The New York Mets Encyclopedia provides the full and exciting story of modern-era baseball"s most popular expansion-age franchise. From those lovable losers of 1962 and 1963, to the Miracle Mets of 1969 and 1973, and on to year-in and year-out contenders of the 1980s and 1990s, New York"s National League Mets have written some of the most exciting and colorful pages in major league history. This is the team that captured the hearts of fans everywhere with its often-laughable antics under colorful and celebrated manager Casey Stengel. Only half a dozen years later, the Mets reached baseball"s pinnacle under gifted manager Gil Hodges. This colorful volume combines detailed narrative history with archival photographs, rich statistical data, and intimate portraits of the team s most memorable personalities.