Dozens of books have been written and countless stories have already been told that describe the 1986 Mets as a tougher, more festive squad that took over and faced a World Series championship.
That doesn’t make the upcoming ESPN documentary “30 by 30” about one of the most memorable teams and times in New York sports history any less fun or fascinating.
This week The Post was able to reunite with the projectors for the fourth part of “Once Upon a Time in Queens,” which was directed by Nick Davis and will air on Sept. 15-16.
While there aren’t too many terrible revelations for fans who have heard and read all about that wildest attraction 35 years ago and everything that came before and after, there were many anecdotes and highlights from over three dozen of players. , coaches, front office executives, members of the media and fans of celebrities who will surely make this the last worthwhile vision among the acclaimed ESPN series.
Of course, there’s another big dose of Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, who already received a 30-30 chronicle in 2016, but also some fantastic, insightful stories from Davey Johnson, Keith Hernandez, Ray Knight World Series MVP and so many others associated with this team.
All the bases are well covered, from the personalities, to the fights on the field, to the drugs and debauchery, to the wild plane rides, to the NLCS against the alleged ball scammer Mike Scott and the Astros on the way back of the World Series the Red Sox, especially games 6 and 7, and subsequent breakups and problems.
Here is a sample of our favorite quotes and observations from the document:
- Episode 1 opens with Keith Hernandez taking second place in the tenth inning of Game 6 of the World Series and eventually hero Mookie Wilson smiling and saying, “It was like we blew this up. But then , the rest, you will probably see the rest ”, as it shows for the first time his pivot that cuts through Bill Buckner’s legs.
Most of the episode, however, deals with the disappearance of the team and the city after the 1969 Miracle Mets title, including the trade of ace Tom Seaver in 1977, which the public enemy rapper Chuck D calls it “a punch on the grill.” and the end result of seven consecutive seasons lost from that season until 1983.
- Billy Beane, a first-round pick in 1980, later portrayed by Brad Pitt as GM of the A’s in “Moneyball,” compared joining the Mets to the cult classic film “The Warriors,” saying : “That’s what I thought in New York City it was like I was going to run into guys on skates in Yankee uniforms.” He also says he frequented the punk club CBGB.
- Strawberry compared him to Ted Williams: “I had no idea who Ted Williams was.”
- Hernandez in his office as Cardinals at the Mets in 1983:[St. Louis manager] White [Herzog] I wanted to move to Siberia and I thought so. ”
- Hernandez when he acquired Gary Carter in 1985: “Kid was hated all over the league, but that was the last piece we needed for our path.”
- Lenny Dykstra, one of the most troubled Mets on the field after finishing his playing career, said the team “put the S on speed,” referring to the use of amphetamines, which a former manager of teams estimated as “90 percent of the team.” (Dykstra specified that Carter was not there.)
- Dykstra, on his nickname nicknamed Nails: “By the way, it’s not a bad nickname. Better than the pins. “Hernandez:” He did plays and got dirty. He was like Pigpen. “
- Bob Ojeda, when he acquired the Red Sox low season: “I first got to spring training and I thought, ‘Wow, these guys are crazy.’ I had no idea what I was getting myself into.”
- Ron Darling in the Mets’ four bank clearing fights in 1986: “That summer, the fan base and the city had been turned into a frenzy.” Wally Backman: “Right, wrong or indifferent, we had our backs.”
- Queens singer Cyndi Lauper: “It was a great year for the people of Queens. We were at the top of the world. “
- Chuck D laughed and shook his head at the mention of the Mets’ terrible rap album, “Get Metsmerized.” Mets fan Gary Dell’Abate from “The Howard Stern Show” showed his vinyl copy of his other song that season, “Let’s Go, Met’s Go.”
- Kevin Mitchell on a story from Gooden’s book “Heat” with Bob Klapisch, who once beheaded a cat: “We should set the record without stopping talking crazy. … Do you think I would do something like that? I’m a lover of animals, brother ”.
- What was the Mets mantra that season against opponents? “Drink your beer,” Sid Fernandez said. “Screw your wives,” Strawberry said. “And give them a kick,” Gooden said.
- Jay Horwitz, a Mets public relations man, said: “I never met anyone [women]. There was no Jewish public relations group. “
- Ojeda in the May 1986 incident when he, Darling, Tim Teufel and Rick Aguilera were arrested after a fight at Cooters in Houston: putting a bar of soap and a razor [inside]”.
- Fantastic and timely 80s soundtrack throughout the four episodes, including songs by Tom Waits, Beastie Boys, Tears for Fears, Violent Women, Billy Joel and many more.
- Mike Tyson when he went out with Strawberry and Gooden: “It was nonsense then. Everything goes. New York was on fire in 1986 because we had the Mets.
- Dykstra to VJ Martha Quinn during an appearance on MTV: “I like the Rolling Stones. I like it more “.
- Strawberry on charges that Scott was rubbing the ball during the NLCS: “It was like,‘ How do you get us out so easily? “Then you started looking at baseballs.” Gooden: “It was like a Wiffle ball coming in at 90 miles per hour.”
- Fernandez for the costly damage to the plane at home from Houston after a 16-game winning streak in Game 6: “All he wants to talk about is the plane trip. That statute of limitations has expired, right? ”
“It simply came to our notice then. Everything goes. New York was on fire in 1986 because we had the Mets.
Mike Tyson
- Backman, the parachutist who landed on the field before the 6th game of the World Series, with the Mets at the end of the 3-2: “They arrested this boy. He was a hero. “
- The author of “Game of Thrones,” George RR Martin, at the top and bottom of the 10th entry: “There’s something about emotions shared in large crowds …. I only heard it a handful of times in my life, two of them were in game 6 ”.
- Hernandez when he retired from Johnson’s office after winning the second game with the Mets behind 5-3 in the 10th: “I didn’t want to see them celebrate in our field. He should have been in the dig until the end, regardless of whether we win or lose. … I’m not proud of it. “
- Gooden: “You’re taught as a kid, the game never ended until it ended. But I thought it was over.” Wilson: “We were in panic mode. Here we have problems.” Ojeda: All this for nothing ”.
- Gary Carter’s wife, Sandy, began the two-man rally with a solo against former heater Calvin Schiraldi: “Gary hated doing the latter.”
- Mitchell coming down from the club and getting the following single: “In my mind, they are preparing me for failure. The last of the World Series, I will not be zero. I’ll be a hero. “Ray Knight, before his RBI single:” Failure never entered my mind. “
- Comedian Bill Burr at the Red Sox who took Bob Stanley to face Wilson: “That was our closest point, a guy who looked like he never did a session. He didn’t have shoulders. He looked like a bag. of af-ing beans. “
- Mitchell, marking Stanley’s tied with Wilson, said third baseman coach Bud Harrelson told him to “be ready, because this guy always makes ball boots.”
- Mookie’s mentality after the game was matched: “I don’t care what happens now. I am unknown. Now I can’t lose this game. ” He smiles as he watches Buckner’s reel and hears the call from Mets radio announcer Bob Murphy and then NBC’s Vin Scully shouting, “Behind the bag! Go through Buckner. Here comes Knight and the Mets win it!”
- Knight: “I saw the ball fall on the right field and I felt like I was on a magic carpet.” Mookie: “I walked into the club and I said‘ What just happened? “
- One more match was needed, one more victory: “People think that was all. But you don’t want to blow it afterwards, ”says John McEnroe.
- The Mets won the 7th game after going 3-0, but Ojeda said Fernandez “saved 86, saved the season” with 2 unscored innings in Darling’s relief. Knight later removes the goal and Strawberry adds an insurance blast before Jesse Orosco seals it with a Marty Barrett blow, as he plays Billy Joel’s “This is the Time.” “There’s no feeling like that,” Johnson says. “But it was a sigh of relief.”
- The last 15 minutes are devoted to Gooden’s subsequent failures (losing the parade, his first stage of drug rehab the following spring, etc.) and the breakup of the team that begins with Knight not to re-sign, getting Mitchell (a future NL MVP). negotiated, and the departures in the coming years of Johnson, Carter, Hernandez, Dykstra, Darling, Wilson, Strawberry, Backman and others, without winning another title.
“To win a World Series in New York, that’s it, brother,” Dykstra says at the end. “Okay, do you want to know why? I played in New York and won a World Series. Where are you going from there? ”