Met-rospectives

The Mets are a team known for warming hearts one day and breaking them the next. Nothing has ever come easy for the National League's third franchise in New York. Even the miraculous championship year of 1969 didn't occur without seven preceding years of futility. And in the dominant 1986 regular season, the road to an expected World Series title didn't happen without gut-wrenching, precipice-of-defeat dramatics in the playoffs.

There have been fair measures of wondrous and woeful in the franchise's history, but this book's 57 game summaries--coinciding with the number of Mets years through 2018--are strictly for the eternal optimist. All, with the exception of one valiant defeat, end in triumph for the orange and blue. The selection process for these games involved various criteria including the time in the season, the dramatic level, and the impact in shaping franchise history.

The games are recounted here thanks to the combined efforts of 32 SABR members. They run the gamut of the team's lifespan, beginning with its very first victory in April 1962 at Forbes Field, running through Tom Seaver's "Imperfect Game" in July '69 and the unforgettable Game Sixes in October '86, the "Grand Slam Single" in the 1999 NLCS, then concluding with extra-inning heroics in September 2016 at Citi Field that helped ensure a wild-card berth.

April 23, 1962: Mets First Victory
Tony Valley

June 26, 1963: Tim Harkness Game-Winning Slam
Alan Raylesberg

May 31, 1964: Longest Doubleheader
Alan Cohen

July 9, 1969: Seaver's Near-Perfect Game
Alan Raylesberg

September 15, 1969: Swoboda Is Carlton's Achilles Heel
Richard A. Cuicchi

October 15, 1969: Seaver/Swoboda Beat Baltimore
Thomas J. Brown Jr.

October 16, 1969: First Expansion Team to Win a World Series
Thomas J. Brown Jr.

April 22, 1970: Seaver Strikes Out 19 Batters
Thomas J. Brown Jr.

May 14, 1972: Willie Mays Homers in Mets Debut
Kevin Larkin

September 2, 1972: The Kind of a Night You Dream About
Irv Goldfarb

September 20, 1973: All the Good Bounces
Brian Wright

October 10, 1973: Ya Gotta Believe
Steven C. Weiner

October 14, 1973: Say Hey One Last Time
Frederick C. Bush

October 18, 1973: Koosman, McGraw Shutout Takes Series
Frederick C. Bush

June 14, 1980: The Steve Henderson Game
Tom Cuggino

April 5, 1983: Tom Seaver's Return
Bruce Slutsky

September 7, 1984: Dwight Gooden One-Hits Cubs
Joseph Wancho

April 9, 1985: Gary Carter HR Debut
Bruce Slutsky

July 4, 1985: Fire(works) & Rain
Brian Wright

September 12, 1985: Hernandez Walk-Off
Joseph Wancho

October 1, 1985: Strawberry's 11th-Inning Wallop
Richard A. Cuicchi

July 22, 1986: Extra-Inning Slugfest w/Brawl & Home Run
Michael Huber

23 October 11, 1986: Dykstra's Homer Ends G3 NLCS
Rory Costello

October 14, 1986: Carter's Single Wins G5 NLCS
Rory Costello

October 15, 1986: 16-inning Battle for Pennant
Rory Costello

October 25, 1986: Buckner Error
Matthew Silverman

October 27, 1986: Game Seven
Matthew Silverman

August 11, 1988: McReynolds' Grand Slam
Brian M. Frank

October 4, 1988: Mets Steal G1 of NLCS
Paul Hofmann

October 8, 1988: Mets Beat Dodgers, Weather
Tara Krieger

July 25, 1990: Mets Survive Six-Run Ninth
Michael Huber

July 28, 1993: Walk-off Ends Young's 27-game Losing Streak
Kevin Larkin

and many more!