struggles in the segregated South and his two outstanding catches in the World Series. Mets fans will want to pick up this book to either relive that wonderful season for their team or to learn more about the players and manager as well as the baseball.
I wish to thank Crown Archetype for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
By placing well-detailed short synopsizes of players within the details of key games and each postseason game of 1969, Coffey does a very good job of explaining to the reader that this Mets team was not one that surprised themselves by being good. Indeed, this team, to a man, started to believe in itself the previous season as the manager, Gil Hodges, installed a quiet yet firm atmosphere of confidence in his club. The reader can’t go more than a few pages without reading about someone stating that Hodges’ leadership was crucial to both his own success and that of the Mets.
As does most baseball books that cover a particular year or era, this book also has references to the important issues of the year such as the civil rights movement, the Woodstock music festival (there is a nice tie-in between the team and the story of a fan who attended the event) and man’s first walk on the moon that year. There are a few of these event that feel like they are simply inserted into the book without much reason, but for the most part, they match what is going on with the team. The best connections to the events of the day are how the embattled mayor of New York City that year, John Lindsey, attached himself to the Mets to gain any political advantage.
However, the best writing of the book is the very detailed description of the eight postseason games played by the Mets. The reader will learn about practically every play in the three games against the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series (a three game sweep for the Mets) and the five World Series games against the Baltimore Orioles. Some of the best player stories are here as well, tied in with some of the best description of terrific play as well. One that stood out to me was outfielder Tommie Agee – both in Coffey’s story about his struggles in the segregated South and his two outstanding catches in the World Series. Mets fans will want to pick up this book to either relive that wonderful season for their team or to learn more about the players and manager as well as the baseball.
I wish to thank Crown Archetype for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
September 28, 2019
You know the type. You go to a sports bar and watch a few games on the television screens scattered across the room and someone wants to relive old glory to assuage the hard truth that their team has seldom been very good. Mets fans are like that, all the more pressed than most fanbases since they have maybe the third or fourth (or perhaps even fifth) most illustrious baseball history within their own hometown. The Yankees are pretty good nearly every year, and a down year for them has them barely missing the Wild Card game. The Mets are the sort of team whose fans cheer on any playoff appearance because they are so few and so far between, and this book captures the feeling of what it was like to be a Mets fan in 1969, with a legacy of failure and the sort of success that helps save the career of an embattled mayor who had lost a primary because of the poor response the city showed to a blizzard. But supporting the Mets in their year of glory in 1969 was enough to get him another term in office. Imagine if baseball meant anything close to that today.
This book begins with a prologue that discusses the sad-sack history of the early Mets. After this there are four chapters that discuss the season that the Mets went through, showing how a scrappy team of players was able to play respectable ball that ended up turning increasingly good as the season went on the team gelled under able management and showed considerable promise, thanks especially to its stellar pitching and defense and opportunistic hitting. After that there are three chapters that show the Mets and their progress through to the playoffs thanks to a late-season push as well as their victory in the playoffs over the Braves. After that the rest of the book, which takes up more than 100 pages of the book's total length of almost 300 pages, discusses the five-game series in which the Mets shocked and then dominated the Orioles through superior offense as well as timely defense and pitching in key situations that saved a lot of runs. The epilogue to the book urges readers not to consider the Mets' win a miracle, but it was a striking win and the author is clear to demonstrate the glory of that season for New York's other baseball team.
Admittedly, I am a reader who comes to this book somewhat fond of baseball as a whole but mainly a fan of a team about which few books are written (the Pittsburgh Pirates). I have no active animus towards the Mets, despite not being in general a bit fan of New York or the sports of the city in particular. This book, though, is the sort of volume that is very well aimed at one part of the baseball reading demographic that is very likely to find this book compelling, and that is the sort of reader who loves a good underdog story. Few teams who play in New York or any other city that massive appear as underdogs, but that is certainly the case for the Mets in a way that is not the case for teams like the Yankees or Dodgers with their massive payrolls. The Mets had a magical year in 1969, and this book does a very good job in discussing that season and what allowed a team with stellar pitching and just enough offense to win put all the ingredients together to win the World Series and bring a great deal of encouragement to their part of New York City.
This book begins with a prologue that discusses the sad-sack history of the early Mets. After this there are four chapters that discuss the season that the Mets went through, showing how a scrappy team of players was able to play respectable ball that ended up turning increasingly good as the season went on the team gelled under able management and showed considerable promise, thanks especially to its stellar pitching and defense and opportunistic hitting. After that there are three chapters that show the Mets and their progress through to the playoffs thanks to a late-season push as well as their victory in the playoffs over the Braves. After that the rest of the book, which takes up more than 100 pages of the book's total length of almost 300 pages, discusses the five-game series in which the Mets shocked and then dominated the Orioles through superior offense as well as timely defense and pitching in key situations that saved a lot of runs. The epilogue to the book urges readers not to consider the Mets' win a miracle, but it was a striking win and the author is clear to demonstrate the glory of that season for New York's other baseball team.
Admittedly, I am a reader who comes to this book somewhat fond of baseball as a whole but mainly a fan of a team about which few books are written (the Pittsburgh Pirates). I have no active animus towards the Mets, despite not being in general a bit fan of New York or the sports of the city in particular. This book, though, is the sort of volume that is very well aimed at one part of the baseball reading demographic that is very likely to find this book compelling, and that is the sort of reader who loves a good underdog story. Few teams who play in New York or any other city that massive appear as underdogs, but that is certainly the case for the Mets in a way that is not the case for teams like the Yankees or Dodgers with their massive payrolls. The Mets had a magical year in 1969, and this book does a very good job in discussing that season and what allowed a team with stellar pitching and just enough offense to win put all the ingredients together to win the World Series and bring a great deal of encouragement to their part of New York City.
July 12, 2019
Wayne Coffey’s They Said It Couldn’t Be Done, is a wonderful summer read, perfect for any fan of the game, but especially for those that grew up in the shadow of Shea Stadium and it’s tenants, the New York Mets. As a Mets fan who inherited her love of the game and the team from her grandmother, I can say without a doubt that this book transported me back in time to a team that I loved while adding an adult’s perspective on what that ‘69 team meant to baseball, New York, and society.
Coffey doesn’t just tell the story of the ‘69 Mets. He takes readers back to the beginning, showing us where this team started, how it was the joke of the league, and how bad luck was the only luck the expansion Mets knew. He builds the momentum for the summer of ‘69 perfectly, painting a picture that shows how these Mets weren’t a miracle, but a team that came together in a perfect storm led by a manager that was a maestro at bringing his team together.
Since that summer, I’ve seen coaches/managers do what Gil Hodges did that season and I marvel at the beauty of it. Readers learn exactly who Hodges was and how he coached his team of 25 players to a championship with the “platoon” method, coaxing the talent from each player, letting each one know that JC Martin was as important to the team as Tom Seaver. And, while anyone can look up the statistics and details, Coffey spells this out with interviews and passion, leaving me with a feeling of awe that I haven’t experienced since the Pittsburgh Penguins 2016 Stanley Cup run.
In 1969, America was just a year past the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and They Said It Couldn’t Be Done is very much about the state of racial inequality that plagued the country. The Mets had many outstanding African Americans on that ‘69 team, including World Series MVP, Donn Clendenon. He,Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones, and Ed Charles had all had much different experiences in their youth than their white counterparts on the team, but all four faced the ugliness that they encountered with resilience and honor. On Gil Hodges’ Mets, there was no inequality and in many ways this championship team was an example of how society could aspire to greatness.
There are so many other things to love about this book. Coffey balances (for the most part) team and player anecdotes with game play by play. There were moments that the narrative dragged as too much detail was given about a particular inning or game, but I adored the history of the players. Coffey tells stories like Cleon Jones becoming a switch hitter because as a right-handed hitter he kept hitting the ball into windows of the houses beyond left field. To the right, there was just open field and lots of room for his homeruns. In another story, pitcher Ron Taylor tells of how he became a right-handed pitcher because his mother feared that throwing with his left would exacerbate a cardiovascular condition he had.
They Said It Couldn't Be Done is also nostalgic, taking readers back to a simpler time in professional sports. With the country at war, many players took time off during the season for military service. Money wasn’t thrown at them they way we see it now; players asked for time off to observe religious holidays and they lived in the community rather than in penthouse apartments, neighbors instead of untouchable celebrities. All these things made the 69 Mets exactly what New York, and maybe the entire country, needed.
4 stars for They Said It Couldn’t Be Done.
I received this book from Amazon and the publisher in exchange for honest feedback.
Coffey doesn’t just tell the story of the ‘69 Mets. He takes readers back to the beginning, showing us where this team started, how it was the joke of the league, and how bad luck was the only luck the expansion Mets knew. He builds the momentum for the summer of ‘69 perfectly, painting a picture that shows how these Mets weren’t a miracle, but a team that came together in a perfect storm led by a manager that was a maestro at bringing his team together.
Since that summer, I’ve seen coaches/managers do what Gil Hodges did that season and I marvel at the beauty of it. Readers learn exactly who Hodges was and how he coached his team of 25 players to a championship with the “platoon” method, coaxing the talent from each player, letting each one know that JC Martin was as important to the team as Tom Seaver. And, while anyone can look up the statistics and details, Coffey spells this out with interviews and passion, leaving me with a feeling of awe that I haven’t experienced since the Pittsburgh Penguins 2016 Stanley Cup run.
In 1969, America was just a year past the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and They Said It Couldn’t Be Done is very much about the state of racial inequality that plagued the country. The Mets had many outstanding African Americans on that ‘69 team, including World Series MVP, Donn Clendenon. He,Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones, and Ed Charles had all had much different experiences in their youth than their white counterparts on the team, but all four faced the ugliness that they encountered with resilience and honor. On Gil Hodges’ Mets, there was no inequality and in many ways this championship team was an example of how society could aspire to greatness.
There are so many other things to love about this book. Coffey balances (for the most part) team and player anecdotes with game play by play. There were moments that the narrative dragged as too much detail was given about a particular inning or game, but I adored the history of the players. Coffey tells stories like Cleon Jones becoming a switch hitter because as a right-handed hitter he kept hitting the ball into windows of the houses beyond left field. To the right, there was just open field and lots of room for his homeruns. In another story, pitcher Ron Taylor tells of how he became a right-handed pitcher because his mother feared that throwing with his left would exacerbate a cardiovascular condition he had.
They Said It Couldn't Be Done is also nostalgic, taking readers back to a simpler time in professional sports. With the country at war, many players took time off during the season for military service. Money wasn’t thrown at them they way we see it now; players asked for time off to observe religious holidays and they lived in the community rather than in penthouse apartments, neighbors instead of untouchable celebrities. All these things made the 69 Mets exactly what New York, and maybe the entire country, needed.
4 stars for They Said It Couldn’t Be Done.
I received this book from Amazon and the publisher in exchange for honest feedback.
June 23, 2022
I have read about the Miracle Mets before. I have seen footage, heard the stories. But, it's been a while, so when I saw this on sale, I grabbed it, mostly to hear Gary Cohen's narration.
Coffey does a creditable job outlining the season and the team's woes from inception through 1968, setting the stage for the incredible season that followed. He then traces the season's highs and lows, pausing during the drama to provide capsule biographies of the key players (Seaver, Koosman, Clendenon, Charles, Jones, Agee) and many of the supporting stars (Swoboda, Kranepool, Weiss). While I appreciate learning about them, the structure became annoying the further into the book we got. He did it to heighten the tension, and make you want to read what comes next, but it grew distracting. Maybe it's me, but he paid more attention to Bobby Phiel (who I forgot all about) than superstar shortstop Bud Harrelson. He also places manager Gil Hodges on a pedestal, barely mentioning the coaching staff, despite his claims to it being a full effort from all.
Cohen's narration is, as expected, strong, but it misses the drama and energy he puts into his daily play-by-play so it felt far more subdued.
Coffey also ties the events of 1969, both in New York, and America, to an incredible year but somehow totally ignores how the year began: with the NY Jets winning Super Bowl III.
He also doesn't report on what happened that winter which prevented the team from repeating. He skips to Hodges' death in 1972, without mentioning that was their second World Series appearance. A little backend context would have been appreciated.
An enjoyable read, especially for diehard New Yorkers.
Coffey does a creditable job outlining the season and the team's woes from inception through 1968, setting the stage for the incredible season that followed. He then traces the season's highs and lows, pausing during the drama to provide capsule biographies of the key players (Seaver, Koosman, Clendenon, Charles, Jones, Agee) and many of the supporting stars (Swoboda, Kranepool, Weiss). While I appreciate learning about them, the structure became annoying the further into the book we got. He did it to heighten the tension, and make you want to read what comes next, but it grew distracting. Maybe it's me, but he paid more attention to Bobby Phiel (who I forgot all about) than superstar shortstop Bud Harrelson. He also places manager Gil Hodges on a pedestal, barely mentioning the coaching staff, despite his claims to it being a full effort from all.
Cohen's narration is, as expected, strong, but it misses the drama and energy he puts into his daily play-by-play so it felt far more subdued.
Coffey also ties the events of 1969, both in New York, and America, to an incredible year but somehow totally ignores how the year began: with the NY Jets winning Super Bowl III.
He also doesn't report on what happened that winter which prevented the team from repeating. He skips to Hodges' death in 1972, without mentioning that was their second World Series appearance. A little backend context would have been appreciated.
An enjoyable read, especially for diehard New Yorkers.
July 5, 2022
Nice baseball book. Was hoping it might’ve been a little bit more than it was.
Very quickly, the book turned into almost a play by play of the World Series, which makes some sense, but I wish it would’ve dug deeper into the personalities, team construction, and what was going on in baseball & specifically, New York City at the time. However, it was very well documented. Don’t know if I would’ve bought it had it not been on sale, so I don’t feel my money was wasted. Overall, enjoyable, yet wanting…
Very quickly, the book turned into almost a play by play of the World Series, which makes some sense, but I wish it would’ve dug deeper into the personalities, team construction, and what was going on in baseball & specifically, New York City at the time. However, it was very well documented. Don’t know if I would’ve bought it had it not been on sale, so I don’t feel my money was wasted. Overall, enjoyable, yet wanting…
June 23, 2019
I liked it but would have enjoyed more inside stories. Too much play by play, I could have looked that up.
Some interesting stats was noted in the book that i did not remember. The Mets did not lose another home game after the Sept 20 no hitter, Mcgraw and McAndrew did not throw a pitch in the World Series and JC Martins only WS ab in his career was the bunt in the 4th game.
Some interesting stats was noted in the book that i did not remember. The Mets did not lose another home game after the Sept 20 no hitter, Mcgraw and McAndrew did not throw a pitch in the World Series and JC Martins only WS ab in his career was the bunt in the 4th game.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2024
I was too young to appreciate the Amazing Mets of 1969. I knew there was a frenzy going on in NY, but I was not a fan until 1973.
This book gives all the details of that incredible season, including trades and other behind the scenes info. It filled in a lot of gaps for me, since I wasn’t paying much attention at the time. A must read for any baseball fan, especially in NY.
This book gives all the details of that incredible season, including trades and other behind the scenes info. It filled in a lot of gaps for me, since I wasn’t paying much attention at the time. A must read for any baseball fan, especially in NY.
April 8, 2025
“They Said It Couldn’t Be Done,” is a highly readable, fast-paced chronicle of the scarcely believable baseball world championship run of the 1969 New York Mets as they traveled through the land of Oz in only their eighth year in the National League. To win 100 games after enduring endless baseball diamond famine, and a couple of hundred-game losing seasons, was nothing short of scaling Mt. Everest. A rag-tag group of castoffs, home-grown rookies, along with a powerful pitching staff anchored by Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, this team was able to overthrow the mighty Cubs, Braves, and Orioles in an October run that is still being written about fifty years later.
Former New York Daily News writer Wayne Coffey spends only the first 80 pages discussing the regular season and leaves the remaining 200+ pages to describe in exquisite detail how the Metropolitians .232 team batting average was able to overcome the prodigious bats of the Atlanta Braves and their slugging trio of Henry Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, and Rico Carty. The Mets swept Atlanta in three games before plowing through the Baltimore Orioles and taking 4 out of 5 games in the World Series. The 1969 Orioles roster, which Coffey casts in bright lights praising the team as that year's most effective. Actually, maybe it was one of the best major league teams ever assembled. I can still recite the starting defensive lineup from memory, mostly all-stars: Boog Powell at first, Davey Johnson (later Mets manager) at second, Mark Belanger at third, hall of fame Brooks Robinson at third, Don Buford in left, Paul Blair in center, hall of famer Frank Robinson in right, and Elrod Hendricks behind the plate. Not only was this a formidable defensive and offensive lineup, the Boo Birds had three of the game's top pitchers in 1969: Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally, and Jim Palmer. The improbable Mets prevailing over these three awesome teams is even today, mind-blowing.
Why Coffey’s book perhaps stands apart from other books about the miraculous Mets 1969 season is his juxtaposition of the Mets baseball prowess with some of the most significant political and cultural events in American history unfolding the same year—Woodstock, the moon landing, the anti-Vietnam war protests, and less earth-shattering, Mayor John Lindsey’s come-from-behind NYC mayoral victory. Also worthy of note, the MLB was celebrating its 100-year anniversary of Abner Doubleday’s "invention" of baseball itself, which is not exactly accurate, but I will leave that for another Good Reads reviewer to unspool.
Coffey also accurately captures the tense moments between the Amazin’s rivalry with manager Leo Durocher’s Chicago Cubs. Chicago led the Mets by as much as 9 games in early August, but the Cubs collapsed over the remaining six weeks of the season. The pitching duels between Tom Terrific and Ferguson Jenkins; Ron Santo’s click of the heels when the cubs won; the waning days of baseball legend Ernie Banks; and one of the best double-play combinations in baseball, shortstop Don Kessinger and Glenn Beckert, both all-stars that year, are all on display in Coffey’s sometimes folksy, sometimes sociological, but always blunt style of writing. The prose is crisp, but not shiny, prolific but not plodding nor erudite, and always unabashedly pro-Mets and pro-NYC. Coffey is biased for sure, but any reader is likely to be satisfied with the author's ramble through his Queens baseball bramble.
For my money, this writer is at his best when he describes how the heart and soul of the Mets team in 1969—Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee, Ed Charles, and Donn Clendenon—all endured childhoods in the segregated South, thus overcoming the two-pronged obstacles of racism and poverty to really prove they belonged and became a part of championship baseball history. It is truly remarkable for me because Coffey's side stories of segregation are something my 12-year old self was never aware of at the time I chanted “Let’s Go Mets,” the loudest. That is, it was never communicated to me by the adults around me, nor taught in any fifth or sixth grade history book that black people were treated as inferior even in the 1960’s. That may sound ludicrous now, but I have painfully learned there was great discernment, bordering on racism, in putting together grade school curriculum. The fact that the year the Mets won it all was only five years removed from the President's signing of the civil rights act, is slow dagger cut right through the heart of my childhood education. I do not recall learning much about segregation, racism, nor the Civil Rights Act of 1964. What a great chapter it would be if a school text began with short bios of Jones, Agee, Charles and Clendenon and linked their lives to a discussion about Civil War history, white racism, and the failure of Reconstruction.
Coffey's book is a fun and riveting romp through the Mets Cinderella season while also incorporating the periods political and cultural events and bringing the reader to a broader and deeper sense of what this period was like for both players and fans alike.
Former New York Daily News writer Wayne Coffey spends only the first 80 pages discussing the regular season and leaves the remaining 200+ pages to describe in exquisite detail how the Metropolitians .232 team batting average was able to overcome the prodigious bats of the Atlanta Braves and their slugging trio of Henry Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, and Rico Carty. The Mets swept Atlanta in three games before plowing through the Baltimore Orioles and taking 4 out of 5 games in the World Series. The 1969 Orioles roster, which Coffey casts in bright lights praising the team as that year's most effective. Actually, maybe it was one of the best major league teams ever assembled. I can still recite the starting defensive lineup from memory, mostly all-stars: Boog Powell at first, Davey Johnson (later Mets manager) at second, Mark Belanger at third, hall of fame Brooks Robinson at third, Don Buford in left, Paul Blair in center, hall of famer Frank Robinson in right, and Elrod Hendricks behind the plate. Not only was this a formidable defensive and offensive lineup, the Boo Birds had three of the game's top pitchers in 1969: Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally, and Jim Palmer. The improbable Mets prevailing over these three awesome teams is even today, mind-blowing.
Why Coffey’s book perhaps stands apart from other books about the miraculous Mets 1969 season is his juxtaposition of the Mets baseball prowess with some of the most significant political and cultural events in American history unfolding the same year—Woodstock, the moon landing, the anti-Vietnam war protests, and less earth-shattering, Mayor John Lindsey’s come-from-behind NYC mayoral victory. Also worthy of note, the MLB was celebrating its 100-year anniversary of Abner Doubleday’s "invention" of baseball itself, which is not exactly accurate, but I will leave that for another Good Reads reviewer to unspool.
Coffey also accurately captures the tense moments between the Amazin’s rivalry with manager Leo Durocher’s Chicago Cubs. Chicago led the Mets by as much as 9 games in early August, but the Cubs collapsed over the remaining six weeks of the season. The pitching duels between Tom Terrific and Ferguson Jenkins; Ron Santo’s click of the heels when the cubs won; the waning days of baseball legend Ernie Banks; and one of the best double-play combinations in baseball, shortstop Don Kessinger and Glenn Beckert, both all-stars that year, are all on display in Coffey’s sometimes folksy, sometimes sociological, but always blunt style of writing. The prose is crisp, but not shiny, prolific but not plodding nor erudite, and always unabashedly pro-Mets and pro-NYC. Coffey is biased for sure, but any reader is likely to be satisfied with the author's ramble through his Queens baseball bramble.
For my money, this writer is at his best when he describes how the heart and soul of the Mets team in 1969—Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee, Ed Charles, and Donn Clendenon—all endured childhoods in the segregated South, thus overcoming the two-pronged obstacles of racism and poverty to really prove they belonged and became a part of championship baseball history. It is truly remarkable for me because Coffey's side stories of segregation are something my 12-year old self was never aware of at the time I chanted “Let’s Go Mets,” the loudest. That is, it was never communicated to me by the adults around me, nor taught in any fifth or sixth grade history book that black people were treated as inferior even in the 1960’s. That may sound ludicrous now, but I have painfully learned there was great discernment, bordering on racism, in putting together grade school curriculum. The fact that the year the Mets won it all was only five years removed from the President's signing of the civil rights act, is slow dagger cut right through the heart of my childhood education. I do not recall learning much about segregation, racism, nor the Civil Rights Act of 1964. What a great chapter it would be if a school text began with short bios of Jones, Agee, Charles and Clendenon and linked their lives to a discussion about Civil War history, white racism, and the failure of Reconstruction.
Coffey's book is a fun and riveting romp through the Mets Cinderella season while also incorporating the periods political and cultural events and bringing the reader to a broader and deeper sense of what this period was like for both players and fans alike.
March 7, 2019
THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE, by Wayne Coffey, details how the 1969 New York Mets came together and then chronicles their march through the playoffs and then game by game how they won the World Series. The book touches on personal stories of many of the players and coaches along with painting a picture of the baseball scene and the world events to really make the reader feel like they were in New York City in 1969 pulling for the Mets.
Very analytical, and still relatable and fun, Coffey details how baseball was in New York City. Major League teams had recently left, there was a war in Vietnam, and their were lingering racial tensions that still affected everyday life. Coffey explains how the team was formed, from drafting and signing players, to obtaining their beloved manager, Gil Hodges, and Coffey explains how each person was integral to the success of the team. Coffey explains how Hodges' managerial belief was that all 25 men on the roster are important and each one a key to winning the World Series. As a baseball fan who likes to watch it and read about it, the most unique and interesting part of the book is the ongoing theme that while this team was nicknamed "The Miracle Mets", Coffey writes the entire book from the standpoint that nothing was miracle about this team, that each player had his purpose and was put in a position to succeed by the team and manager. Coffey does allow that the World Series win from a still young franchise was quite remarkable, but that using the world miracle could bring a negative connotation that the team played beyond its means. Coffey's approach to the book is very rooted in the idea that this team was put together logically and worked hard to fulfill everyone's dream of winning it all.
I finished this book with a smile and I am still thinking about how well-written and inspiring THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE was. A really good sports non-fiction and one I would recommend to just about anyone.
Thank you to Crown Publishing, Wayne Coffey, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Very analytical, and still relatable and fun, Coffey details how baseball was in New York City. Major League teams had recently left, there was a war in Vietnam, and their were lingering racial tensions that still affected everyday life. Coffey explains how the team was formed, from drafting and signing players, to obtaining their beloved manager, Gil Hodges, and Coffey explains how each person was integral to the success of the team. Coffey explains how Hodges' managerial belief was that all 25 men on the roster are important and each one a key to winning the World Series. As a baseball fan who likes to watch it and read about it, the most unique and interesting part of the book is the ongoing theme that while this team was nicknamed "The Miracle Mets", Coffey writes the entire book from the standpoint that nothing was miracle about this team, that each player had his purpose and was put in a position to succeed by the team and manager. Coffey does allow that the World Series win from a still young franchise was quite remarkable, but that using the world miracle could bring a negative connotation that the team played beyond its means. Coffey's approach to the book is very rooted in the idea that this team was put together logically and worked hard to fulfill everyone's dream of winning it all.
I finished this book with a smile and I am still thinking about how well-written and inspiring THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE was. A really good sports non-fiction and one I would recommend to just about anyone.
Thank you to Crown Publishing, Wayne Coffey, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
April 7, 2019
Half a century ago, the New York Mets surprised the baseball world and beat the Baltimore Orioles to win the 1969 World Series. Some saw it as a miracle; player Art Shamsky even wrote a book this year called "After the Miracle" highlighting the brotherhood on that team.
But Wayne Coffey somewhat dispels the image of the miracle and "Amazing Mets," which really didn't become a catch phrase until New York's 1972 World Series bid. Instead, he shows in "They Said..." how the team came together and chronicles the season, focusing on key games during the season, players making great plays, the strategy of platooning players by manager Gil Hodges and oddities -- the Black Cat came against the Cubs, for example.
Coffey does a great job of writing action as well. The National League Championship Series against the Braves was recapped excellently; the author even writes about pitch choices by the aces Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. The Series, which makes up the last third of the book, is amazing (to use that phrase). But it's more than just reading game notes. Coffey does excellent research into the players' careers to the point of even mentioning Koosman's time as a pitcher on a Minnesota beer league team. He also notes how Tom Seaver almost became an Atlanta Brave.
This is a book for any baseball fan. That year was the first I really began following baseball. As an 8-year-old then, I learned how to figure out ERAs and batting averages, learned the players and saw, for the first time, the creation of two divisions in each league. I was angry at the Orioles for beating the Minnesota Twins that fall (I grew up in Bemidji, Minn.), so the Mets' victory was even better. Coffey gives the reader a great feel of that season, including things other than baseball. The July 1969 moon walk is in there, along with the Woodstock festival, Vietnam, a February snowstorm, John Lindsey's mayoral bid, Pearl Bailey and more.
In the multitude of Mets' books that will probably be popping up to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Series' win, this already is a must-read for sports fans.
But Wayne Coffey somewhat dispels the image of the miracle and "Amazing Mets," which really didn't become a catch phrase until New York's 1972 World Series bid. Instead, he shows in "They Said..." how the team came together and chronicles the season, focusing on key games during the season, players making great plays, the strategy of platooning players by manager Gil Hodges and oddities -- the Black Cat came against the Cubs, for example.
Coffey does a great job of writing action as well. The National League Championship Series against the Braves was recapped excellently; the author even writes about pitch choices by the aces Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. The Series, which makes up the last third of the book, is amazing (to use that phrase). But it's more than just reading game notes. Coffey does excellent research into the players' careers to the point of even mentioning Koosman's time as a pitcher on a Minnesota beer league team. He also notes how Tom Seaver almost became an Atlanta Brave.
This is a book for any baseball fan. That year was the first I really began following baseball. As an 8-year-old then, I learned how to figure out ERAs and batting averages, learned the players and saw, for the first time, the creation of two divisions in each league. I was angry at the Orioles for beating the Minnesota Twins that fall (I grew up in Bemidji, Minn.), so the Mets' victory was even better. Coffey gives the reader a great feel of that season, including things other than baseball. The July 1969 moon walk is in there, along with the Woodstock festival, Vietnam, a February snowstorm, John Lindsey's mayoral bid, Pearl Bailey and more.
In the multitude of Mets' books that will probably be popping up to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Series' win, this already is a must-read for sports fans.
June 8, 2019
I’ve been a Baseball fan since 1973 when I was 7 years old. More accurately, I grew up a Mets fan. And so, I was excited to read this book.
Sadly, it did nothing for me.
I assumed---and honestly, don’t know why---it was a little about the Miracle Mets of 1969 and mostly about the misfortune that befell much of the team. The fact star slugger Cleon Jones was blacklisted from the game despite still having several productive years remaining. The heartbreaking fact that Gil Hodges, Tommie Agee and Donn Clendenon all died young. The fact Tug McGraw died of a rare brain tumor in his early 50s.
I was wrong.
This book was nothing but a recap of the 69 season. And not a particularly well-written one. It seemed poorly edited as the same words were used repeatedly in a short time. It was written like just game recap on top of game recap. Save yourself time and scroll through the boxscores.
I also don’t know who this book is geared to. If you’re a Mets fan, you already know all this stuff. If you’re NOT a Mets fan, why would you read it? Yes, I’m a Baseball fan but I wouldn’t read a book about the 2005 White Sox or the 2018 Red Sox. I have no interest.
After about 120 pages and only learning one marginally interesting fact, I gave up.
Also, with all due respect the author, it is IMPOSSIBLE to know the names of the 3 fans who originated the chant of ‘Lets Go Mets.’ I mean, come on, give me a break
Sadly, it did nothing for me.
I assumed---and honestly, don’t know why---it was a little about the Miracle Mets of 1969 and mostly about the misfortune that befell much of the team. The fact star slugger Cleon Jones was blacklisted from the game despite still having several productive years remaining. The heartbreaking fact that Gil Hodges, Tommie Agee and Donn Clendenon all died young. The fact Tug McGraw died of a rare brain tumor in his early 50s.
I was wrong.
This book was nothing but a recap of the 69 season. And not a particularly well-written one. It seemed poorly edited as the same words were used repeatedly in a short time. It was written like just game recap on top of game recap. Save yourself time and scroll through the boxscores.
I also don’t know who this book is geared to. If you’re a Mets fan, you already know all this stuff. If you’re NOT a Mets fan, why would you read it? Yes, I’m a Baseball fan but I wouldn’t read a book about the 2005 White Sox or the 2018 Red Sox. I have no interest.
After about 120 pages and only learning one marginally interesting fact, I gave up.
Also, with all due respect the author, it is IMPOSSIBLE to know the names of the 3 fans who originated the chant of ‘Lets Go Mets.’ I mean, come on, give me a break
July 3, 2019
It's hard to find anyone outside of Baltimore who wasn't rooting for the hugely underdog NY Mets in the 1969 World Series. My team the Phillies were out of the race early and ended up with 99 losses. The Cinderella Mets team put an exclamation point to the baseball axiom that "good pitching beats good hitting." Wayne Coffey does a splendid job of describing in detail the NLCS and the World Series, but what he does best is explain why this team was so special. Perhaps the leading component was the moral and fatherly figure Gil Hodges. He was a quiet man whose strength of character, integrity and fairness was on display every day as a mentor to the youngsters and even the veterans on the club. Hodges made every one of his twenty five players feel that they were as important as Tom Terrific or Jerry Koosman. His platoon system worked wonders. All one has to do is look at the statistics that the Mets offense put up after 162 games. Despite winning the flag, the most RBI's on the team were 76 by Tommie Agee, no player hit 30 homers, no one scored 100 runs, they were 10th in OBP, next to last in slugging, and only scored 15 more runs than the 1962 Mets. After a series with Houston post All-star break, they were 10 games behind the Cubs with only 49 left to play.It was defense, pitching, and the confidence bestowed upon them by Hodges that made them World Champions. I found it interesting to read about two uncharacteristic events done by Hodges. Once, when Cleon Jones, The Mets best pure hitter, loafed on a fly ball, Hodges came out to left field to remove Jones from the game(Shades of Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson). He showed him up in front of the entire stadium. Secondly, during the world series, according to Jerry Koosman the great southpaw for the Mets, Hodges told Koosman to rub a scuff his shoe with a ball that had been thrown to Cleon Jones but had been wild and landed in the Mets dugout. Hodges, with all the rectitude and reputation that preceded him, calmly pointed to a shoe polish dark spot on the ball that successfully led to Jones getting a free pass to first base. That led to a two run home run by Don Clendenon and the Mets were on their way to a five game win of the ring. I also enjoyed the back stories of the Mobile Ala. players like Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones, and Clendenon. Then there was Ed Charles,nearing the end of his career who so idolized Jackie Robinson.(He is seen in the movie 42 running along side a train with the Dodgers on it when Charles was a child) This was a wonderful display of pitching prowess and especially fielding gems by Ron Swoboda and Tommie Agee as well as key hits by Al Weiss. Mickey Mantle called the Swoboda catch the greatest he had ever seen.It was truly a team effort and Coffey describes it well. There are a few more tid bits I'd like to tell, but you should read it yourself. The epilogue is especially touching.
Merged review:
It's hard to find anyone outside of Baltimore who wasn't rooting for the hugely underdog NY Mets in the 1969 World Series. My team the Phillies were out of the race early and ended up with 99 losses. The Cinderella Mets team put an exclamation point to the baseball axiom that "good pitching beats good hitting." Wayne Coffey does a splendid job of describing in detail the NLCS and the World Series, but what he does best is explain why this team was so special. Perhaps the leading component was the moral and fatherly figure Gil Hodges. He was a quiet man whose strength of character, integrity and fairness was on display every day as a mentor to the youngsters and even the veterans on the club. Hodges made every one of his twenty five players feel that they were as important as Tom Terrific or Jerry Koosman. His platoon system worked wonders. All one has to do is look at the statistics that the Mets offense put up after 162 games. Despite winning the flag, the most RBI's on the team were 76 by Tommie Agee, no player hit 30 homers, no one scored 100 runs, they were 10th in OBP, next to last in slugging, and only scored 15 more runs than the 1962 Mets. After a series with Houston post All-star break, they were 10 games behind the Cubs with only 49 left to play.It was defense, pitching, and the confidence bestowed upon them by Hodges that made them World Champions. I found it interesting to read about two uncharacteristic events done by Hodges. Once, when Cleon Jones, The Mets best pure hitter, loafed on a fly ball, Hodges came out to left field to remove Jones from the game(Shades of Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson). He showed him up in front of the entire stadium. Secondly, during the world series, according to Jerry Koosman the great southpaw for the Mets, Hodges told Koosman to rub a scuff his shoe with a ball that had been thrown to Cleon Jones but had been wild and landed in the Mets dugout. Hodges, with all the rectitude and reputation that preceded him, calmly pointed to a shoe polish dark spot on the ball that successfully led to Jones getting a free pass to first base. That led to a two run home run by Don Clendenon and the Mets were on their way to a five game win of the ring. I also enjoyed the back stories of the Mobile Ala. players like Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones, and Clendenon. Then there was Ed Charles,nearing the end of his career who so idolized Jackie Robinson.(He is seen in the movie 42 running along side a train with the Dodgers on it when Charles was a child) This was a wonderful display of pitching prowess and especially fielding gems by Ron Swoboda and Tommie Agee as well as key hits by Al Weiss. Mickey Mantle called the Swoboda catch the greatest he had ever seen.It was truly a team effort and Coffey describes it well. There are a few more tid bits I'd like to tell, but you should read it yourself. The epilogue is especially touching. One minor detail I wanted to mention.
On page 75 of the hard copy, the author mentions that on 9/24/1969 The Mets met the Cardinals in the final days of their reign as World Series champions. The Cards won in 67, the lost to Detroit in 68.
Merged review:
It's hard to find anyone outside of Baltimore who wasn't rooting for the hugely underdog NY Mets in the 1969 World Series. My team the Phillies were out of the race early and ended up with 99 losses. The Cinderella Mets team put an exclamation point to the baseball axiom that "good pitching beats good hitting." Wayne Coffey does a splendid job of describing in detail the NLCS and the World Series, but what he does best is explain why this team was so special. Perhaps the leading component was the moral and fatherly figure Gil Hodges. He was a quiet man whose strength of character, integrity and fairness was on display every day as a mentor to the youngsters and even the veterans on the club. Hodges made every one of his twenty five players feel that they were as important as Tom Terrific or Jerry Koosman. His platoon system worked wonders. All one has to do is look at the statistics that the Mets offense put up after 162 games. Despite winning the flag, the most RBI's on the team were 76 by Tommie Agee, no player hit 30 homers, no one scored 100 runs, they were 10th in OBP, next to last in slugging, and only scored 15 more runs than the 1962 Mets. After a series with Houston post All-star break, they were 10 games behind the Cubs with only 49 left to play.It was defense, pitching, and the confidence bestowed upon them by Hodges that made them World Champions. I found it interesting to read about two uncharacteristic events done by Hodges. Once, when Cleon Jones, The Mets best pure hitter, loafed on a fly ball, Hodges came out to left field to remove Jones from the game(Shades of Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson). He showed him up in front of the entire stadium. Secondly, during the world series, according to Jerry Koosman the great southpaw for the Mets, Hodges told Koosman to rub a scuff his shoe with a ball that had been thrown to Cleon Jones but had been wild and landed in the Mets dugout. Hodges, with all the rectitude and reputation that preceded him, calmly pointed to a shoe polish dark spot on the ball that successfully led to Jones getting a free pass to first base. That led to a two run home run by Don Clendenon and the Mets were on their way to a five game win of the ring. I also enjoyed the back stories of the Mobile Ala. players like Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones, and Clendenon. Then there was Ed Charles,nearing the end of his career who so idolized Jackie Robinson.(He is seen in the movie 42 running along side a train with the Dodgers on it when Charles was a child) This was a wonderful display of pitching prowess and especially fielding gems by Ron Swoboda and Tommie Agee as well as key hits by Al Weiss. Mickey Mantle called the Swoboda catch the greatest he had ever seen.It was truly a team effort and Coffey describes it well. There are a few more tid bits I'd like to tell, but you should read it yourself. The epilogue is especially touching. One minor detail I wanted to mention.
On page 75 of the hard copy, the author mentions that on 9/24/1969 The Mets met the Cardinals in the final days of their reign as World Series champions. The Cards won in 67, the lost to Detroit in 68.
July 17, 2024
I wasn't prepared for this book to be as good as it was. Too bad it sat on my shelf for almost 20 months. I remember the amazing Mets and the World Series of 1969. I was eleven years old. The Orioles were my favorite American League Team (NL Dodgers). Even I, an Orioles fan recognized the unbelievable achievement of the Mets that year. The near perfect TEAM win. The 69 Mets may not have liked the term "Miracle Mets" but if not a miracle. than it was one hell of an anomaly.
Wayne Coffey does a fine job in capturing the feeling and mood of that Summer and Fall of 1969, on the field and off. However, his off the field events gloss over some of the social upheavals happening in America at the time, but this primarily is a book about baseball, character and spirit. My only regret was that he didn't give us a synopsis of each player's career and life AFTER the miracle. Several books were written within a few years after the event. However, Coffey's retelling and perspectives 50 years later are remarkable as was the memory.
Wayne Coffey does a fine job in capturing the feeling and mood of that Summer and Fall of 1969, on the field and off. However, his off the field events gloss over some of the social upheavals happening in America at the time, but this primarily is a book about baseball, character and spirit. My only regret was that he didn't give us a synopsis of each player's career and life AFTER the miracle. Several books were written within a few years after the event. However, Coffey's retelling and perspectives 50 years later are remarkable as was the memory.
July 12, 2020
****1/2: hands-down one of the absolute best baseball books I’ve ever read, and I’ve read many. Yes, I’m a Mets fan but I grew up with the ‘86 team and never really dove into the story of the ‘69 Mets until recently. What an amazing story, well-told, deftly weaving in the greater threads of that wild year while also finding the right moments to dig into each player’s back story — the details of which were eye-opening, especially among those players who grew up during segregation. I’ve never come across a baseball book that details each inning in such a compelling manner that one can visualize the action as if one was there. I just had that experience; having been lucky enough to see several games at Shea before it was demolished, I could take these words and paint the picture for myself. And yet the book isn’t written with a heavy-handed nostalgia, admirable for events already half-a-century old. I’d put this book into any baseball fans hands. It was just that compelling.
January 6, 2021
This book begins with a brief synopsis of the Mets first futile years of existence, followed by a more in depth treatment of their 1969 season, and finally nearly a play by play recap of the playoff win over the Braves and the World Series win over the Orioles. It includes personal backgrounds of many of the players who participated in the series. For a fan younger than 50 who didn't live through the craziness of this series, I'm sure this would be a great read. I'm a lot older than 50 and remember this series well. I was living in Maryland at the time so you can imagine where my sentiments lay. For me, this book was just a rehash of the games and player profiles. It didn't really unveil new ground from new first source materials such as player interviews. I found myself skimming over the description of the play. Incidentally, the birds were back in the series the next year and took out the "big red machine" in five.
September 17, 2019
This was an enjoyable book, especially for a longtime Mets fan. I picked it up on Audible, which was a bonus, since Gary Cohen (the voice of the Mets) was the narrator. I grew up with the Mets of the 80s, and the Miracle Mets were something we young fans heard about, but aside from the main stars (Seaver, Koosman, Swoboda, Jones, Agee, Clendenon, Ryan), the rest of the cast has somewhat faded into Mets history. It was great hearing about Ed Charles, Al Weiss, Gary Gentry, and of course, Gil Hodges. It must have been a special time to be a Mets fan, and I think Coffey captures the enthusiasm of the city, amidst a wild world, in a manner that expresses what it's like to love a team and what a team can do for people in tough times. Highly recommended for Mets fans and baseball history lovers.
December 27, 2022
You would have to be a Mets fan or a pretty big baseball fan, in general, to truly appreciate this book. The book focuses primarily on the post-season of the '69 Mets, but it does offer some background info and overlapping social and political realities of the time (i.e. Woodstock and the Moon Landing). It also provides snapshots of the lives of many of the players, especially the role players that don't typically get the recognition that others do. Coffey does a solid job of establishing the genius and steady hand of Gil Hodges at the helm of this team and even does a fair treatment to the Orioles and their lineup. If you are a fan, this is a solid 4 stars. If not, you may struggle through the book.
August 7, 2024
A short and sweet book covering the '69 World Series Champion New York Mets. I really enjoyed the backgrounds to the players, but the most interesting covered the four black players and just how difficult it still was to grow up playing baseball while black even after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Donn Clenendon is such a cool dude. My only gripe is the subheading makes it seem like the book will also touch on New York itself during the Mets run, similar to Ladies and Gentlemen The Bronx is Burning, but maybe 4 whole pages in total throughout the book were covered to non-Mets NY news. Still a fun read about an upstart underdog, something I don't do as often since I root for that other New York baseball team.
April 7, 2019
Call it what you want - a perfect game, a grand slam, hitting for the cycle - but don't call it a strikeout. Call it a very enjoyable read !!!! They Said It Couldn't Be Done has laugh out loud moments as well as moments that make you think about. The Donn Clendenon and Ed Charles stories make you shake your head. The Gil Hodges, Jr report card episode makes you think Gil Hodges belongs in the Hall of Fame of Life. Mets fans will love this book and baseball fans will enjoy this book as well. 1969 was a great season for not only the Mets but baseball as a whole. Thank you Wayne Coffey for as Bob Murphy would say "the happy recap."
March 16, 2021
What a book. I was (and still am) a Braves fan. As a middle schooler in '69 I remember the disappointment I experienced in the Mets so easily getting past my team. However, this book brought detail that I was not aware of at that age ... Wayne Coffey is an excellent writer that brings so much character to each and every player he describes. He also opened my eyes to a lot of the other happenings in '69 that escaped the attention of a boy busy playing baseball everyday......
What a journey Wayne takes the reader on in his recounting of that year of the Amazing Mets (Don't say the M word) :-)
What a journey Wayne takes the reader on in his recounting of that year of the Amazing Mets (Don't say the M word) :-)
June 12, 2021
I enjoyed this recounting of the Mets 1969 World Series victory. The Mets rose from a perennial last place team to World Champions that year. The book focuses mostly on the games played in the National League Championship series and the Word Series. What makes the book special is its tales of the players, even the obscure ones, and how they came to be part of this surprising read. It also has an interesting parallel story about Mayor John Lindsey of New York, despised for the mishandling of a big snow storm in the Winter, rode the team's coattails to reelection in the Fall. One of the best books of its kind.
May 1, 2021
This a total niche book. Baseball fans will love this. New York Met fans will really love this.
Yet another book about the 1969 Mets. This book focuses on just that season and how the 1969 team ended up winning of the most improbable world championships of all time. Even though you may know a lot of the story, Wayne Coffey gives the story a new retelling. Coffey, who wrote “The Boys of Winter” about the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team, was able to speak to fans and players of that team to flesh out the human stories behind the championship.
Yet another book about the 1969 Mets. This book focuses on just that season and how the 1969 team ended up winning of the most improbable world championships of all time. Even though you may know a lot of the story, Wayne Coffey gives the story a new retelling. Coffey, who wrote “The Boys of Winter” about the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team, was able to speak to fans and players of that team to flesh out the human stories behind the championship.
November 16, 2023
A thoroughly entertaining account of one of my favorite sports teams ever. This could have been a story going over well-trod ground, but the author makes it such fun and manages to make the outcomes of the games exciting and thrilling, even though you know how everything ends. I also liked his "up close and personal" treatment of many of the Mets and Oriole players, with many humorous, inspirational and poignant moments along the way. He puts all of this into the context of the culture, politics and entertainment of that most memorable year. An A+ effort in all respects.
May 8, 2025
Brought back some nice memories from when I was a 10 year old fan. Learned some details I wasn’t aware of before. I enjoyed how the author worked in some of the unlikely paths taken to be a member of that team. The World Series win wouldn’t have been possible without Gil Hodges. My dad grew up a Dodgers fan, and our family are big Mets fans, including the next two generations! We will never know how different things would have been if players such as Nolan Ryan and Amos Otis hadn’t been traded, as well as Tom Seaver.
May 9, 2019
Interesting But Too Many Interruptions
I enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it (I was 3 in 1969 so have no recollections of the Miracle Mets) but my biggest frustration as how often Coffey interrupted the narrative to insert some backstory about a player. It might have been best to do more of that early in the book because once his descriptions of the post season games began I found myself skimming to get back to the action.
I enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it (I was 3 in 1969 so have no recollections of the Miracle Mets) but my biggest frustration as how often Coffey interrupted the narrative to insert some backstory about a player. It might have been best to do more of that early in the book because once his descriptions of the post season games began I found myself skimming to get back to the action.
June 14, 2019
A good primer for those who know little or nothing about how or why the 1969 Mets were considered to be the biggest miracle in a year full of them, in spite of the players' insistence that it wasn't. There are a bunch of books this year coinciding with the 50th anniversary, and while there is plenty of material and angles worth examining (especially as the young men involved age and pass away), this is a good place to start.
September 9, 2019
I was fooled by the tagline.
I love baseball. Well, I basically I love most sports. I love the come from behind we can do it attitude. I also love history and sports are a great look at history.
I believed that this would be about the Mets and New York. Silly Me. It's just about the Mets and very little about New York.
To be fair, I'm giving up fairly early. I'm must not that interested in the play by play of the Mets winning season.
I love baseball. Well, I basically I love most sports. I love the come from behind we can do it attitude. I also love history and sports are a great look at history.
I believed that this would be about the Mets and New York. Silly Me. It's just about the Mets and very little about New York.
To be fair, I'm giving up fairly early. I'm must not that interested in the play by play of the Mets winning season.
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