Now what? Today is the day of the MLB Lockout and it’s pretty funny how the Players Union and the Owners didn’t have more than two discussions yesterday of trying to work out a new CBA.
Free agency, arbitration, Luxury Tax Threshold, playoffs, draft picks are all the bigger issues that need to be worked out. To tell you the truth, I am not going to lose sleep over the millionaires vs Billionaires aspect of this if there is a lockout right now. MLB Players don’t get checks until the real season starts anyway. I do know that there are unions out there fighting for better contracts such as the workers at Kellogg’s, we had the John Deere folks who got a good contract, and the west coast IATSE that just ratified a contract. They’ll eventually come to terms and I’m not worried about it.
This was a pretty cool photo that Erik Sherman captured when he gave "The Franchise" our Gil Hodges Unforgettable Fire Award a couple of years ago.
The inside account of an iconic team in baseball history: the 1969 New York Mets—a consistently last-place team that turned it all around in just one season—told by ’69 Mets outfielder Art Shamsky, Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver, and other teammates as they reminisce about what happened then and where they are today.
The New York Mets franchise began in 1962 and the team finished in last place nearly every year. When the 1969 season began, fans weren’t expecting much from “the Lovable Losers.” But as the season progressed, the Mets inched closer to first place and then eventually clinched the National League pennant. They were underdogs against the formidable Baltimore Orioles, but beat them in five games to become world champions. No one had predicted it. In fact, fans could hardly believe it happened. Suddenly they were “the Miracle Mets.”
Playing right field for the ’69 Mets was Art Shamsky, who had stayed in touch with his former teammates over the years. He hoped to get together with star pitcher Tom Seaver (who would win the Cy Young award as the best pitcher in the league in 1969 and go on to become the first Met elected to the Hall of Fame) but Seaver was ailing and could not travel. So, Shamsky organized a visit to Tom Terrific in California, accompanied by the #2 pitcher, Jerry Koosman, outfielder Ron Swoboda, and shortstop Bud Harrelson. Together they recalled the highlights of that amazing season as they reminisced about what changed the Mets’ fortunes in 1969
Also check out Erik's newest book.
Following an epic American League Championship Series win over the California Angels and just one out from winning their first World Series in sixty-eight years, the 1986 Boston Red Sox lost Game Six to the New York Mets in unforgettable and devastating fashion. Then they lost Game Seven and the Series itself. Two Sides of Glory portrays the losing side of the story about one of baseball’s most riveting World Series match-ups. With the benefit of years of reflection from the men who made up the ’86 Sox, this is the definitive book on this iconic yet most Shakespearian of Boston teams for years to come.
After telling the ’86 Mets’ side of the story in my book Kings of Queens, I once again crisscrossed the United States to get the Red Sox’s version, with in-person recollections from players that are both insightful and surprisingly emotional. Bill Buckner, whose name became synonymous with a muffed grounder, speaks openly about the cruel aftermath in the last major interview before his death. Pitcher Bruce Hurst, still emotional over the toll his baseball career took on him, broke down three times while being interviewed. Dwight Evans confesses in his interview that he had never before talked at such length about the ’86 team. And Roger Clemens speaks candidly not only about the ’86 squad but also accusations of alleged steroid abuse later in his career and the toll it has taken on his family.
In each player’s retelling, there is the excitement of history never told and old mysteries answered. The story of the ’86 Red Sox is well known, but now, after more than three decades, the players opened up to me like never before. It’s an in-depth, first-person account with the intriguing key players who made up this once-in-a-generation Boston team, and also a look at how the extremes of tantalizing victory and heart-wrenching failure shaped and influenced their lives—both on the field and off.
