The Bookshelf Conversation: Erik Sherman

It’s becoming almost a bittersweet habit talking with Erik Sherman. On the one hand, it’s great reliving past glories of my favorite team. On the other, it’s sad to see the heroes of my youth aging and even dying. It reminds me of my own mortality and who the hell wants that?

Last time it was Kings of Queens: Life Beyond Baseball with the ’86 Mets in which he visited several members of that rambunctious bunch. This time he assists Art Shamsky as the former fan favorite goes back fifty (!) years in After The Miracle: The Lasting Brotherhood of the ’69 Mets.

The back story here revolves around Tom Seaver, who is suffering from the ravages of Lyme disease which renders it impossible for him to travel far from his California home. Since “The Franchise” won’t be able to participate in any of the celebrations to mark the occasion in New York, Shamsky decided to take a road trip with former “Miracle workers” Buddy Harrelson (himself dealing with encroaching dementia), Jerry Koosman, and Ron Swoboda. In that regard, After the Miracle is reminiscent of David Halbertam’s excellent book about four members of the Boston Red Sox in The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship. Highly recommended.

By the way, as I was working on the podcast, it hit me: we’ve been here before. Thirty years ago, Maury Allen published After the Miracle: The Amazin’ Mets Twenty Years Later. So now’s the time to start working on another book with that title for the Diamond Anniversary of the Miracle in Flushing.