Baseball: Return to Myth

"We're No. 1!" The chant began in Shea Stadium's leftfield grandstand. It rolled across the box seats and into the rightfield bleachers as New York Pitcher Nolan Ryan retired one after another Atlanta batter. Then, as 53,195 Met fans rose to their feet, Ryan got Tony Gonzalez, the last Brave hitter, to ground out. The New York Mets, those surrogates of the sorely afflicted, who in seven years lost 737 games and finished a total of 2881 games out of first place, had defeated Atlanta 7-4 to sweep the playoff series and become champions of the National League. Even...