"The Bad Guys Won!" & Roger McDowell

I enjoy reading books about baseball, and I've decided to share an occasional book review in case anyone is interested.

About a month ago my buddy Mark, who is also an Orioles fan, lent me "The Bad Guys Won!", Jeff Pearlman's book about the 1986 Mets and their path to the World Series Championship. I really enjoyed how Pearlman brought the reader behind the scenes into the Mets clubhouse and showed the Mets' true colors. And I would describe the shade as a "puke green".

Most of the players on the team seem cocky, rude, or generally jerkoffish. I don't have any behind-the-scenes knowledge to compare the '86 Mets' clubhouse atmosphere to that of any other past or present team, but I like to think that most teams aren't that ridiculous. I know that many baseball players, especially Major Leaguers, have plenty of self-confidence, but the some of the stories in the book were insane. Entertaining, but insane.

Overall, it's a very enjoyable read, unless you hate the Mets franchise, so if you like baseball books, check it out.

 

The Orioles tie-in here is that former O's pitcher Roger McDowell was a member of the '86 Mets.  Many of Roger's antics in the book can best be described as wacky and it sure sounds like Roger marches to the beat of his own drummer. I would assume that he was still like that during his time in Baltimore. 

I got his autograph on a Dodgers card during his playing days but I've been trying to get his Orioles card signed for a long time. Roger has been the Braves pitching coach for a few years and a fellow collector on SCN was graphing the Braves at Spring Training this year so I sent my card to him and I can finally scratch Roger's name off of my need list.