The New York Mets Encyclopedia

Rating:
Summary: No Really....
Review: First of all, how can the author possibly justify reviewing his OWN book here and giving it 5 stars???? Not only is that tacky, but it reeks of financial desperation.

I just got done reading "The Bad Boys Win" about the 86 Mets, it was much more enjoyable. It did have a few typos, but it wasn't that important because it wasn't a book that was designed for facts and figures.

But, an "Encyclopedia" SHOULD be as accurate as humanly possible. This book wasn't.
I agree with the other reviewer, the best part of this book was the pictures.

Rating:
Summary: Hardly Encyclopedic
Review: I guess it's pretty easy to call something an encyclopedia these days. Most teams have them, and this one is inferior to most of the others I've seen. First, its 320 pages pales in comparison. Secondly, the last hundred pages could have been condensed into about a dozen.
Most egregious of all are the errors, and there are quite a few. Rusty Staub's bio refers to him as a "third sacker." The caption of the Willie Mays photo on pg. 154 says he "receives a shower in the aftermath of the 1969 division-clinching victory."
For the most part, the bios in the book are unoriginal and stale, particularly for anyone with even a rudimentary background in the history of the Mets. If you have any of the books this one claims to be "designed to overhaul and supplant," you need not buy this one.
On the positive side are the photos from the George Brace collection which pepper the book. It is a welcome change from the usual sources of period photography, Photo File and the Mets themselves.
I don't know if author Peter C. Bjarkman has read the Phillies Encyclopedia, but it should be the next thing he sees when another idea like this comes along. And Sports Publishing, Inc. has done little to assuage the fears that it has become the McPublisher of Sports Literature.
I am very disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: For all devoted Mets fans and sports bar trivia buffs
Review: Peter Bjarkman has published more than thirty-five books on baseball and basketball history. The New York Mets Encyclopedia is his latest work and presents the Mets fan and sports historian with an exhaustive, 325 page encyclopedia covering all aspects of the New York Mets baseball team, profusely illustrated with two hundred photographs. Bjarkman's informative and authoritative essays and profuse statistical tables make The New York Mets Encyclopedia a "must" for all devoted Mets fans and sports bar trivia buffs.