The Bad Guys Won: A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform--And Maybe the Best

As a latecomer to America's sport and being in the UK, I had no idea about the 86 Mets or any other year, or any other Mets for that matter. This book really brings to life a cast of characters that you would no longer see in professional sport (more's the pity in my opinion). I do think you need a basic understanding of Baseball to fully appreciate the drama unfolding. And if you didn't know the results of the games during the post season then it is described in a dramatic fashion. Excellent stuff

A great, fun read.

A great read.

SUPER BOOK

Even thought I am a Red Sox fan with a sad ending to the story of 1986 I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Even though I knew what was coming in the later chapters I was hoping there was more stories of the 86 Mets and we weren't going to get to the World Series chapters

as a non-american and non baseball fan I was pretty lost in this story, there are so many facts about hit % run % base stealing which I didnt have clue about. I was expecting tales of boozy nights out, strip clubs and drugs but it tip toed around these matters and it was a big let down.

This is the story about how the New York Mets went from the laughing stock of baseball with average crowds of 9700 to a team of stars, crowds of 35,000 and victory in the 1986 World Series - and then how it all fell apart. Although you will need a basic understanding of the rules of baseball to follow the on-field action, this is not just for the baseball fans. Jeff Pearlman has a clear, journalistic style that captures the energy and drama of the 1986 Mets baseball team - the triumphs and the disasters, the fighting, gambling, beer drinking, drug-taking, womanising and the baseball. By the time it gets to chapter 19, the scene is set for "the greatest managerial screwup in baseball history", and, in the most unlikely of circumstances, the crushing of the Boston Red Sox' dream of breaking the Curse of the Bambino. Overall this book fizzes along at great pace and captures the human stories behind one of baseball's most remembered World Series. A great read.

Recently we have been asked to reconsider sports writers as maligned and overlooked authors with as much style/worth as any other. Here's a book which seems designed to undo that conceit. It is extremely badly written, full of inane similes and ridiculous cliches. The writer simply cannot write, he contradicts himself at length, spending a chapter asking us to reconsider a player and then two chapters later you'll find him happily rehashing the same, easy generalisations himself. His style is overwrought, confused and confusing, at times he switches between players surnames, first names or nicknames for no apparent reason and this is certainly not his most grievous crime. It has the feel of having actually been written by one of the sozzled players on the drunken and drugged up plane ride back to new york, in which case perhaps it is a startling work of vérité and the product of a misunderstood genius, but I fear not. If you are familiar with this team you will have no reason to read this book and if you are not but are interested I can't imagine there will be many worse places to start.

Excellent.

This book is geared for the serious long time New York Met fan. Unless you know who Ed Hearn is, you can probably skip this book. But if you thought the 86 Mets were one of the greatest teams of all time, then the book is worth a shot. The story focuses on the off-field antics of the team, to include the drinking, drugs, and women. The inside scoop on what went on in the locker room was the best part of the book. The description of the actual season is average as was the writing, but it did bring back great memories from that amazing year. The last chapter tells where each member of the 86 Mets ended up, which was great for the diehard fans, but meaningless to everyone else. 4 stars if you think that a night a drinking with Mr Met sounds like fun. 3 stars if you are from New York , love baseball and are old enough the remember the 86 Mets. 2 Stars for everyone else.

Probably Jeff Pearlman's best book, 'How The Bad Guys Won' details the 1986 New York Mets season. Very entertaining from the opening chapter on, it's another page turner from Pearlman.

Not sure how there could be any negative reviews of this book. One can imagine nowadays how to come up with enough material to tell a compelling story about a single team and their one season of success, but 1986 and the Mets were unique. The players were legitimate stars, household names for any kid growing up in New York. 1986 had one of the most amazing postseasons in all of sports, throughout history. There is a world champion crowned every year, but for some reason 1986 is unforgettable to me. I credit the writer for being very informed, obviously having done thorough research. As a sportswriter the material is certainly opinionated, but fair. It's not like there is any piling on. There is a lot of information provided, with plenty of backstory. In some cases, maybe some information I wish I didn't know :) Most importantly the storytelling is great. I found myself looking up some of the games on YouTube and reliving the moments I first experienced as an 8 year old watching tv with an antenna, which is all we had. This was a time when cable tv was about to take off. 24/7 information overload there was not. Just simple enjoyment of the games, at least in my household. Baseball was by far the most popular sport in the country, and so going back to that time is reliving a unique era in the history of the country. What baseball game will ever get 60 million viewers today, like game 2 of the 86 World Series did? Really can't recommend this book enough for any baseball fan out there.

to put it simply, I've read a lot of sports books in my day. I have no interest in puff pieces by fawning authors who want to intensify the already-ridiculous pedestal pro athletes are placed on in our world. The Bad Guys Won is a fun and informative read. If you're like me and want truth over fluff, this is the book for you on the 86 Mets, maybe one of the most interesting teams in MLB history, if not all of sports. I only wish there were more truthful accounts about this team available. Searching today, there's a book that came out in 2020 where an author interviews the players about the old days. But reading reviews of the 2020 book, it seems like the author glosses over the dirt and hypes the victories on the field. Hey, if you're into the fantasy of athletes being movie characters without true flaws and problems, do you. But for the reader like me, it's a rare gem to find books that reveal real behind-the-scenes happenings, because usually people in power, whether sports, business, politics, create an image they want the public to know and, well, that's all you'll ever know mostly. Thankfully, good investigative books, such as "Bad Guys", give backstage access rarely seen. Excellent work. It's not a coincidence that 30 or so years later the real info comes out. Real truth is rarely spoken in real time. Usually story subjects are elderly or dead when the masses find out what really happened. If at all.