Shamsky talks about his new book, winning in New York, and why the legend of the ‘69 Mets will last forever.
Art Shamsky is a 13 year MLB veteran who was a key part of the 1969 Miracle Mets. He’s also an author of three books, most recently Mets Stories I Only Tell My Friends, co-written with Matthew Silverman.
You can purchase autographed copies of the book at Shamsky’s website, and you can follow him on Twitter or Facebook.
Art was a guest on Home Run Applesauce in Conversation, and we are excerpting part of that interview here today. To hear the whole interview, listen via the embedded player below and to learn more about the Home Run Applesauce network, go HomeRunApplesauce.com.
I can’t tell you how many friends of mine I told “ I’m interviewing Art Shamsky today” and they replied “Oh, I met Art at such and such.” You’re a guy who isoften around, often chatting with fans, and always around to discuss the Miracle Mets. Did you ever have the sense during that season that more than 50 years later you’d still be talking about the ‘69 Mets almost every day?
Art Shamsky: Well, you know what it is. I tell people, there’s two teams in the history of baseball, in my opinion, and people could argue this this case, but I think there’s two teams that really resonate with fans years after they won, and one of them is the 1927 Yankees. That’ll be 100 years in two years from now. Well, of course, with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and those great players on that team and and the ‘69 Mets, we’re 56 years later now and still talking about that team. And you really have to put in context of how it all came about, what was going on in the city and the country at the time, and people have passed on stories about that team from generation to generation. And I meet youngsters who weren’t even born, and even people you know from in their 30s and 40s who who know about that team from their parents or their grandparents. And you know, it’s, it’s funny, I played 13 years and nobody really talks about the other 12.
It’s really about 1969 because of what we did and how we made people feel better about their lives and where we came from. You have to put it in the context of what was going on in the world at the time in New York City, war in Vietnam was tearing the country apart. That was the year the Jets won the Super Bowl, we won the World Series, and the Knicks won their championship in May of 1970 and and all for the first time. And it was just an exciting year in New York.
And of course, you have to talk about the history of the Mets. From 1962 onward, they were losing 100 every year, and people just looked at them as they were, known as a lovable losers. And so to turn it around like we did, from finishing ninth and a half games out of last place in 1968 then winning a World Series against a terrific Baltimore Orioles team, it just people just want to talk about it.
I wonder if part of the reason that the ‘69 Mets, and to a certain degree, also the 1986 Mets, are so beloved is that they are somewhat oases or islands in the middle of bad years. You know, the Mets have never had a true sustained run of success. There’s a year here, or there maybe a couple of years here, and then there are these pockets of just not just being bad, but sometimes being abysmally bad, having terrible, terrible teams. Do you think that the relative scarcity of met success is also part of the reason for the sustained interest in the ‘69 team?
AS: Well, I think so. I think that’s a good point. In the ‘86 teams, case, you know, what makes them a little bit different than us is that in 1985 they had a really good team, and yes, and came close, and I think people expected them to do really well in 1986. The difference was for us, is that nobody really expected us. And then, of course, they went into division play in 1969 so we can kind of snuck up on people, and nobody expected us to be do anything except, you know, finish ninth or whatever, or at least last in the division. And that was the difference in the two teams. I do think that those teams in the mid 80s probably should have, should have had more success for whatever reason they didn’t. And I do believe in our case of Gil Hodges would have lived longer than he did. You know, he passed away in spring of 72; I do believe the Mets would have won some more championships. It’s a really good point
There are a couple of things in the book that I had never been aware of before, but the number one thing for me that I was shocked by was the timing of the Mayor’s Trophy game in ‘69 I did not realize how late in the season that happened because of a rain delay (September 29). I have to ask, when you’re in the midst of a pennant hunt like that, does playing an exhibition game in the middle totally throw off your concentration? Are you able to say to yourselves, ‘okay, this is an exhibition game. It doesn’t really matter,’ or did you go into that mayor’s trophy game with a greater sense of purpose than you would have in a different year?
AS: Well, for two things, I think are important. First of all, it was against the Yankees. So anytime we could play and possibly beat the Yankees, I think was was an interesting time. The second thing, it was for a good cause. It had been rained out, and they just did not want to not play. And so they had scheduled that right at the end of the season, it was a little bit inconvenient. So it turned out I had a great game that game, so anytime I have a great game, I think it was a good reason to play. But I think we all felt that it was, it was, you know, just one of these things we had to do, and and and enjoyed it.
I really loved the story about the recording of the ‘69 Mets album. I’m always fascinated when sports teams do this, because most of the time they’re recorded before the championship happens, so that it’s set up for if they win, it’s a bit they can release it right away, and it’s a big hit. For those that haven’t heard it, how would you describe the 69 Mets album?
AS: I would describe it as fun. The music is okay. The singing is quite awful. I think it’s probably one of these classics that once you get it, don’t get rid of it, keep it, keep us a keepsake. People talk to me about that all the time, but what was a wonderful time when we did it. A couple guys were a little hung over from, from being, being overjoyed about us winning, but it was a wonderful time, you know. After we won the World Series, they took seven of us to Caesar’s Palace, out in Vegas, and we sang for two weeks. They had to put three or four professional singers behind the curtain to make it sound a little bit better than we were. But talk about being on top of the world, we’re we’re doing two shows a night, a tuxedo show at dinner, and then a casual show at midnight at Caesar’s Palace.
We were on top of the world. I mean, you can’t imagine all the things we did, the Ed Sullivan Show, The Dick Cavett Show, I was on Sesame Street with my good friend Eddie Kranepool. They named the dog after me on Everybody Loves Raymond. So many great things have happened to me, all because I played on that championship team and just wonderful fans. I get a chance to talk to reminisce and and the memories are great. I just feel like this team is going to live on forever.