They started out as a joke, but the last laugh was on their foes. The New York Mets were birthed in a riotous jumble of errors, over-the-hill ballplayers, and Casey's barely decipherable Stengelese. And then there was Marv Throneberry, a player destined for infamy for his head-scratching botches on the diamond. But just eight years later, the Amazin' Mets were world champions, boasting a team of young athletes headed by near-bionic pitchers Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and a young Nolan Ryan; outfielders Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee, and Ron Swoboda; and catcher Jerry Grote. The chumps were now champs. The Miracle Mets of '73 followed, before the "bad guys" of '86, with Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, Keith Hernandez, and Gary Carter, marched the team to its second world crown.
