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    Here's the Catch: A Memoir of the Miracle Mets and More
    Unavailable
    Here's the Catch: A Memoir of the Miracle Mets and More
    Unavailable
    Here's the Catch: A Memoir of the Miracle Mets and More
    Ebook295 pages3 hours

    Here's the Catch: A Memoir of the Miracle Mets and More

    By Ron Swoboda

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    About this ebook

    In time for the 50th anniversary of the Mets' miraculous 1969 World Series win, right fielder Ron Swoboda tells the story of that amazing season, the people he played with and against (sometimes at the same time), and what life was like as an Every Man ballplayer.

    Ron Swoboda wasn’t the greatest player the Mets ever had, but he made the greatest catch in Met history, saving a game in the 1969 World Series, and his RBI clinched the final game. By Met standards that makes him legend. The Mets even use a steel silhouette of the catch as a backing for the right field entrance sign at Citi Field.

    In this smart, funny, insightful memoir, which is as self-deprecating as a lifetime .249 hitter has to be, he tells the story of that magical year nearly game by game, revealing his struggles, his triumphs and what life was like for an every day, Every Man player, even when he was being platooned. He shows what it took to make one of the worst teams in baseball and what it was like to leave one of the best. And when he talks about the guys he played with and against, it’s like you’re sitting next to him on the team bus, drinking Rheingold. Here's the Catch is a book anyone who loves the game will love as much.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJun 11, 2019
    ISBN9781250235671
    Author

    Ron Swoboda

    RON SWOBODA played right field for the Mets from 1965 to 1970, the Expos in 1971 and the Yankees from 1971 to 1973. Afterwards he was a TV sportscaster in New York City, Milwaukee and New Orleans, where he is color commentator for telecasts of the Marlins’ AAA club. In addition to his memoir, Here's the Catch, Swoboda is the author of The New Orleans Saints.

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    • 5/5
      Ron Swoboda was no more than an average outfielder for the New York Mets in the 1960s, but comprising that median were memorable deeds at both ends of the spectrum. He burst onto the scene his rookie year in 1965 hitting home runs at a remarkable clip early, only to tail off dramatically in the second half of the season. Still, he led the team in homers that year with 19, but would never match that output for the remainder of his career. In 1969 he struck out five times in a game against St. Louis Cardinals ace Steve Carlton, but later that season, in a game in which Carlton struck out 19 Mets, setting a single game record at the time, Swoboda cracked two 2-run homers to give New York a 4-3 victory. His fielding was always an adventure. He often seemed unsteady in the outfield during his first few seasons. In 1965 he committed 11 outfield errors, second most in the National League. But he had a good arm, and in 1968 he totaled 14 outfield assists, third most in the league. And in in Game One of the 1969 World Series, Don Buford led off for the Baltimore Orioles, and hit a fly ball to right field. Swoboda staggered back towards the fence, unsure of himself every step of the way. He made an ill-timed leap and collapsed in a heap as the ball sailed just over the fence to give the Orioles an early lead. But Swoboda redeemed himself in Game Four with perhaps the greatest and most improbable catch in World Series history, a moment he describes as “that white space where time, and thought and sound disappear.”In Here’s the Catch: A Memoir of the Miracle Mets and More, Swoboda chronicles the ups and downs of career with candor and good humor, unspooling stories and anecdotes that run the gamut from poignant to cringeworthy. The acme of his career is of course “The Catch,” and he goes into some detail about that play, its impact and legacy, the one moment for which he will be remembered in baseball lore. Swoboda explains how he had worked at improving his defense, with Mets coach Eddie Yost hitting countless fungos at him in practice to improve his fielding and reaction time to get a better jump on the ball. And all that hard work came to fruition at that one critical moment to help the Mets win it all in that magical season.Swoboda contextualizes the story of his baseball career with references to the events and popular culture of those years. Most notably, he expounds on the Vietnam War, focusing on the country’s growing anti-war sentiment as well as his two USO trips to Vietnam. We also learn that Swoboda, fascinated by space exploration since childhood, closely followed the exploits of the NASA space program and the Apollo 11 moon landing.In this memoir we get a clear picture of Swoboda: an Everyman whose struggles were wholly relatable, his ongoing popularity due in large part to that persona. We see failure and triumph, exuberance, determination, frustration, and hardheadedness which led to some unfortunate errors in judgment. A career of ups and downs. He wasn’t nicknamed Rocky for nothing.