Art Shamsky

On February 6 th it was announced that long time New York Mets announcer Ralph Kiner had passed away at the age of 91. I've spent my entire life as a Mets fan and can remember lying in bed and falling asleep at night as a kid with with a transistor radio on while listening to Ralpk Kiner and the rest of the broadcast team announce The Mets games. The following day I came into work and had a discussion with my friend Patrick about how the passing of Kiner had upset me. Patrick, our Community Relations Manager at Barnes & Noble knows and is friendly with former Mets player Art Shamsky and shared this news with him. Art then took it upon himself to come into the store and personally autograph a copy of the book for me. We had a long wonderful discussion about Kiner, The Mets, and baseball in general. How cool is that ? Often times fans go to baseball outings and pay for autographs, but Art took it upon himself to come to me and personally sign a copy of his book !
As far as the book itself goes, it was wonderful ! Sadly, I am to young to actually remember the 1969 season. So this book was a wonderful way for me to gain insight onto that magical time in New York sports history.As Art described, so many horrible things were going on in the city and the world at the time but in the span of a year and half, The Jets, Mets, and then The Knicks gave the people of New York city something to cheer and be happy about ? Isn't that what sports are all about ?… (plus d'informations)

The 1969 Mets made me a baseball fan, so I was looking forward to reading this. But somehow, time passed and this book just sat on a shelf, waiting patiently. This is a fairly quick read, with stories/anecdotes I already knew and many that were new to me. The structure of the book is different than the other books I read about the '69 Mets, most of them back in the early '70s. Former Met Art Shamsky reminisced with former teammates about the miracle year, with the book culminating with a visit of four of them at Tom Seaver's vineyard, which gave the book an emotional punch, especially now that Seaver is gone. I just wish it had been better proofed; I found typos, a few missing words, that sort of thing.… (plus d'informations)

After the Miracle: The Lasting Brotherhood of the ‘69 Mets covers the amazing story of the Mets’ improbable championship season. Authors Art Shamsky and Erik Sherman try to put a fresh spin on the events with lots of quotes and anecdotes from Mets players and coaches, but much of the writing is clichéd and repetitive. The framing story of the narrative is Shamsky, along with teammates Bud Harrelson, Jerry Koosman, and Ron Swoboda, paying a visit to the team’s Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver, who is currently ailing with the debilitating effects of Lyme disease. This is reminiscent of David Halberstam’s wonderful book Teammates which chronicles a similar trip of Boston Red Sox teammates to visit Ted Williams in his dying days. After the Miracle of course cannot match Halberstam’s literary skills, and while Seaver’s plight is undeniably sad, it somehow does not achieve the poignancy that the authors likely envisioned. Nevertheless, Met fans who experienced that magical season will certainly will enjoy this nostalgic ride, but the book really doesn’t rise above the standard baseball memoir.… (plus d'informations)