The Amazin' Mets 1962-1969

This book traces the history of the New York Mets from the franchise's inauspicious beginnings--the 1962 team, led by Casey Stengel and made up of players like Rod Kanehl and Jay Hook, lost 120 games--through the miraculous championship season of 1969. Based on interviews with more than one hundred former players and extensive research by one of the more highly regarded baseball historians writing today, the book covers the era in unprecedented detail. Any Met fan from the 1960s will find some familiar stories along with some they've probably never read before. Presented in an easy-to-read, narrative style, this book traces the rapid ascent of the Mets and explores the reasons for their early failure and dramatic success.

William J. Ryczek is a finance professional from Wallingford, Connecticut. He is also the author of The Yankees in the Early 1960s (2007), When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The PostûCivil War Baseball Boom, 1865-1870 (1998, paperback 2006), Blackguards and Red Stockings: A History of Baseball's National Association, 1871-1875 (1992; 1999) and Crash of the Titans (2000).