One of two companion volumes of biographies of the players, coaches, announcers, and others involved with the 1986 World Series, one on each team, the Mets and the Red Sox. One of the most dramatic World Series in baseball history, the 1986 series featured many more twists and turns than just "the Buckner gaffe." The Mets were a colorful group of characters including Keith Hernandez, Dwight Gooden, and Darryl Strawberry, and we examine each one.

This book on the 1986 season re-tells the story of that year's classic World Series. After four games, each team had won two away games and neither had won at home. Then the Red Sox won Game Five at Fenway, and were one game away from winning their first World Championship in 86 years. It came to the point they were one pitch away from baseball Nirvana.

And then....

Just about everyone knows what happened, but there are takes on it here you might not have read elsewhere. Mostly, this is the story of each of the players, coaches, managers, and broadcasters, their lives in baseball and the way the 1986 season fit into their lives.

As with many of the books published by the Society of American Baseball Research, this was a true collaborative effort. There are 74 different SABR members who contributed to making these two books on the Mets and Red Sox a reality. It took us two books to tell the story as well as we wanted. Be sure to pick up the companion 1986 Boston Red Sox book for the rest of the story!

Table of Contents:
Rick Aguilera by Alan Cohen
Rick Anderson by Joel Rippel
Wally Backman by Nick Waddell
Bruce Berenyi by David E Skelton
Gary Carter by Rory Costello
Tim Corcoran by Leslie Heaphy
Ron Darling by Audrey Apfel
Lenny Dykstra by Andy Sturgill
Kevin Elster by Joel Rippel
Sid Fernandez by Rory Costello
George Foster by Cindy Thomson
John Gibbons by Nick Waddell
Dwight Gooden by Lee Kluck
Ed Hearn by Alan Cohen
Danny Heep by Mark Simon
Keith Hernandez by Michael Martell
Stan Jefferson by Armand Peterson
Howard Johnson by Dave Raglin
Ray Knight by Ralph Carhart
Terry Leach by Jon Springer
Ed Lynch by Jon Springer
Barry Lyons by Leslie Heaphy
Dave Magadan by Rory Costello
Lee Mazzilli by Jon Springer
Roger McDowell by Jon Springer
John Mitchell by Skip Nipper
Kevin Mitchell by Joe Wancho
Randy Myers by Rich Puerzer
Randy Niemann by David E Skelton
Bob Ojeda by Alan Cohen
Jesse Orosco by Rory Costello
Rafael Santana by Leslie Heaphy
Doug Sisk by Alan Cohen
Darryl Strawberry by Shawn Morri
Tim Teufel by Rory Costello
Mookie Wilson by Irv Goldfarb
Manager, Davey Johnson by Mark Armour
General Manager, Frank Cashen by Mark Armour
Scouting Director, Roland Johnson by Alan Cohen
Coaches
Buddy Harrelson by Eric Aron
Vern Hoscheit by Jimmy Keenan
Greg Pavlick by Leslie Heaphy
Bill Robinson by Alan Cohen
Mel Stottlemyre by Gregory H Wolf
Announcers
Ralph Kiner by Warren Corbett
Tim McCarver by Dave Williams
Fran Healy by Alan Cohen
Rusty Staub by Norm King
Steve Zabriskie by Alan Raylesburg
Seven 1986 Mets Games
April 30, 1986 by Irv Goldfarb
May 27, 1986 by Gregory H Wolf
July 11, 1986 by Gregory H Wolf
July 22, 1986 by Michael Huber
September 4, 1986 -- Mets/Red Sox exhibition game by Saul Wisnia
September 17, 1986 by Gregory H Wolf
September 28, 1986 by Jack Zerby291
The 1986 National League Championship Series by Rory Costello
The 1986 World Series by Matthew Silverman
Mike Sergio by Bill Nowlin
By The Numbers by Dan Fields
How the Mets Were Built by Rod Nelson

The 1986 New York Mets: There Was More Than Game Six