Few and Chosen: Defining Mets Greatness Across the Eras

From Casey Stengel's "Amazin's," the lovable losers of the early '60s, to the World Series champions of the '80s and the pennant contenders of today, the Mets have fielded some great players in their nearly half-century of existence, and one person who has had an up-close-and-personal view of most of them is Rusty Staub.

Staub is one of the few former Mets who can recall every year of the team's history. He has seen everyone who has ever played a game for the New York Mets, and has been a teammate or opponent of most of them. As such, he is uniquely qualified to take on the challenging and enormous task of selecting the all-time greatest players in Mets history in Few and Chosen: Defining Mets Greatness Across the Eras.

Defining Mets Greatness Across the Eras

by Rusty Staub with Phil Pepe, Foreword by Keith Hernandez

From Casey Stengel's "Amazin's," the lovable losers of the early '60s, to the World Series champions of the '80s and the pennant contenders of today, the Mets have fielded some great players in their nearly half-century of existence. Of the multitude of talented men who have passed through Shea Stadium, Few and Chosen: Defining Mets Greatness Across the Eras by Rusty Staub (with Phil Pepe, foreword by Keith Hernandez), culls the best of the best.

Former Mets first baseman and first-class slugger Rusty Staub has seen them all - and played with or against many of them. So who is better qualified to pick the five best Mets players at every position, as well as the club's best managers? With so many great players in the relatively short existence of the franchise, the choices were anything but easy for Staub. Some of the more contentious of the debates include:

* World Series champion and Hall of Famer Gary Carter or Mets icon Mike Piazza as the best catcher in team history?
* Defensive whiz Bud Harrelson or all-around dynamo Jose Reyes at SS?
* All-time great Tom Seaver or the abbreviated brilliance of Dwight Gooden at starting pitcher?
* At manager, Gil Hodges and his "Miracle Mets" of '69 or Davey Johnson and the truly amazing Mets of 1986?

Few and Chosen possesses many surprises for Mets fans, with rankings that will raise a few eyebrows. But when readers see the empirical numbers next to analysis and commentary from a Mets icon they will understand that the ultimate roster for the Mets has finally been created.

About the Author:

Daniel Joseph (Rusty) Staub is many things to many people: gourmet chef, restaurateur, philanthropist, baseball player, and one of the most popular athletes in New York history. Born in New Orleans, Staub had a distinguished 23-year major-league career with the Houston Colt .45s/Astros, Montreal Expos, Detroit Tigers, and New York Mets, with which he served two tours of duty in 1972-75 and 1981-85. He is the founder and chairman of the board of the New York Police and Fire Widows and Children's Benefit Fun Foundation, Inc., president of the Rusty Staub Foundation, and continues his association with the Mets as a club ambassador.

Phil Pepe has covered sports in New York longer than the New York Mets have been in existence. Through his work with two newspapers, the New York World Telegram & Sun and the New York Daily News, he has covered many of the greatest moments in Mets' history. This is his eighth book in the Few and Chosen series.

Contact: Josh Williams, Triumph Books, 312.252-1261, j.williams@triumphbooks.com

Presents as Gifts in the Present

by Bill Gallo, 4/4/09, NY Daily News

Friends, I have what I consider four gifts in front of me that I want to tell you about. Three of them are books and the other is a most exciting DVD dealing with the "Thrilla in Manila," and what transpired between Ali and Frazier before and after that struggle.

The first book, "For the Love of the Mets," is an entertaining tabletop written by Frederick C. Klein with a foreword by Rusty Staub and wonderfully illustrated by Mark Anderson, a gifted artist/cartoonist whose works you may have seen in Time magazine, The New Yorker, National Geographic, The Atlantic Monthly, Business Week and Harvard Business Review.

I recommend that you grab this baby off the shelf, and you'll see how much Anderson's cartoons make the book sparkle.

A second book I liked receiving is "Few and Chosen," subtitled, "Defining Mets Greatness Across the Eras." This is a real gem for Met fans.

The author is Phil Pepe, a familiar name in New York, having been a sports columnist for many years at the old World Telegram and Sun and this newspaper. This is a fellow who has been around the sports beat so much that he can tell you how many steps to get to any press box in the country.

Pepe writes this one with Rusty Staub, and Keith Hernandez does the foreword.

The book starts with the Mets' creation in 1962 under the leadership of Casey Stengel, the rubber-faced, harlequin-like genius of baseball.

Casey got together this pick-up team, and in spite of the laughter they provided for the fans, managed to win enough games to think of themselves as big leaguers.

Pepe writes the history of these Mets and the ones who later became respectable, so respectable that seven years after they were born they became World Champions, by golly.

Gil Hodges, the steady and strong "Quiet Man," was at the helm then and with his no-nonsense leadership and baseball savvy, the laughable Metsies became, for a time, the best damn baseball team in both circuits.

But why am I telling you all this? Get the book and Pepe will tell it better than I.