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The Worst Team Money Could Buy: The Collapse of the New York Mets
Even before the New York Mets began the 1992 season, they had set a critical record: the highest payroll ever for a major-league team, $45 million. With players Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman, Bret Saberhagen, and Howard Johnson, winning another championship seemed a mere formality.
The 1992 New York Mets never made it to Cooperstown, however. Veteran newspapermen Bob Klapisch and John Harper reveal the extraordinary inside story of the Mets’ decline and fall—with the sort of detail and uncensored quotes that never run in a family newspaper. From the sex scandals that plagued the club in Florida to the puritanical, no-booze rules of manager Jeff Torborg, from bad behavior on road trips to the downright ornery practical “jokes” that big boys play, The Worst Team Money Could Buy is a grand-slam classic.
The 1992 New York Mets never made it to Cooperstown, however. Veteran newspapermen Bob Klapisch and John Harper reveal the extraordinary inside story of the Mets’ decline and fall—with the sort of detail and uncensored quotes that never run in a family newspaper. From the sex scandals that plagued the club in Florida to the puritanical, no-booze rules of manager Jeff Torborg, from bad behavior on road trips to the downright ornery practical “jokes” that big boys play, The Worst Team Money Could Buy is a grand-slam classic.
- GenresBaseballSportsNonfiction
285 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
December 9, 2021
i bought a remaindered copy of this book at a "discount bookstore" in fredericksburg virginia in either 1994 or 1995 (i bought kyle baker's dick tracy movie tie-in/prequel around this same time, from the same place). i enjoyed all the salacious details, especially because the snes mlbpa game had made me acutely aware of how bad the '93 mets, the successor to the '92 mets described here, actually were.
however, until my friend jake mentioned this book in a groupchat, its existence had totally slipped my mind. upon re-reading, i can now understand why bison books (u-nebraska press' sports imprint) decided to reprint this, though. it *isn't* because it's a fun, gossipy look at the '92 mets; it's because it is perhaps the single best book about what it was like to work the pre-internet sports beat in a major media market.
i have no idea how klapisch and harper (both college baseball players of little renown) sold this to random house. perhaps they promised one thing and delivered something else, more a "thick description" of their world of sports reporting than the world of the '92 mets (though there's as much material here about that team and its players as you'll find in any "year in the life" sports book, in fact much more than you'd see in later efforts of the sort this pair actually pushed out about other teams). you learn the beat reporters, the major newspapers, the major beefs, and so on...plus you get candid profiles of the likes of vince coleman, keith hernandez, howard johnson, and others that you'll almost certainly find nowhere else. as a working sports reporter in the 2021 sense - someone who writes for the ringer, men's health, et al. - i devoured this account.
what an astonishing little book, a hidden gem that's somehow both timepiece and timeless. highly recommended.
however, until my friend jake mentioned this book in a groupchat, its existence had totally slipped my mind. upon re-reading, i can now understand why bison books (u-nebraska press' sports imprint) decided to reprint this, though. it *isn't* because it's a fun, gossipy look at the '92 mets; it's because it is perhaps the single best book about what it was like to work the pre-internet sports beat in a major media market.
i have no idea how klapisch and harper (both college baseball players of little renown) sold this to random house. perhaps they promised one thing and delivered something else, more a "thick description" of their world of sports reporting than the world of the '92 mets (though there's as much material here about that team and its players as you'll find in any "year in the life" sports book, in fact much more than you'd see in later efforts of the sort this pair actually pushed out about other teams). you learn the beat reporters, the major newspapers, the major beefs, and so on...plus you get candid profiles of the likes of vince coleman, keith hernandez, howard johnson, and others that you'll almost certainly find nowhere else. as a working sports reporter in the 2021 sense - someone who writes for the ringer, men's health, et al. - i devoured this account.
what an astonishing little book, a hidden gem that's somehow both timepiece and timeless. highly recommended.
December 6, 2018
I was a huge New York Met fan back in the 1980s. This was the era when if you loved baseball, you either loved or hated this team. Since I started cheering for them back in 1984, two years before most outside the tri-state area knew much about them, I feel I was justified as not being one that “jumped on the bandwagon” as many did when they won it all in 1986, when it seemed as though a dynasty had been born.
Well, unfortunately for the Metropolitans, history had other ideas. Although the Mets had some strong years following the ’86 triumph, they never captured their original magic of that one season. By the time the early 1990s arrived, the team was embarrassingly awful. That’s not to suggest that the owners didn’t try to revamp the team. The executives figured that since their coffers were larger than most, they could simply go out and “buy” a team of superstars to wear the blue and orange and bring back the magic, which is exactly what they did before the 1992 season began. The Mets of 1992 may have been the best team in baseball on paper. The problem was, on the baseball diamond, they stunk.
This book mainly chronicles the 1992 season, yet slowly sutures the teams fall from their championship season six short years ago. The authors, Bob Klapisch and John Harper were actually beat writers from two of the major New York papers, so no one really had better access to the goings ons both on and off the field.
Oh, the drama! There are rape investigations, drugs, press boycotts, sex, drugs, team mates fighting during team pictures, assault charges, and more drugs. Add a lot of injuries to some star players, along with a bunch of guys who simply don’t have the chemistry, and you have one miserable season.
Klapisch and Harper detail a lot of events from the prior years leading up to the downfall, and many players that were long gone from the team by 1992, such as Darryl Strawberry and Gregg Jeffries, get as much page space as the current lineup. The authors state in the Forward that this book was a way to get revenge against a bunch of spoiled cry babies, but what this book really is, is a lesson in mismanagement. Sure, everything gelled in 1986, but whenever you have high priced ball players with a knack for trouble and hyperactive libidos, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that it won’t take long before the kingdom comes crashing down, which is precisely what happens.
Their “renegade” manager that takes them to the 86 championship, Davey Johnson, is hailed as a hero that year because he “treats his players like men” and doesn’t enforce many rules on the club. Trouble is, treating your players like men won’t work when they act like spoiled brats. A few years later, Johnson can’t handle this out-of-control bunch, and is eventually fired. By the time 1992 arrives, the new skipper, Jeff Torborg arrives, and he has the opposite problem of being too controlling, so the team is basically in trouble.
There’s a lot of dirt within these pages, and it’s actually quite funny to see how the spoiled mighty fall. It should be noted, however, that one really has to read this book with a large grain of salt. The authors, remember, were beat writers, and in New York City, these guys could be brutal between the lines when reporting. Unlike most cities, New York had seven major newspapers at the time, so in order to make your publication sell over your competitors, you had to seriously juice up your headlines and stories. It’s no surprise that there is so much animosity between the authors and the players they cover. Sure, the authors admit this, but they present themselves as a bit too innocent.
Example: We read about the authors’ perception that the Mike Sciocia home run of Doc Gooden in the 1988 Championship series was the “turning point” against the Mets that caused their downfall during the playoffs, yet what really killed them was when Bob Klapisch co-authored a newspaper article with Mets pitcher David Cone after game one of the NLCS where Cone belittled the Dodgers and compared them to a “high school team”. Once the Dodgers got wind of this newspaper story, their tempers were flared, and they turned the heat up about 1000 degrees and basically killed the Mets chances from that point forward. Was Klapisch obliged not to print the story? Absolutely not. But David Cone comes across as one of the “heroes” of this book, when it actually was an act of pure stupidity for him to do such a thing. You won’t read much about that incident here since one of the authors played such a large role in this boner.
What you will read (that is also incorrect) is how the Mets made the biggest mistake of the decade by not resigning Darryl Strawberry after the 1989 season. The authors seem to think that, despite the troubled right-fielder’s problems (which you would need a mainframe computer to keep track of), his arrogance and dominance on the field were sadly missing during 1992. Anyone that follows the game knows how wrong this was in hindsight, as Strawberry continued to spiral downwards even after he left the Mets.
Then we hear about all of those awful trades that the Mets made after the 1986 season that dismantled the championship caliber that made these guys clique so well. I’m sorry, but I never bought into that. Kevin McReynolds was just as good as Kevin Mitchell, Ray Knight wasn’t getting any younger, and even the “fiasco” of trading Len Dykstra and Roger McDowell for Juan Samuel deserves closer examination. Fact: The 1989 Mets played better after this trade was made in midseason (check out their Won-Loss record for that season, before and after the trade).
So the authors are highly skilled in writing, as this book shows, yet a tad biased. It’s also a remarkable study on what happens when you give a bunch of guys in their mid twenties more money, more women, and more “potentials” that most can handle. It’s a true test of character to run a successful franchise with personalities such as this, and sadly, the New York Mets of the late eighties-early nineties blew it in a bad way.
Well, unfortunately for the Metropolitans, history had other ideas. Although the Mets had some strong years following the ’86 triumph, they never captured their original magic of that one season. By the time the early 1990s arrived, the team was embarrassingly awful. That’s not to suggest that the owners didn’t try to revamp the team. The executives figured that since their coffers were larger than most, they could simply go out and “buy” a team of superstars to wear the blue and orange and bring back the magic, which is exactly what they did before the 1992 season began. The Mets of 1992 may have been the best team in baseball on paper. The problem was, on the baseball diamond, they stunk.
This book mainly chronicles the 1992 season, yet slowly sutures the teams fall from their championship season six short years ago. The authors, Bob Klapisch and John Harper were actually beat writers from two of the major New York papers, so no one really had better access to the goings ons both on and off the field.
Oh, the drama! There are rape investigations, drugs, press boycotts, sex, drugs, team mates fighting during team pictures, assault charges, and more drugs. Add a lot of injuries to some star players, along with a bunch of guys who simply don’t have the chemistry, and you have one miserable season.
Klapisch and Harper detail a lot of events from the prior years leading up to the downfall, and many players that were long gone from the team by 1992, such as Darryl Strawberry and Gregg Jeffries, get as much page space as the current lineup. The authors state in the Forward that this book was a way to get revenge against a bunch of spoiled cry babies, but what this book really is, is a lesson in mismanagement. Sure, everything gelled in 1986, but whenever you have high priced ball players with a knack for trouble and hyperactive libidos, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that it won’t take long before the kingdom comes crashing down, which is precisely what happens.
Their “renegade” manager that takes them to the 86 championship, Davey Johnson, is hailed as a hero that year because he “treats his players like men” and doesn’t enforce many rules on the club. Trouble is, treating your players like men won’t work when they act like spoiled brats. A few years later, Johnson can’t handle this out-of-control bunch, and is eventually fired. By the time 1992 arrives, the new skipper, Jeff Torborg arrives, and he has the opposite problem of being too controlling, so the team is basically in trouble.
There’s a lot of dirt within these pages, and it’s actually quite funny to see how the spoiled mighty fall. It should be noted, however, that one really has to read this book with a large grain of salt. The authors, remember, were beat writers, and in New York City, these guys could be brutal between the lines when reporting. Unlike most cities, New York had seven major newspapers at the time, so in order to make your publication sell over your competitors, you had to seriously juice up your headlines and stories. It’s no surprise that there is so much animosity between the authors and the players they cover. Sure, the authors admit this, but they present themselves as a bit too innocent.
Example: We read about the authors’ perception that the Mike Sciocia home run of Doc Gooden in the 1988 Championship series was the “turning point” against the Mets that caused their downfall during the playoffs, yet what really killed them was when Bob Klapisch co-authored a newspaper article with Mets pitcher David Cone after game one of the NLCS where Cone belittled the Dodgers and compared them to a “high school team”. Once the Dodgers got wind of this newspaper story, their tempers were flared, and they turned the heat up about 1000 degrees and basically killed the Mets chances from that point forward. Was Klapisch obliged not to print the story? Absolutely not. But David Cone comes across as one of the “heroes” of this book, when it actually was an act of pure stupidity for him to do such a thing. You won’t read much about that incident here since one of the authors played such a large role in this boner.
What you will read (that is also incorrect) is how the Mets made the biggest mistake of the decade by not resigning Darryl Strawberry after the 1989 season. The authors seem to think that, despite the troubled right-fielder’s problems (which you would need a mainframe computer to keep track of), his arrogance and dominance on the field were sadly missing during 1992. Anyone that follows the game knows how wrong this was in hindsight, as Strawberry continued to spiral downwards even after he left the Mets.
Then we hear about all of those awful trades that the Mets made after the 1986 season that dismantled the championship caliber that made these guys clique so well. I’m sorry, but I never bought into that. Kevin McReynolds was just as good as Kevin Mitchell, Ray Knight wasn’t getting any younger, and even the “fiasco” of trading Len Dykstra and Roger McDowell for Juan Samuel deserves closer examination. Fact: The 1989 Mets played better after this trade was made in midseason (check out their Won-Loss record for that season, before and after the trade).
So the authors are highly skilled in writing, as this book shows, yet a tad biased. It’s also a remarkable study on what happens when you give a bunch of guys in their mid twenties more money, more women, and more “potentials” that most can handle. It’s a true test of character to run a successful franchise with personalities such as this, and sadly, the New York Mets of the late eighties-early nineties blew it in a bad way.
November 13, 2020
The book is the story of the 1992 New York Mets, a team that was never destined to anything. In addition to exploring everything that was wrong with this particular cast of characters, the authors also discuss how the Mets gradually fell after reaching the top of the baseball world in 1986. The mid-eighties Mets were ubiquitous. I was a young baseball fan in rural Colorado who could name most of their roster off the top of my head - and I didn’t even really like the Mets. However, the farm system failed to replace their aging stars and a number of player acquisitions didn’t work out and the chemistry was lost.
The book is as much about the life of a beat writer as it is about a terrible baseball team. Klapisch and Harper talk about the pressures and dilemmas they face and how it’s not as glamorous as it might seem. And if the team is bad, it’s really a grind to get through the season. A lot of good behind-the-scenes information on what goes on in the clubhouse and how the players behave and interact.
The book is maybe a little dated at this point, having happened nearly 30 years ago. Much has certainly changed with the internet and social media since that time. But these were all names that I grew up with so it was interesting to read the stories. I’ve long since become an old cynic when it comes to baseball and most of the sports world, so the book did me no harm in exposing me to the egregious behavior of many of the players of the era.
If you were a fan of that baseball era, you will probably find the book interesting, whether you are a fan of the Mets or not.
The book is as much about the life of a beat writer as it is about a terrible baseball team. Klapisch and Harper talk about the pressures and dilemmas they face and how it’s not as glamorous as it might seem. And if the team is bad, it’s really a grind to get through the season. A lot of good behind-the-scenes information on what goes on in the clubhouse and how the players behave and interact.
The book is maybe a little dated at this point, having happened nearly 30 years ago. Much has certainly changed with the internet and social media since that time. But these were all names that I grew up with so it was interesting to read the stories. I’ve long since become an old cynic when it comes to baseball and most of the sports world, so the book did me no harm in exposing me to the egregious behavior of many of the players of the era.
If you were a fan of that baseball era, you will probably find the book interesting, whether you are a fan of the Mets or not.
December 14, 2014
Bill James recommends this book as a look at a failed team, but I suspect his memory is playing tricks on him. It's not well written, doesn't analyze why the 1992 Mets were dysfunctional, doesn't delve into how and why the team was constructed as it was. Harper and Klapisch are surprisingly poor writers, given that they're professional sportswriters. The book is heavy on score-settling, light on insight.
March 11, 2023
Maybe it was the topic, the dreadful 1992 Mets, but even this lifelong Mets fan could hardly get engaged in this book about futility that seemed put together on a shoestring to try and make a few dollars. I've read some wonderfully engaging baseball books over the years, baseball stories usually are good ones, but this one just seemed to plod along, disappointing like the team it covered.
February 10, 2015
Meh. This covers very little of what happened on the field when the Mets dynasty crashed. It mostly focuses on sports writing, clubhouse shenanigans and lamentations for the good old days. Not bad but not great either.
January 14, 2019
It is truly amazing what a polar opposite atmosphere it was in 1992 as opposed to now. No cell phones, no Twitter, no internet, wow. The money is baseball now is so much more the norm I don't believe the attitudes and behaviors are as bad as they were then. They could never get away with it, now that everyone can be filmed at any moment, and tweets can cause major damage. Women reports are the norm now, and overall I just think the game has matured a bit.
It is a fun read however, but rather disturbing reading the coldness of the Mets brass, and even Fred Wilpon, our favorite owner we all despise, was a part of that as well, dictating to Cone he should get married to a bunch of kids. That's exactly where Jeff Wilpon got his attitude from....
It is a fun read however, but rather disturbing reading the coldness of the Mets brass, and even Fred Wilpon, our favorite owner we all despise, was a part of that as well, dictating to Cone he should get married to a bunch of kids. That's exactly where Jeff Wilpon got his attitude from....
April 10, 2026
This book is at least as much about the two writers as it is about the 1992 Mets.
The scribes were in their thirties when they wrote this book, but they were well on their way to being curmudgeons who would gladly tell the neighborhood kids "to get off my lawn!" The authors complained about their jobs, their work schedules, their flights, the newspaper industry, the managers, the management, the food, the ballparks, and especially the players.
Despite all the negativity about their profession, I did like reading about the National League baseball environment of 1992 and stories about some of the players of that era.
The scribes were in their thirties when they wrote this book, but they were well on their way to being curmudgeons who would gladly tell the neighborhood kids "to get off my lawn!" The authors complained about their jobs, their work schedules, their flights, the newspaper industry, the managers, the management, the food, the ballparks, and especially the players.
Despite all the negativity about their profession, I did like reading about the National League baseball environment of 1992 and stories about some of the players of that era.
February 7, 2017
The latest book in my lifelong Mets education - I was prepared for a cynical, downbeat expose but ended up with an entertaining look at the life of a baseball beat writer just happening to cover a disappointing, boring team. The description of the daily routine and the nature of player-media relationships are really interesting.
Add a 1/2 star if you're a Mets fan, and keep alcohol handy, because this book will consistently rub salt in the wound of 'what might have been' for the Mets teams of the '80s.
Add a 1/2 star if you're a Mets fan, and keep alcohol handy, because this book will consistently rub salt in the wound of 'what might have been' for the Mets teams of the '80s.
April 28, 2022
This wasn't the era (91/92)I gave up on the New York Mets, this was the era they gave up on me.
And pretty much everyone else, including themselves.
Bye bye season tickets.
A chronicle of what happened, and in many places, why it happened. Some bad luck, certainly, but some of the worst decisions ever made by baseball executives helped lead to to this travesty.
Not sure why I wanted to relive such a mess, but, I am a Mets fan, so I clearly do have a masochistic streak.
And pretty much everyone else, including themselves.
Bye bye season tickets.
A chronicle of what happened, and in many places, why it happened. Some bad luck, certainly, but some of the worst decisions ever made by baseball executives helped lead to to this travesty.
Not sure why I wanted to relive such a mess, but, I am a Mets fan, so I clearly do have a masochistic streak.
June 20, 2024
An informative book for me, as I only began following the Mets in the mid-2000s. It helps to explain how the team went from mid-80s glory to the laughingstock “LOL Mets,” etc. Even more interesting is how the book reveals a baseball clubhouse through the lens of beat writers, as well as provides commentary on the growing phenomenon — so standard today — of “millionaire players” and the impact of ballooning salaries on both the fan experience and the sport itself.
July 5, 2026
A throwback story to an dysfunctional baseball team and their exploits both on and off the field. Some really good anecdotes in here. The writers do put themselves in the middle of the story and while at times it adds to the story, there is a little too much and it’s clear it’s from a time when beat writers thought their job was way more important than it was.
August 4, 2023
Sure, they both sound miserable to have a dream job that not many people are able to hold on to for long but it does provide great anecdotes at how the Mets fell from grace after the 1986 World Series win.
October 17, 2020
This is more of a journalism book than a baseball book, in a way. It is fascinating to get the inside look at what it's like to cover a team, to be in the clubhouse every day, and to deal with different egos and personalities.
August 3, 2008
Anyone that had been watching the Mets for the last 25 years or so has ridden the up and down roller coaster they’ve taken us on. From the mid-eighties until 1990 they were spectacular and interesting. In 1990 and 91, they were kind of bad but interesting in their collapses. When 1992 came around the Mets were trying to get back on top and failing absolutely miserably. “The Worst Team Money Can Buy” by Bob Klapisch and John Harper is kind of a behind-the-scenes, insider look at just how that terrific catastrophe went down in 1992. Klapisch and Harper were New York Mets beat writers for the Daily News and the New York Post respectively.
These are the Mets of Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman and Eddie Murray. The Mets of Jeff Torborg and “family values”. The Mets the year after they let Darryl Strawberry walk away to LA. These are the Mets that traded away David Cone for what amounted to a bag of ball in Ryan Thompson and Jeff Kent…even though Kent went on to an arguably hall-of-fame career, none of that happened with the Mets. These are the Mets who were out of the pennant race in any real way by July for the first time since 1984.
More than just talking about game after game of agony, the sportswriters walk us through what happened in the tunnels and clubhouses that brought about the final downfall of those glorious Mets teams of the past. It’s very much the final death throes of those coulda-been dynastic Mets. It’s really quite mesmerizing to get inside the team…beyond just what happens between the white lines of the baseball diamond.
It’s really scary just how close to home some of the things in this book about a 16-year old Mets team ring true in my head about the Mets of today. There’s a passage that particularly jumped out at me towards the end of the book where Klapisch and Harper are really recapping their story. “…the Mets simply weren’t tough. They rarely made late-inning comebacks, going down quietly time after time. They waited and waited for the dramatic three-run, ninth-inning home run, and when they realized no one was there to hit them, the Mets dried up and died. No, all the money couldn’t bring back the kind of soul that had once made the Mets champions. This team didn’t have the personality to thrive in New York, face the press, withstand the booing.” Doesn’t that sound very much like the Mets from the All-Star break of ’07 - Present?
I flew this book at a breakneck pace it seems. I started reading it last night around 1130 or so for an hour I guess before I went to sleep. I spent the majority of the afternoon today finishing it. Really a good read for any baseball fan and a must-read for any Mets fan. Makes me wish there was a book for what was going on the clubhouse for last year’s collapse.
These are the Mets of Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman and Eddie Murray. The Mets of Jeff Torborg and “family values”. The Mets the year after they let Darryl Strawberry walk away to LA. These are the Mets that traded away David Cone for what amounted to a bag of ball in Ryan Thompson and Jeff Kent…even though Kent went on to an arguably hall-of-fame career, none of that happened with the Mets. These are the Mets who were out of the pennant race in any real way by July for the first time since 1984.
More than just talking about game after game of agony, the sportswriters walk us through what happened in the tunnels and clubhouses that brought about the final downfall of those glorious Mets teams of the past. It’s very much the final death throes of those coulda-been dynastic Mets. It’s really quite mesmerizing to get inside the team…beyond just what happens between the white lines of the baseball diamond.
It’s really scary just how close to home some of the things in this book about a 16-year old Mets team ring true in my head about the Mets of today. There’s a passage that particularly jumped out at me towards the end of the book where Klapisch and Harper are really recapping their story. “…the Mets simply weren’t tough. They rarely made late-inning comebacks, going down quietly time after time. They waited and waited for the dramatic three-run, ninth-inning home run, and when they realized no one was there to hit them, the Mets dried up and died. No, all the money couldn’t bring back the kind of soul that had once made the Mets champions. This team didn’t have the personality to thrive in New York, face the press, withstand the booing.” Doesn’t that sound very much like the Mets from the All-Star break of ’07 - Present?
I flew this book at a breakneck pace it seems. I started reading it last night around 1130 or so for an hour I guess before I went to sleep. I spent the majority of the afternoon today finishing it. Really a good read for any baseball fan and a must-read for any Mets fan. Makes me wish there was a book for what was going on the clubhouse for last year’s collapse.
May 3, 2010
Full disclosure: I'm a lifelong Phillies fan, so I'm naturally predisposed to a book that documents a colossal Met failure. Actually, people looking for a chronological and minute document of the Mets' unsuccessful 1992 will be disappointed. This book is much better as an absorbing narration of stories that illustrate how the organization and clubhouse got to the point that made the team lose so much around that time.
It's even better, though, as a book more about baseball journalism than baseball. The authors were reports on the Mets during this time, and they wisely make no attempt to disguise their perspective. What emerges is one of the best books you are likely to find about covering sports for major newspapers and the complicated relationships between reports, players, team employees, and other reporters that develop in the course of doing this, written in an authentic hard-boiled style.
It's even better, though, as a book more about baseball journalism than baseball. The authors were reports on the Mets during this time, and they wisely make no attempt to disguise their perspective. What emerges is one of the best books you are likely to find about covering sports for major newspapers and the complicated relationships between reports, players, team employees, and other reporters that develop in the course of doing this, written in an authentic hard-boiled style.
August 25, 2015
I just love this book's premise: the 1992 Mets were such a trainwreck that the beat writers of the NY Post and NY Daily News - 2 fiercely competing papers - had to join forces to eulogize the season.
As you'd expect, they focus less on the team's actual play and more on the litany of embarrassing distractions and gossip that overshadowed the team's dreadful pay. If you're looking for the inside dirt - like why the Mets are STILL paying Bobby Bonilla even though he hasn't played for them in nearly 20 years, this is a good place to start.
Sidenote: I read this shortly after Jeff Pearlman's The Bad Guys Won!, which is a similar look at the 1980s Mets. Together they give an intriguing rise/fall of the 80s and early 90s Mets.
As you'd expect, they focus less on the team's actual play and more on the litany of embarrassing distractions and gossip that overshadowed the team's dreadful pay. If you're looking for the inside dirt - like why the Mets are STILL paying Bobby Bonilla even though he hasn't played for them in nearly 20 years, this is a good place to start.
Sidenote: I read this shortly after Jeff Pearlman's The Bad Guys Won!, which is a similar look at the 1980s Mets. Together they give an intriguing rise/fall of the 80s and early 90s Mets.
June 17, 2013
Historical narrative aside, this book is written with the vivid, descriptive perspective that talented beat writers can provide. Their recounting of characters, characteristics, and the tales that define them, not only over a year, but several, is excellent. That said, Mets fans interested in why and how the 1986 World Series champs failed to repeat and eventually failed to contend should read this book. The 1992 season is merely a backdrop for a disappointment that had been building momentum over six years. Alas, 1993 would go on to be even worse for the Mets.
20 years later, it still stands as a great example of behind-the-scenes, in the locker room and front office, sportswriting.
20 years later, it still stands as a great example of behind-the-scenes, in the locker room and front office, sportswriting.
June 1, 2013
This really does not explain why the Mets were bad. The authors have an "oldschool" view on baseball, which is more or less that emotions, gestures, and attitudes cause wins. It's not really believable.
What really makes the book interesting is that it is kind of a "Boys on the Bus" of the early 90's Mets. What is it like to cover a team for the Post?
It's too bad there isn't more story/aren't more stories about the team. It seems to drip out. Although maybe I was expecting more bleach than I could have ogtten.
What really makes the book interesting is that it is kind of a "Boys on the Bus" of the early 90's Mets. What is it like to cover a team for the Post?
It's too bad there isn't more story/aren't more stories about the team. It seems to drip out. Although maybe I was expecting more bleach than I could have ogtten.
June 6, 2009
This is the story of the 1992 Mets- overpaid and underproductive!
I have to admit I read the first half of the book about 3 months ago. It was set aside and forgotten when I had a stack of library books to plow thru. But the second half of the book wasn't as good as I remember the first half being.
I have to admit I read the first half of the book about 3 months ago. It was set aside and forgotten when I had a stack of library books to plow thru. But the second half of the book wasn't as good as I remember the first half being.
August 4, 2011
Les Mets de New York 1992, l'une des équipes les mieux payées de l'époque mais l'une des pires... le livre porte sur l'équipe, mais aussi beaucoup (trop) sur les frustrations quotidienes des journalistes qui suivent l'équipe. Correct, sans plus.
June 9, 2012
There are parts of this book that make Ball Four look like a kid's story.
April 23, 2014
Good read, but the authors state their bias early on. They seem to think of people as good guys only if they are candid with the media, regardless of what else they do in life.
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