<i>Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Lyons Press, and Brett Topel for the advanced reader copy of the book. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.</i>

At the beginning of New York Mets Firsts, the author laments that he cannot remember the first Mets game he attended and invites the reader to contribute their own firsts they remember. The first Mets game I went to was in August of 1976. Dave Kingman had been having a great season in terms of home runs and ended up out for 6 weeks due to a thumb injury. His first game back from that injury was my first baseball game. My second game was equally memorable, with Tom Seaver pitching a one-hitter for the Mets in 1977 before he was traded later that season.

For the Mets fan, there’s a lot to like here. There are the obvious firsts, like who the first Mets manager was. Then there are the more obscure firsts. If I was asked who pitched the Mets’ first one-hitter, I would have guessed Tom Seaver. However, Al Jackson actually pitched a one-hitter for them in their first season!

There are some great tidbits here that I didn’t know. In 1966, the Mets made catcher Steve Chilcott their first draft pick. He never made it to the major leagues. The next draft pick behind him? Reggie Jackson by the Kansas City A’s! Oh, what might have been. The section on all of the first-round draft picks is interesting because it also lists the players the Mets passed over who went on to have Major League careers.

Many of the statistics are common ones, such as who hit the first homerun in Shea Stadium, and later the same for CitiField. There are some surprises in there. Hint: Tom Seaver is not the answer to every pitching “first” before Dwight Gooden arrived. From uniform numbers to post-season “firsts” Brett Topel covers a lot of ground and brought back a lot of great (and sometimes not-so-great) memories for me.

The book flows very naturally. The style is like having a conversation with someone, or like the author is having a conversation with an audience. I can feel his enthusiasm for the team in the words. We’ve experienced many of the same things, having become fans about the same time. I, too, made my father become a fan after he lost interest in the sport many years earlier.

I recommend Mets fans pick up the book. If they’ve been fans for many years, like me, they will get a lot out of it. If they’re a newer fan, they might be surprised and enlightened by the history of the team.

I have read a lot of nonfiction books that could put you to sleep. This was not one of them. Brett Topel's writing is engaging. Unfortunately, this book was not written for me. I went into it wanting to learn more about the Mets, but this book is for people who are already big Mets fans. The writing is accessible, but the content is not. I would recommend this to a very specific set of people. Unfortunately, it was not for me.