First published 2009
Sports Illustrated writer Jeff Pearlman examines the 1986 New York Mets, a team that dominated baseball while creating chaos everywhere else. The Mets won 108 games and claimed the World Series title, led by Keith Hernandez, young stars Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, and the notorious Scum Bunch. Pearlman documents how these players worshipped by New York fans left destruction behind them in hotel rooms, charter flights, and a Houston bar. The team's on-field excellence culminated in their famous victory over Bill Buckner and the Boston Red Sox. Pearlman portrays characters like Doc, Straw, the Kid, Nails, and Mex under manager Davey Johnson as baseball's final generation of wild, party-obsessed athletes. The book captures an era when New York loved a player called Mookie and the Yankees ranked second in their own city. Pearlman offers readers both celebration and criticism of this unforgettable season, exploring the gap between what this talented but reckless team achieved and what they might have accomplished.
Genres: 20th-century, american, sports, non-fiction, biography-memoir, baseball
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, sports-drama
Setting: Boston, Houston, New York, New York Mets
Period: 1986
304 pages · Kindle Edition · HarperCollins e-books
Content warnings: alcohol-abuse, drug-use