PEARLMAN, Jeff

PERSONAL: Married; wife's name Catherine; children: Casey (daughter).

ADDRESSES: Offıce—Newsday, 235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville, NY 11747-4250. Agent—c/o Author Mail, HarperCollins, 10 East 53rd St., New York, NY 10022.

CAREER: Journalist. Tennessean, Nashville, TN, features writer; Sports Illustrated, New York, NY, baseball writer; Newsday, Melville, NY, features writer.

WRITINGS:

The Bad Guys Won: A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo-chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team to Put on a New York Uniform, and Maybe the Best, Harper-Collins (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Jeff Pearlman spent six years as a baseball writer for Sports Illustrated, during which time he conducted well-publicized interview with Atlanta Braves dynamo pitcher John Rocker, a player whose attitude and behavior cut short a promising career. In his interview with Pearlman, Rocker stated that he would never play for a New York team because he didn't want to ride a train "next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some twenty-year-old mom with four kids." Rocker, a Georgia native who pulled no punches in taunting Mets fans, was fined for his conduct. After Pearlman's article appeared, Rocker threatened the journalist and was again fined and demoted to the minor leagues.

Five years after that inflammatory interview, Pearlman's first full-length book was published. The Bad Guys Won: A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo-chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team to Put on a New York Uniform, and Maybe the Best is a tribute to his favorite team during an outstanding year. In 1986 the Mets had 108 wins, beat the Houston Astros in the playoffs, and went on to defeat the Boston Red Sox in the world series. Pearlman writes of general manager Frank Cashen, manager Davey Johnson, and the events of the entire season. But the book is more of a tell-all of the bad behavior of various players. "There is no boozing, drug use, or bimbo eruption that he does not describe," commented Booklist contributor GraceAnne
A. DeCandido. However, as long as the players performed well, most of this behavior was tolerated by management. Among the players profiled by Pearlman are Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden. Library Journal reviewer Robert C. Cottrell called "particularly sad" the accounts of their "falls from baseball grace," but added, "All this makes for a fascinating read." Publishers Weekly contributor Mark Rotella wrote that "baseball aficionados, especially Mets fans, will enjoy this affectionate but critical look at this exciting season."

Pearlman told CA: "I liked stirring up trouble at my high school, and the best way to do that was to write for the school paper and agitate people. The writer I am most influenced by is Greg Orlando, an editor for XBox Nation magazine, and a truly gifted wordsmith.

"I write by waiting until the last hour, guzzling twelve cans of Coke, and going. The most surprising thing I've learned as a writer is that I can make a living doing it. I, like many writers, hate most everything I do."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 2004, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of The Bad Guys Won: A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo-chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team to Put on a New York Uniform, and Maybe the Best, p. 1536.

Library Journal, May 1, 2004, Robert C. Cottrell, review of The Bad Guys Won, p. 118.

Publishers Weekly, April 26, 2004, Mark Rotella, review of The Bad Guys Won, p. 53.