So Many Ways to Lose

The Amazin’ True Story of the New York Mets—the Best Worst Team in Sports

De: Devin Gordon

Narrado por: Jeremy Arthur

“This is a weird, wonderful, and essential book about both America and its pastime. It’s about a place as vast as New York City and as intimate as the human heart. Fred Exley meets Richard Ben Cramer—a funny, wild, heartfelt, and keenly observed portrait of yearning itself.”—Wright Thompson, New York Times bestselling author of The Cost of These Dreams

“Mr. Gordon’s ability to explain the Sisyphean plight of all Mets fans is truly remarkable. Bravo!”—Ron Darling, New York Times bestselling author of Game 7, 1986

The Mets lose when they should win. They win when they should lose. And when it comes to being the worst, no team in sports has ever done it better than the Mets.

In So Many Ways to Lose, author and lifelong Mets fan Devin Gordon sifts through the detritus of Queens for a baseball history like no other. Remember the time the Mets lost an All-Star after he got charged by a wild boar? Or the time they blew a six-run ninth-inning lead at the peak of a pennant race? Or the time they fired their manager before he ever managed a game? Sure you do. It was only two years ago, and it was all in the same season. The Mets have an unrivaled gift for getting it backward, doing the impossible, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, and then snatching defeat right back again.

And yet, just ask any Mets fan: amazing and/or miraculous postseason runs are as much a part of our team's identity as losing 120 games in 1962. The DNA of seasons like 1969, the original Miracle Mets, and the 1973 “Ya Gotta Believe” Mets, who went from last place to Game 7 of the World Series in two months, and the powerhouse 1986 Mets, has encoded in us this hapless instinct that a reversal of fortune is always possible. It’s happened before. It’s kind of our thing. And now we've got Steve Cohen's hedge-fund billions to play with! What could go wrong?

In this hilarious history of the Mets and love letter to the art of disaster, Devin Gordon presents baseball the way it really is, not in the wistful sepia tones we've come to expect from other sportswriters. Along the way, he explains the difference between being bad and being gifted at losing, and why this distinction holds the key to understanding the true amazin’ magic of the New York Mets.

Amazin’

This book was amazing, and really captured what it feels like to be a Mets fan. It’s funny and it’s got heart which is really what it’s all about.

My only... let’s not say complaint, but head-scratcher— how can you write a book about the Mets, with so many insightful stories about so many bit players, and somehow not include even a mention of Murphy, Wilmer, or Santana’s no-hitter??

Unexpectedly Amazing

A fun read about a hapless expansion team that won 4 straight games from the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles to win the Wotld Series

A MUST FOR METS FANS!

Full of great Mets stories and a ton of baseball history in general. Absolutely loved this book!

Brilliant, Entertaining and Enlightening!

I’m a lifelong, cradle Mets fan. It’s not easy. Disappointment, defeat snatched from the jaws of victory, long waits for a winning season… When the girding of loins is called for my standard line is always “Hey, I’m a Mets fan, you can’t scare me”! As I listened to “So Many Ways To Lose” I was alternately laughing, crying and shaking my head as the memories came flooding back! This beautifully flowing, magnificently narrated story is the all too true, at times hysterical, at time poignant, at times painful to remember story of the team that will forever be a part of my soul. Along the way I learned a few things about “my guys”, gaining a whole new appreciation for a few, a ton of respect for some, and for a few, well my mother always said if you have nothing good to say … so I just leave off here! If you, like me, love the Mets, THIS is the story you need! Five star fantastic from the first words to the last! I am so glad I listened, and I’m sure this one will be a frequent repeat! It’s that good!

Even if you’re not a Mets fan…

Even though I am a diehard Red Sox fan, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is well written, well research, with excellent narration. Anyone who has loved baseball over the last 50 years will get a kick out of this book.