Review — Amazin' Met Memories: Four Decades of Unforgettable Moments

One might get the impression from reading Amazin’ Met Memories (by Howard Blatt, Albion Press) that winning is the only thing.

<a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=500,height=500,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/metmemories.jpg”><img title=”Metmemories” height=”150″ alt=”Metmemories” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/metmemories.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a> Howard Blatt, a former reporter with the New York Daily News, begins his celebratory offering with a selection of the top Mets post-season games. That, of course, is all well and good. Who could deny that almost universal regard for "Game Six," the 1986 contest in the World Series against the Red Sox that has become such a part of pop culture that it was an integral theme of a Seinfeld episode?

And granted, the heart-stopping sixth game of the NLCS against the Astros that year is also worthy of high esteem, as is Robin Ventura’s "grand single" in the 1999 playoffs against the arch-rival Braves.

After winnowing down to 20 games from all the Mets post-season showings, the author traverses a more difficult road by picking the top 25 out of roughly 6,300 regular season contests. While his selections may be personally memorable, readers might have their own opinions.

Blatt does conjure up memories of great ones, no argument: Tom Seaver’s 19 strikeouts against the Padres in 1970; the 1969 and 1973 pennant-clinchers, etc. But such mementos of the mind are not limited to milestone events. As a personal aside, my fondest Mets memory was the time I took my father, a Russian immigrant, to his first baseball game. For you, it might be your first trip to the ballpark, or the time you caught that foul ball, or received an autograph from a favorite player.

It might not even be one game in particular. Perhaps it’s a person. Pick one: Casey Stengel, Seaver, Keith Hernandez, Mookie Wilson, Marv Throneberry, Jay Hook, Felix Millan or George Theodore. It doesn’t matter. At the risk of sounding like a self-help guru, it’s people who make up the game.

It is not my desire to dispute any of Blatt’s calls. I don’t know how he made his choices, whether he took a "scientific poll" or if they sprang from his own thought processes, but he neglects that personal aspect. There are already numerous books based on the greatest this-or-that. But as die-hard Mets fans know, it isn’t about just about being the best; it’s about fun and enjoyment.

While Blatt’s book will no doubt call to mind a great sense of nostalgia, inevitably it is up to each fan to decide, his or her own Amazin’ Met Memories.

This review originally appeared on Metsonline.net.