THE 1969 MIRACLE METS: THE IMPROBABLE STORY OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST UNDERDOG TEAM

Foreword by BUD
HARRELSON

The Globe Pequot
Press

STEVEN TRAVERS

Copyright, 2009

In the popular movie
Oh, God!
George
Burns, playing the deity, is asked in a courtroom to prove His
divinity by performing a miracle. Burns tells the attorney that
miracles are too showy and should occur only on rare occasions.

Man has engaged in athletic competition at
least since the ancient Greeks. Baseball has been played, according
to legend, since Abner Doubleday invented it at Cooperstown, New
York in 1839. Through the travail of ages, in the entire history of
sports, the 1969 “Amazin’ Mets” remains the single most impossible,
unbelievable, improbable and wonderful story of all times.

This books tells the tale of that incredible
spring, summer and fall, but it does much more than simply recount
how the worst sports franchise ever ascended to the very heights of
greatness in a few short months.
The Last Miracle: Tom Seaver
and the 1969 Amazin’ Mets
is the story of tumultuous times: the
1960s. Amidst the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the Mets remained
the last, best hope of a city on the verge of bankruptcy. Through
the lens of time we now can view them as a metaphor for a changing
America, and in light of the Big Apple’s phoenix-like comeback over
the years, the catapult for this battered-yet-unbowed
Met
ropolis.

Somehow, while the Mets became the
mods
of baseball, the “new breed” athlete, Tom Seaver and
his teammates are viewed herein as the final symbols of an innocent
age; an age when the greatest icons in American culture – New York
sports heroes – mounted the stage in awesome splendor; before
Watergate, before free agency, before the mercenaries took
over.

Here they are: Seaver and Harrelson; Hodges
and Stengel; Grote and Swoboda; Jones and Agee; all the characters
of the greatest comedy act ever performed, all the while upstaging
a tempestuous mayoral race, President Richard Nixon’s “secret
plan,” a Moonshot and Woodstock.

STEVEN TRAVERS

(with photo)

Steven Travers is a USC
graduate and ex-professional baseball player. He is the author of
the best-selling
Barry Bonds: Baseball’s
Superman
, nominated for a Casey Award
(best baseball book of 2002). He is also the author of
The USC Trojans: College Football’s All-Time
Greatest Dynasty
(a National Book Network
“top 100 seller”);
One Night, Two Teams:
Alabama vs. USC and the Game That Changed a Nation
(subject of a documentary and major motion
picture); five books in the Triumph/Random House
Essential
series
(
A’s
,
Dodgers, Angels, D’backs,
Trojans
);
The
Good, the Bad & the Ugly Los Angeles Lakers
;
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Oakland Raiders
;
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly San Francisco
49ers
; and
A Tale
of Five Cities: New York, L.A., San Francisco, Washington &
Moscow in October of ‘62
.
Steve was a columnist for
StreetZebra
magazine in Los Angeles
and the
San Francisco
Examiner
. He also penned the
screenplay,
The Lost Battalion.
Travers coached baseball at USC, Cal-Berkeley and
in Europe; attended law school, served in the Army, and is a guest
lecturer at the University of Southern California. Steve has a
daughter, Elizabeth Travers and resides in California.

Books written by Steven Travers

One Night, Two Teams:
Alabama vs. USC and the Game That Changed A Nation
(also a documentary,
Tackling Segregation
, and soon to be
a major motion picture)

A’s Essential: Everything You Need to Know to Be A
Real Fan!

Trojans Essential: Everything You Need to
Know to Be A Real Fan!

Dodgers Essential: Everything You Need to
Know to Be A Real Fan!

Angels Essential: Everything You Need to Know to Be
A Real Fan!

D’Backs Essential:
Everything You Need to Know to Be A Real

The USC Trojans: College Football's All-Time
Greatest Dynasty

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly Los Angeles
Lakers

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly Oakland
Raiders

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly San
Francisco 49ers

Barry Bonds: Baseball’s Superman

College Football’s Top 25 All-Time Greatest
Traditions

The Last Miracle: Tom Seaver and the 1969
Amazin’ Mets

A Tale of Five Cities: New York, L.A., San
Francisco, Washington & Moscow in October of ‘62

God's Country: A
Conservative, Christian Worldview of How History Formed the United
States Empire and America's Manifest Destiny for the
21
^st
Century

Angry White Male

The Writer’s Life

Praise for Steven Travers

Steve Travers is the next great USC
historian, in the tradition of Jim Murray, John Hall, and Mal
Florence! . . . The Trojan Nation needs your work!

- USC Head Football Coach Pete Carroll

- Fred Wallin, CRN national sporstalk host

Steve Travers combines wit, humor, social pathos and
historical knowledge with the kind of sports expertise that only an
ex-jock is privy to; it is reminiscent of the work of Jim Bouton,
Pat Jordan and Dan Jenkins, combined with Jim Murray’s turn of
phrase, Hunter Thompson’s hard-scrabble Truths, and David
Halberstam’s unique take on our nation’s place in history. His
writing is great storytelling, and the result is pure genius every
time.

- Westwood One sports media personality Mike
McDowd

Steve Travers is a great writer,
an educated athlete who knows how to get inside the player’s heads,
and when that happens, greatness occurs. He’s gonna be a
superstar.

- Dave
Burgin/Editor,
San Francisco
Examiner

Steve Travers is a phenomenal
writer, an artist who labors over every word to get it just right,
and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of sports and
history.

Steve Travers is a Renaissance man.

• Jim Rome Show
  

Travers' new book finally explains the phenomenon .
. . the Bonds tale is spelled out in the most thorough,
interesting, revealing, concise manner ever reached.

- Maury Allen/www.TheColumnists.com, Gannett
Newspapers

Travers appears to have the right
credentials for the task: He is a former minor leaguer who also
penned screenplays in addition to a column for the San Francisco
Examiner. He calls on that background in crafting a
straightforward, warts-and-all profile that remains truthful
without becoming a mean-spirited hatchet job . . .

-
USA Today Baseball Weekly

This is a fascinating book written by a man
who knows his subject matter inside and out.

- Irv Kaze/KRLA Radio, Los
Angeles

Get this book.
You've brought Bonds to life.

- Fred Wallin/Syndicated
sportstalk host, Los Angeles

This promises to be the biggest
sports book of 2002.

- Greg Papa/KTCT Radio, San
Francisco

This cat struck out Kevin Mitchell five
times in one game. I'll read the book for that reason alone. Plus,
he hangs out with Charlie Sheen. How do I get that gig?

- Rod
Brooks/
Fitz &
Brooks
, KNBR Radio, San
Francisco

. . . gossipy, easy-to-read tale . . .
explores the sports culture that influences this distinguished
slugger . . . entertaining.

-
Library Journal

Warts-and-all . . . Travers explores Bonds'
mercurial temper and place in baseball history.

-
Novato Journal

…
the first comprehensive
biography of Barry Bonds.

-
Bud Geracie/
San Jose Mercury News

Travers thought he hit the jackpot . . .

- Furman
Bischer
, Atlanta
Journal-Constitution

Travers…hit the big time .
. . Travers . . . established himself as a writer of many
dimensions . . . a natural . . . You were ahead
of your time with the Bonds book. I still think it is the best
biography of him I've seen. It does more to capture his personality
than all the steroid books and articles.

- John
Jackson/
Ross Valley Reporter

Travers is a minor league
pitcher-turned-sportswriter, and therefore qualified to evaluate
[Larry] Dierker's thought process in ordering all those walks
regardless of the score or the situation.

- Stan
Hochman/
Philadelphia Daily News

. . . looks at all of Barry's
warts, yet remains in the end favorable to him. Not an easy
balancing act. This is not your average sports book. It is edgy and
filled with laughs . . . and inside baseball. Good, solid
reading.

- www.Amazon.com

It's a great read.

- Pete Wilson/KGO Radio, San
Francisco

This a good book that really
covers his whole life, and informs us where Bonds is coming from.
His entire life is laid out. He is very qualified to continue to
write books such as this one. Good job.

- Marty Lurie/
Right off the
Bat
Oakland A’s pre-game host

. . .
a
quality piece . . . (Travers) uses his experiences in baseball . .
. providing a humorous glimpse into the life of a player. Would I
recommend this book? Absolutely . . . laughed out
loud
several times at Travers' unique way of explaining his experiences.
This book is definitely worth the time.

- John
Kenny/www.esportnews.com

Travers’ account mentions
everything from cocaine to sex to car crashes to what Bonds said he
would do to Roger Clemens . . . more than a “hit” piece.

-
Johnson City
Press

Travers' book does do a more well-rounded
job of solving the mystery of who Bonds is . . . appealing . . . is
the more inside look at Bonds in Travers' book.

-
San Jose Mercury News

. . . Travers' work is every baseball
aficionado's dream.

-
Fairfield Daily Republic

You've created quite a stir here at the
station, with the Giants, and throughout baseball.

• Rick Barry/Hall of Fame basketball star and
  sportstalk host, KNBR Radio, San Francisco
  

You've stirred a hornet's nest here,
man.

- J.T. “The
Brick”/Syndicated national sportstalk host

This is a controversial subject and a
controversial player, but you've educated us.

- Ron
Barr/
Sportsline
,
Armed Forces Radio Network

A baseball player who can write . . . who
knew? This one sure can!

- Arny “The Stinkin’ Genius” Spanyer/Fox
Sports Radio, Los Angeles

You know baseball like few people I've ever
spoken to.

- Andy Dorff/Sportstalk host, Phoenix,
Philadelphia & New Jersey

Congratulations . . . a tour de force.

- Kate DeLancey/WFAN Radio, New York
City

I can't stand Bonds, but you've done a good
job with a difficult subject.

- Grant Napier/Sportstalk host,
Sacramento