i’m selling out already. it’s not even a week yet. but there’s an author series here at work and this guy’s book, though i haven’t read it yet, seems like it would be pretty good. it’s called 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. pardon the caps. i’m too lazy to change them, and after all, it’s the guy’s title.
of course, if i were a serious journalist, i’d just pretend that i’d read the book and tell you all about it, even though i hadn’t read the book. but, because i’m not a serious journalist but a lowly blogger, i’m just going to admit i haven’t read the book, and i’m going to tell you nothing about it. but i will tell you that i’ve been to lots of author-type appearances. and i’m betting that, based on how much fun this guy was and the stories he told, this will be a great book to read. i can’t tell you the stories he told, because most of them weren’t included in the book for reasons of legality and propriety, but the ones that were left and were included are, i’m sure, pretty good too.
certainly better than the last author-type appearance i saw, which was mr. winkle. mr. winkle didn’t do much. he just sat there and looked cute, which he was, except for the mange.
of course, if you can’t be better than a dog-author that has evidently been beamed down from another planet, you should seriously reconsider your career choice.
but author jeff pearlman, who wrote the mets book, kicked mr. winkle’s ass in the personal appearance department. he even admitted up front that the subtitle of his book was totally rancid, which saved me from the embarassment of having to ask a question.
so, to sum it up, if you want to read about a bunch of guys boozing, whoring, drugging, and carousing while simultaneously making millions of dollars and winning the world series, then jeff pearlman is seemingly your man. if, however, you’d rather read a book by a very cute dog (the cover says that someone named lara jo regan wrote it but, having seen her, i’m betting on the dog) then i’d go for the mr. winkle book. i gave my mother-in-law a signed copy as a present (signed by mr. winkle, not ms. regan–further proof needed?) and she seemed to like it. although you never can tell when you give something as a present. it may have been e-bayed or garage-saled already.
thus concludes my i’m-in-fourth-grade-and-writing-a-book-report flashback. i didn’t read the book then, either.
