Reese Kaplan -- Book Review: Once Upon a Time in Queens by Nick Davis

Many people have enjoyed the terrific documentary about the 1986 World Championship winning New York Mets entitled, Once Upon a Time in Queens that has been playing semi-regularly this past month on your ESPN broadcast.  It brings back memories of that party hard, play hard group of very talented Mets players who pretty much ran the deck against the rest of the league until they found themselves in the World Series against the Boston Red Sox.  

What some of you may not know is that Nick Davis' recorded interviews with the people involved in that wondrous season are now out in print form available in your local book store or online.  I was fortunate enough to be friends with a gentlemen whose daughter was a principle in the production of the book and received an advance copy.  Arriving this week, Davis' tome is well worth adding to your New York Mets historical collection.  Starting off with an introduction by Jimmy Kimmel who was instrumental in helping Davis create the video, you get into the right mindset immediately as he described the team as a "pirate ship disguised as a baseball team."

Nick Davis' own introduction really captured what it was like to experience a win-at-all-costs type of season that the Mets enjoyed.  He rightly said, "the 1986 Mets were far more famous than the famous ground ball off the bat of Mookie Wilson that trickled through the legs of first baseman Bill Buckner in Game 6 of the World Series."  In fact, to many people with historical fuzziness afflicting their brains, this legendary play to them signaled the way in which the Mets won the championship when in fact it merely signaled that they tied and became eligible for a winner-take-all Game 7 to play back at Shea Stadium. York.   

Given the nausea-inducing collapse of 2021, it's hard to recall (if you are old enough) what happened 35 years earlier but Davis presented it with all the glory it deserved.  "Over in Queens that summer, the boys with the orange-and-blue racing stripes on their uniforms were playing with remarkable verve and gusto, winning 108 games with a high-flying, rollicking feel that captured the city...But for one moment we had it all -- a singular baseball team that blazed like a comet across the New York City skyline."

His final words in the introduction, however, really set the tone for what the team was all about.  As much as the legendary stories of Doc Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Kevin Mitchell and others fueled by too much alcohol, too many women and copious quantities of illegal substances, the fact is that they were more than that.  

He called it, "A legendary team full of scoundrels, ruffians, and a choirboy or two, characters whose exploits on and off the field continue to thrill and enchant..."  Perhaps, however, much maligned outfielder and convicted felon Lenny Dykstra summed it up best, "Once upon a time there was magical and entertaining and fucking didn't know the word quit."

As the book progresses from chapter to chapter, you are not led through a narrative spun by Davis to chronicle how and why the Mets grew into the powerhouse they became.  Instead, you are treated to a series of actual quotes from the players, coaches, opponents and media folks who were there and lived through that once-in-a-lifetime season with the team.  

Hearing the thoughts from the likes of Ray Knight, Bobby Ojeda, Roger Angell, Doc Gooden, Ed Lynch, Frank Cashen, Billy Beane, Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, Kevin Mitchell, Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra, Jay Horwitz, Sid Fernandez, Joe McIlvaine, Mookie Wilson, Wally Backman, Calvin Schiraldi, Davey Johnson and many others really made you feel as if you were there in the clubhouse, on the field, in the nightclubs and on the planes with this unbeatable club.  

There were numerous stories during this season about player injuries, platoons that worked, rotating players in and out of the lineup to get the best possible combination for any given night.  Still, it sometimes seemed as if the game was secondary to the whole camaraderie put together under the guise of a baseball team.  From Sid Fernandez you have a quote Davis captured which typified the attitude of the team, "We land in a city and say, 'We're going to drink their beer, fuck all their women, kick their ass and leave town."

One thing many people forget about that season was the July 19th incident in which four New York Mets got carried away in a Houston nightclub and were arrested.  The four -- Tim Teufel, Ron Darling, Rick Aguilera and Bobby Ojeda -- got into a physical fight with the police and it resulted in eleven hours in a holding cell.  Teufel and Darling were the ones who were accused of the assault.  

Aguilera and Ojeda were charged with hindering an arrest.  All four players were fined, more for being out after curfew than for what they'd actually been accused of doing.  None served real jail time and the case was quickly buried.  Ironically they got the bail money on loan from the Astros as the Mets were on the road and didn't have that kind of cash on hand.  

The book also called to mind one of the more memorable lineup constructions the Mets ever put on the field. It was late in the game and the team was pretty much out of position players, so manager Davey Johnson used both Roger McDowell and Jesse Orosco in the game at the same time.  If a right handed hitter was at-bat, then McDowell would pitch while Orosco went to the outfield.  For a left handed hitter it would reverse with Orosco on the mound and McDowell trying to catch fly balls.  

One of the more disappointing series of quotes concerned the diminished performance and eventual benching of former Cincinnati Reds megastar George Foster.  The player insisted it was the Mets expressing racism, choosing instead to promote guys like Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez who had whiter faces.  The players who took his place were Kevin Mitchell and Mookie Wilson, so many people from teammates to media didn't support his assertion, though the fact they did eventually release him to make room for white Lee Mazzilli's return did kind of underscore his feeling a bit.  

With the storied World Series, many people also gloss over the playoffs in which the Mets were facing former teammate Mike Scott who developed a highly effective (and aided pitch that would now no longer be allowed. During the 1986 season he was as formidable as Doc Gooden and the Mets were certainly stressed by his arsenal on the mound.  Still, they were able to overcome it (including a highly questionable Wally Backman run out of the baselines on a drag bunt).  

Game 5 was a critical one because facing Nolan Ryan was actually preferable to another battle with Scott.  The game was pitch-for-pitch amazing, and after both Gooden and Ryan left with no decisions it went into the 12th inning.  Gary Carter was in the midst of a 1-21 post season slump but delivered when it was needed and the Mets went up 3-2 in the series.  

As exciting as that game was, it paled in comparison to the one that followed.  Bobby Ojeda was ailing and gave up three first run innings that held until the 9th inning when the Mets made an improbable 3-run rally to tie the score which eventually went into extra innings.  

During the 14th inning the Mets went up by one run but gave it right back in the bottom of the inning.  It went into the 16th inning with the Mets again rallying for 3 runs but Jesse Orosco was asked to save it and propel the Mets to the World Series.  It was not the best outing of his career but he limited the damage in the bottom of the 16th to 2 runs and the Mets avoided Mike Scott on their way to face the Red Sox.  

The flight back from Houston is the stuff of legends with the Mets players and wives drinking, vomiting, throwing food, snorting coke, destroying seats and even removing the airplane doors.  Several players characterized it as an in-flight version of Animal House.  It was not given quite the attention it would have gotten today because everyone was so happy that the club was moving to the biggest stage for a World Series challenge.  

The aviation company sent a bill to the Mets for the damages which first was reported to be $5000, then $18,000, then over six figures.  Frank Cashen wanted the players and coaches to pay for it but the players were adamant.  Mookie Wilson in particular was incensed as he didn't consume a single drink. 

The World Series did not start out well with Boston taking the opening pair and leaving the Mets looking a whole lot more vulnerable than they had been all year.  Davey Johnson did the unthinkable and gave them a day off to spend with their families before Game 3 and it apparently worked as the Mets rallied to tie the series at 2 games apiece.  

Boston went up 3-2 and that brought the Mets to the well know Game 6 result.  Almost forgotten was Ray Knight's heroic home run in Game 7 en route to an 8-5 win which delivered the championship to the Mets after all that had transpired.  No one can ever forget the sight of Jesse Orosco hurling his glove to the heavens after retiring the final batter that sealed the deal.  

If you have a chance, relive this wondrous year through the voices of the players and others who were there.  It will help recharge your enthusiasm for the team and make you root for the same swagger to return.