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Video: 1.33:1 |
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Anamorphic: No |
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Audio:
English (Dolby Digital 2.0) |
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Subtitles: None |
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Runtime:
27 Hours, 23 Minutes |
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Rating: NR |
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Released:
March 28th , 2006 |
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Production
Year: 1986 |
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Director: Steven Cimino, Harry Coyle, Ken Harvey, Andy Rosenberg, Lenny Stucker |
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Released
by:
A&E Home Video |
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Region: 1
NTSC |
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1986 World Series Clubhouse Victory Celebration |
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Official Trophy Presentation |
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1987 Opening Day Ring Ceremony |
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Interviews with Mookie Wilson, Gary Carter, Ray Knight, Keith Hernandez, Kevin Mitchell, Lenny Dykstra, Bill Buckner, and Bill Robinson |
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Special Game Footage: Mets Clinching National League Eastern Division, Dykstra’s game-winning, walk-off homer: NLCS Game 3, Carter’s game-winner: NLCS Game 5 |
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The New York Mets
1986 World Series Collector's Edition
By Jim McDevitt |
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 The 1986 World Series was one for
the ages, not because it pitted two great teams against each
other in a crisply played series, which it did, but because
it was packed with one amazing moment after another, each
seemingly more dramatic than the last. This classic series
will long be remembered for producing thrilling moments and
indelible memories. What's great about this set is that you
don't have to be a fan of either team to appreciate it because
it's a fantastic example of what has always made baseball
such a great game to enjoy: each game is wholly unique.
In
1986, the New York Mets rolled through the regular season,
winning 108 games while finishing an astonishing 21.5 games
ahead of the second-place Philadelphia Phillies (yes, it saddens
me to acknowledge this) in the National League East. The Boston
Red Sox were a little closer to the pack, but still managed
the best record in the American League at 95-67. Both the
Mets and the Red Sox staged thrilling League Championship
Series wins with the Mets beating the Houston Astros in 16
innings in the decisive sixth game while the Red Sox overcame
a three games to one deficit in rallying to beat the then
California Angels (now known by the ridiculous name of Los
Angeles Angels of Anaheim).
A&E Home Video has teamed up with Major League Baseball to
release what truly is an astonishing set of DVDs. Each game
of the World Series is seen in its entirety, on its own disc
with not a second of game footage lost. The only things cut
from these discs are the commercial breaks and the pre-game
and post-game shows. But A&E doesn't stop at bringing us just
the seven games of this World Series. We also get a disc for
the aforementioned Game 6 of the NLCS and another disc
devoted entirely to bonus feature. No baseball fan will ever
be at a loss for something fun to watch with this set. I'm
still amazed that there's more than 27 hours of programming
available on this set. Fantastic would be an appropriate word
to describe the contents included.
 I'm
here to review the contents and quality of this set so I won't
recap each game, but suffice to say each game is at least
better than the average game you'll see today. I would like
to talk a little about some of the highlights.
Game 6 of the NLCS was an amazing game to watch because
it went 16 innings, featured clean play throughout, a Mets
score in the top of the 14th to take the lead only to see
the Astros come back with a run of their own in the bottom
half the inning, three more Mets runs in the top of the 16th,
a furious Astros fight to tie it in the bottom of the 16th
only to fall a run short, and last but not least, those awful
bright orange Astros uniforms. Who could forget those? The
one thing I didn't like about reliving this game was listening
to Keith Jackson and Tim McCarver call the game. I don't have
anything against Jackson, but he's better suited for college
football. McCarver, on the other hand, has been and always
will be awful. Listening to that pompous jackass blather on
about how much he knows about baseball for 16 innings is something
of a nauseating chore. Luckily, he didn't work the World Series
that year.
 Game
2 of the World Series was the game everybody was looking
forward to because it featured the pitching match-up of Dwight
Gooden and Roger Clemens. Unfortunately, neither pitched very
well nor did they figure in the decision, but it was a good
game to watch as the Red Sox pounded out 18 hits in a 9-3
victory to take a 2-0 Series lead back with them to Boston.
Game 6 of the World Series is the game everybody remembers,
and rightly so, even if it's for the wrong reasons. It was
a sloppily played game featuring five fielding errors, but
the drama in this game may never have been topped before or
since. The Red Sox, up three games to two, needing to win
just one more game to take the championship, took a quick
2-0 lead and appeared in control with Cy Young Award winner
Clemens, who went 24-4 in 1986, on the mound. But then right
fielder Dwight Evans committed a crucial error which led to
the Mets tying the score at 2-2 in the fifth inning. Ray Knight
of the Mets then committed an error of his own allowing the
Red Sox to take back the lead in the seventh. Then it got
crazy as the Mets scored in the bottom of the eighth to tie
it up.
 The
tenth inning may have been the wildest inning you'll ever
see in such a crucial game. Dave Henderson of the Red Sox
led off the inning with a home run to take the lead and then
the Sox scored an insurance run to take a 5-3 lead into the
bottom of the tenth inning. All hope appeared lost for the
Mets when they quickly made two outs in their half of the
tenth and then get down to their final out with Gary Carter
at the plate, but Carter just wouldn't let it die. He stroked
a line single to left which was then followed by a Kevin Mitchell
flare to center. Knight followed with a single of his own
to score a run. The Red Sox then replaced pitcher Calvin Schiraldi
(who had pitched brilliantly in the regular season and the
ALCS) with Bob Stanley who promptly threw a wild pitch to
Mookie Wilson which allowed the tying run to score. Then,
in what may be the most famous moment in baseball history,
Wilson grounded to first baseman Bill Buckner, who appeared
to have a relatively easy play to end the inning, only to
see it roll through his legs as Knight comes around to score
the winning run.
 Game
7 may not be as memorable as Game 6, but it was
actually a much cleaner, well-played game. And again, the
Red Sox blew an early lead, another lead that Schiraldi could
not hold onto. The Sox rallied again, but late home runs by
Knight and Darryl Strawberry sealed the game and added to
the legendary Red Sox misery.
Bill Buckner has long received most of the blame for the Sox
losing this World Series, but I must say this is not a fair
assessment. Sure, Buckner's error allowed the winning run
in Game 6 to score, but nobody seems to remember that
the Sox had already twice blown the lead and then still had
another game, and chance, to win the series. The real goats,
in my opinion, were Stanley, whose wild pitch gave up the
typing run in Game 6 when only one more strike was
needed to win the series, and Schiraldi, who was charged with
the loss in each of the last two games. It's a true shame
that Buckner has been vilified when he's far from the only
one to blame.
 It's
fascinating to me that between the rosters of the two teams
in this World Series, only two players have made it into the
Hall of Fame, Carter and Wade Boggs. Sure, Clemens will undoubtedly
join them, but for such a great series between two great teams,
I would have expected more. I guess that's what happens when
supreme talents like Gooden and Strawberry fall victim to
drug abuse. Still, there were a number of extremely talented
and charismatic players who made this a great series to watch
including Lenny Dykstra, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, Roger
McDowell, Marty Barrett, Jim Rice, Evans, Oil Can Boyd, Rich
Gedman, and Don Baylor. A lot of these guys weren't Hall of
Fame players, but they certainly were stars. Stars often make
for great World Series.
One thing I cannot fail to discuss in this review is the work
done by play-by-play man Vin Scully and color commentator
Joe Garagiola in covering this tremendous World Series. Unlike
Jackson and McCarver in the NLCS, Scully and Garagiola are
at the top of their game here and they're a true delight to
listen to, particularly Scully. I don't think it would be
inaccurate for me to say that Scully's work here might be
the best play-by-play calling I've ever had the pleasure of
listening to. It's no wonder the man has been doing Dodger
games since the early 1950s and has just signed another new
contract with that club. Scully was confident, extremely well
prepared, and friendly in his tone. I could listen to him
call a game any day.
 Video
I
have to be honest. I love this set, but the video quality
is sometimes not very good. This is surely a result of the
source material. There's even a disclaimer that comes up on
each disc stating that the source tapes contain defects. As
a result of these defects, there are a couple games where
we see occasional blips where the video cuts out ever so briefly,
but never in a key moment and it's really not very distracting.
Worse is the inherent poor image quality. The source tapes
are nearly 20 years old and the video probably looks as good
as it could, but it's still a little disappointing. Game
7 looks particularly bad in the first several innings,
almost as if it was recorded from an over-the-air broadcast
on a 1986 era VHS VCR. Amazingly, at times in this game, we
see faint double images. That's not good. Also an issue are
compression artifacts seen on some of the longer games like
the NLCS game and Game 6 of the Series. This is understandable
considering these games both went into extra innings. So,
overall, the video isn't very good, but if you're like me,
you're not watching these games because you're looking for
an HD-level picture. I'm just happy that the tapes survived
and we get to relive them. The video isn't always pretty to
look at, but it's more than acceptable considering the source
material.
Audio
Audio quality also suffers from degradation of the source
material, but it's not nearly as big of a problem as the video.
There are occasional moments in a couple of the games where
the sound completely cuts out, but other than that, it generally
sounds okay. Listening to Vin Scully call a game is a real
treat and that experience is not lost or diminished here.
Extra Features
The last disc in the set is devoted to bonus features and
there are some nice ones on this disc. My one complaint is
in regards to the organization of these features. They're
separated into 22 chapters, which is nice, but if you choose
the "Play All" function, there's no indication as to what
you're watching when it goes from one chapter to the next.
Chapter titles would have been nice.
1986 World Series Clubhouse Victory Celebration (11:16)
- There's nothing extremely memorable about this, but it's
always fun to see people experience total jubilation, even
if you don't like them.
Official Trophy Presentation (2:43) - Bob Costas is
on hand as Commissioner Peter Ueberroth presents Mets owner
Fred Wilpon and manager Davey Johnson with the World Series
trophy. It's very typical.
1987 Opening Day Ring Ceremony (12:42) - Again, a very
typical ceremony, but it's also ruined by the presence of
McCarver in the television booth. That guy sucks.
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