The New York Mets Encyclopedia (Second Edition) is fully updated and provides the exciting story of modern-era baseball's most popular expansion-age franchise, with coverage through the 2002 season. From those lovable losers of 1962 and 1963, to the Miracle Mets of 1969 and 1973, and on to the year-in and year-out contenders of the 1980s and 1990s, the Mets have written some of the most exciting pages in baseball history. This volume combines detailed narrative history with archival photographs, statistics, and portraits of the team's most memorable characters throughout four decades of ballclub annals.
Encyclopedia of Major League Team Histories (2 Volumes) and Other Coffeetable Team Histories
Supplementing Bjarkman's New York Mets Encyclopedia are two earlier edited volumes of major league teams histories published originally by Meckler Books (1991) and re-released in paperback editions by Carroll & Graf Publishers (1993).
In his valuable 1993 survey of baseball literature ("Not Quite Ready for Prime Time: Baseball History, 1983-1993" in: Journal of Sports History 21:2), Professor Larry Gerlach comments that "the best historical assessments of most franchises are the essays in Peter C. Bjarkman's Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball Team Histories."
Bjarkman's Team History Encyclopdias also include these chapters by the author/editor:
"Brooklyn Dodgers-Los Angeles Dodgers: From Daffiness Dodgers to the Boys of Summer and the Myth of America's Team" (Chapter 2, National League volume)
"Cincinnati Reds: Cincinnati's Hometown Game, From the Red Stockings to the Big Red Machine" (Chapter 4, National League volume)
"Montreal Expos: Bizarre New Diamond Traditions North of the Border" (Chapter 6, National League volume)
"Philadelphia Phillies: Swooning in the Shadow of the Miracle Whiz Kids" (Chapter 9, National League volume)
"Colorado Rockies: Rocky Mountain Hign, For Awhile!" (Chapter 13, National League volume)
"Florida Marlins: Baseball's Big Splash in the Caribbean" (Chapter 14, National League volume)
"Toronto Blue Jays: Okay, Blue Jays! From Worst to First in a Decade" (Chapter 12, American League volume)
"Washington Senators-Minnesota Twins: Expansion-Era Baseball Comes to the American League" (Chapter 13, American League volume)
"Washington Senators-Texas Rangers: There Are No Dragons in Baseball, Only Shortstops" (Chapter 14, American League volume)
Some of Bjarkman's early work in team history volumes includes four once-popular out-of-print coffee table pictorials listed below. All can be found as used books available at discount prices from various on-line booksellers.
The Brooklyn Dodgers. New York and Secaucus, NJ: Chartwell Books, 1992.
Baseball's Great Dynasties: The Reds. New York: Gallery Books, 1991.
Baseball's Great Dynasties: The Dodgers. New York: Gallery Books, 1990.
The Toronto Blue Jays. New York: Gallery Books, 1990. (Canadian edition published by B. Mitchell Publishers)
