Here's a good tip about buying books: Take a look at the copyright date of the publication in question before making a decision about purchasing.
Exhibit A is "Put It in the Book," by veteran Mets' play-by-play radio announcer Howie Rose.
He's been part of the Mets' broadcasts for the past 40 seasons, starting in 1987. Howie did some television work with the team until Bob Murphy retired in 2003. From there Rose slid over a couple of spots in the press box to the radio broadcasts, and he had a long run describing the Mets' fortunes.
However, it hasn't been easy at times. Rose was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2021, and he's been dealing with the effects of that illness since then. Howie announced before the 2026 season that it would be his last as "the voice of the Mets." That seemed like a good time for him to have a book out about his experiences in broadcasting, and one was issued late in the season.
What people might not know (guilty) is that Rose already wrote a book about his broadcasting career back in 2013. This is just a reissue of that publication, done as a paperback. It gets really odd with the blurbs on the cover, which contains testimonials from David Wright, Tom Seaver and Davey Johnson. Seaver died in 2020, while Johnson died in 2025. The back cover also boldly announces, "50 Years of Mets Memories," without saying it is referring to the first 50 years of Mets memories.
More to the point, nothing has been added to the new version. Rose watched a lot of baseball from 2013 to 2026 and went through those medical problems, so it seems like it would have been nice to have at the least a recap of those years in a reasonably short new epilogue. Without it, we have to see what we have in the reissued version to judge this book.
Since a book like this recaps the people and events from the past that Rose encountered along the way, it doesn't feel particularly dated. There are only a couple of references to what was going on in 2013. Therefore, it still has its pleasures years later.
Rose grew up as a sports-mad kid in New York City, who decided as an eight-year-old to follow the Mets when they were born in 1962. His father was a Yankee fan at that time, which was an easy decision considering how good those teams were in that era. But father and son could at least bond over the sport, which they did. Eventually Rose turned his passion into an interest in sportscasting. There's a funny story about how he started a fan club for Marv Albert, who couldn't have been nicer to the youngster and became something of a mentor to Rose in his attempt to become a broadcaster.
Rose took a variety of jobs once he entered college, with the hopes of eventually landing a play-by-play spot in the major leagues. One of his stops was at SportsPhone, the score service that was popular in the pre-Internet days of the early 1980s. I'm also a graduate of the SportsPhone school of broadcasting. Howie never did leave the New York City area, choosing to gain experience where he could in New York. It was something of a coin flip as to whether he'd end up as a baseball or hockey announcer. Circumstances eventually pushed him into the baseball spot full-time.
Rose's timing was good in following the Mets. As a fan and then as an announcer, he has first-hand knowledge of the entire history of the team. That's a valuable skill for a radio broadcaster, who often has time to fill during a game. Rose can call on all of those years of experience in bringing up relevant subjects. The best years for the team are the ones that come up frequently here: the 1969 Miracle Mets, the 1986 World Champions, and the pennants in 1973 and 2000. But Rose also throws in some personal anecdotes of some of the memorable personalities that he has encountered over the years.
Maybe Rose will find himself with too much free time in retirement, and come up with a sequel to "Put It in the Book!" But the original can serve as a keepsake for those who either remember those great teams from the past or want to learn about them.
Three stars
Learn more about this book from Amazon.com.
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