The new SNY special about the miracle Mets of 1969 is extremely enjoyable. I have a couple of complaints I'll get out of the way first. The difference between the "Ghosts of Flatbush" produced by HBO and "Miracle In New York: The Story of the '69 Mets" is painfully obvious. HBO, a subscription channel, presents their programming without commercial interruption. SNY does not have that luxury. Unfortunately, there were so many commercials during the first fifteen minutes of "Miracle", I turned on my DVR and waited for the airing to conclude so I could watch it later and zip through the ads. It seemed SNY got most of the long commercial breaks out of the way during the first quarter hour. This and the fact that "Miracle" was not produced in high definition are my only complaints (at least on Cablevision, the format was presented cropped on the bottom and ends with black bars).

The content in the program was terrific however. The show was produced in the Ken Burns style including interviews with many who were involved or who observed the events of that time. Actor and life long Mets fan Tim Robbins recounted his memories and narrated the documentary. Having experienced 1969, "Miracle In New York" did a wonderful job of telling the improbable tale of the National League's worst team of that decade storming to the championship during a year when we recovered from two assassinations, witnessing the ongoing Vietnam struggle, men walking on the moon, and Woodstock.

One of the highlights of the show are the impressions made of Gil Hodges. Most players interviewed repeated the common theme that the success of the '69 Mets rested clearly on the shoulders of the former Brooklyn Dodger and New York favorite, Hodges. Players recounted how his leadership made a difference, how Gil changed the philosophy and attitude, that losing would no longer be tolerated. One of the best interviews in the program is that of former Mets coach Joe Pignatano. His New York style interpretation of events painted a great picture of how things changed for the Mets under Hodges.

The program also includes some great archival footage of important moments of '69, specifically the Tom Seaver near perfect game of July 9th, the Mets taking over first place on September 10th, and of course the post season in October. The video highlights are interspersed with comments from Seaver, Bud Harrelson, Cleon Jones, Al Weis, Jerry Koosman, Jim McAndrew, Pignatano, Jimmy Breslin and a former Shea Stadium usherette. Mets broadcasters Howie Rose and Gary Cohen are interviewed as well. Those two grew up in Shea Stadium's upper deck. Who better to offer a perspective from the fans point of view than two life long Mets fans, Cohen and Rose?

Some original video tape from that year is shown along with news reel clips. I was a bit disappointed with the use of some world series footage lifted from the MLB highlight reel narrated by Curt Gowdy commercially available but the producers probably did not have much else to draw from. Also the game winning hit by Ed Kranepool from the July 8th win against the Cubs is used at least three times throughout the program. I guess there is not as many clips available from forty years ago as I would have thought.

All in all, "Miracle In New York" is well done and is very good. I wish they would have made it longer. So much happened during that season, the special could easily be 90 minutes or more. Also, it would have been nice to display the names of the 1969 Mets that are now deceased at the end of the show. However, I am just being picky. If you are a Mets fan and want to remember that first championship season or experience it for the first time, I recommend catching "Miracle In New York: The Story of the '69 Mets" which will be repeated often this season on SNY.