I am a big fan of anniversaries and nostalgia in baseball.  Its good to remember where we came from and what has been accomplished, so a remembrance is always a welcome sight in my eyes.  This year we knew it was coming, the 30th anniversary of the 86 World Series.  It seems to  be a bigger deal this year than the 25th anniversary was, but I always thought the 25th was celebrated more than the 30th, so I’m confused.  Be my confusion what it is, we have chosen to go all out and celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of the most thrilling World Series’ on record.  With this anniversary there have been a slew of new books coming out celebrating the World Series champs, but today’s books take a look at both teams and gives balanced comparisons of them.

If you are not familiar with the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), you have no idea what you are missing.  They are the folks who do tireless research and find us more information about our sport than we all ever thought possible.  They research complete teams and individual players, and do a stellar job at both.  New for this years 30th Anniversary, they have produced two different but connected books that remind fans that the series was about more than just Bill Buckner.

Both of the books follow the same format, so as I am describing them it pertains to both volumes.  The authors look at each man on that respective teams roster for the 1986 season.  Giving in depth bios, analysis of the season performance and interesting facts about the players.  They follow the same format for the Manager, General Manager, Coaching Staff and Announcers.  So if this is not your home town team you get a real good feel of their complete personnel package.

Next they look at key team performances throughout the year and take note of several key games that helped the team gain momentum and what made them work as a cohesive unit.  Next you see analysis of the Championship Series and the World Series.  Finally, it asks a few honest questions about the way the teams were constructed and the important numbers that stick out for each team.

Quite honestly, this is your typical SABR book and is in line with what we have all come to expect from them.  It is well researched and you feel very comfortable in the fact that you can take all information at face value and accept as that. Mainly this is because of the tireless efforts and dedication of the SABR staff and the quality work that every one of them puts forth on SABR projects.  Each one of these folks that worked on these books should be commended because they have created another quality product.

Baseball fans should check this out because there is always something new fans can learn from these types of SABR books, plus it’s always fun to remember Bill Buckner.

You can get these books from the nice folks at SABR.

1986 Mets/Red Sox

Happy Reading

Gregg