Baseball books come in many different forms. There are biographies, historical retellings, analytical analysis, and then there is The Bad Guys Won. It reads like the combination of a police blotter and championship highlight reel. Based on the talent accumulated on the 1986 New York Mets it came as no surprise that they became World Series champions. That no Mets player died or went to prison during the season is surprising. The Amazin’s were something to watch on and off the diamond. 

Jeff Pearlman begins the story in the only possible way, recounting the aftermath of the Mets victory over the Astros to win the National League Pennant. It was a miracle, one the Catholic Church should investigate, that the flight home arrived in New York. The alcohol flowed into men who had zero filter. They damaged the plane so extensively the airline terminated its contract with the Mets. Did I mention the players’ wives were on the flight and many were carried off the plane. Pearlman’s vivid recounting will leave every reader slack jawed. This is just the opening to 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.  

The history of the Mets has numerous blunders. However, General Manager Frank Cashen was nearly perfect in assembling the 1986 team. He turned a bad Mets team into one of the all time greats. Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry were top draft picks, and were quickly developed into young stars. Both developed drug issues that altered their once Hall of Fame bound careers, but in 1986 those troubles were mostly in the future. Gooden made opposing hitters look like amateurs while Strawberry annihilated baseballs every night.

The future never seemed bright for Lenny Dykstra. He was drafted in the 13th round by the Mets in 1981. He made it to Queens by brute force in 1985. The hard charging, and hard living, outfielder never relaxed. A fly ball dropping in safely was blasphemy. If he had to run through a wall to make a catch, so be it. Nails quickly became a fan favorite. His self destructive behavior perfectly mirrored pitchers known as the Scum Bunch.

Pearlman walks readers through the long list of characters that inhabited Shea Stadium in 1986. Understanding the team was as much about the individuals as it was about how they played on the field. Cashen used players like George Foster to regain attention for the Mets, but he knew when a player was no longer helping the team. The mental and personal side of baseball is often ignored, but Pearlman’s dive into their importance highlights the fragility of a winning baseball team. 

While Gooden, Strawberry, Dykstra, and the Scum Bunch worked to win baseball games and destroy everything in their path, Keith Hernandez cried when he was traded to the Mets. Hernandez never wanted to leave St. Louis, but once in Queens, he reinvented himself in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh Drug Trials. His veteran leadership gave the young Mets a captain, helping them avoid pitfalls on the diamond throughout the season. The other veteran leadership in Gary Carter was not as helpful. 

The walking, talking nuclear bombs wearing a Mets uniform every night were led by Davey Johnson. Johnson was as comfortable with computers and academics as he was with the hit and run. While his hands off approach allowed the players’ talents to take over, it also allowed clubhouse chaos. This combustible combination lasted throughout the 1986 season as the wins piled higher and higher. The chaos that allowed the Mets to win also caused them to fall apart just as quickly. The Mets should have been a dynasty, instead they won in 1986 and then devils and demons grew too strong. 

Jeff Pearlmans’s recount of the 1986 Mets is an insight into one of the craziest teams in baseball’s modern era and a look into the ever changing world of the players. Dwight Gooden and Daryl Strawberry went from high school to Shea Stadium in a flash. The ability to handle this change is incredibly difficult, even with a support system. The Mets were designed to win, not necessarily to take care of the players. Many Mets shaved years off their careers and lives with their excesses, and yet they still showed up every day to play baseball. Pearlman’s writing shows the hilarity, chaos, and humanity of the 1986 Mets. The struggles and temptations of playing championship baseball in New York. The Mets have long played second fiddle to the Yankees and the occupants of Shea were ready to emerge from the shadows. It took several years to build the team into a winner, and all the hard work crumbled quickly. 

The Bad Guys Won is one of the most honest baseball books you will ever read. Jeff Pearlman lays out the history of the 1986 New York Mets for all to see. The team and the players were tremendous. They were also borderline out of control. All too often teams like this fall apart without winning a World Series. The 1986 Mets were an exception and even without the ball going through Bill Buckner’s legs, they were destined to be remembered. The Bad Guys Won receives a 9  out of 10, a Grand Slam.

DJ