In 1986, the bad guys of baseball won the World Series. Now, Erik Sherman, the New York Times bestselling coauthor of Mookie , profiles key players from that infamous Mets team, revealing never-before-exposed details about their lives after that championship year…as well as a look back at the magical season itself.      Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, Keith Hernandez, Lenny Dykstra, Mookie Wilson, Howard Johnson, Doug Sisk, Rafael Santana, Bobby Ojeda, Wally Backman, Kevin Mitchell, Ed Hearn, Danny Heep, and the late Gary Carter were all known for their heroics on the field. For some of them—known as the “Scum Bunch”—their debauchery off the field was even more awe-inspiring. But when that golden season ended, so did their aura of invincibility. Some faced battles with addiction, some were traded, and others struggled just to keep their lives together.    Through interviews with these legendary players, Erik Sherman offers fans a new perspective on a team that will forever be remembered in sports history. INCLUDES PHOTOS Praise for Kings of Queens “Erik Sherman's breezy, absorbing meet-up with the members of the 1986 New York Mets makes for a beautiful trip down memory lane. An absolute joy.”—Jeff Pearlman, New York Times bestselling author of  The Bad Guys Won!   “Decades past their glory days, the ’86 Mets are still amazing in their power to inspire. Erik Sherman captures these heroes past their prime in a beautiful collection of portraits, proving that these Mets were once the kings of queens and they're still the kings of hearts.”—Jonathan Eig, author of  Luckiest Man and Opening Day   “The Mets of the eighties had the walk and talk to own New York...and they did!”—Tim McCarver, longtime Mets’ broadcaster and recipient of the 2012 Ford C. Frick Award   “If you are lucky enough to have been born a Mets fan, or to have converted into one, you will find this book to be full of treasures.”—Kostya Kennedy, Senior Editor of  Sports Illustrated  and New York Times bestselling author of  56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports and Pete Rose: An American Dilemma   “Don’t confuse this with a Where Are They Now? This is about How Are They Now Doing—from Straw to Doc to Doug Sisk—catching up with the ’86 Mets much like Roger Kahn once caught up with the Dodgers’ Boys of Summer .”—Kevin Kernan, the  New York Post   “A series of revealing retrospectives from many of the key performers of that memorable and, at least in New York, beloved ball club.”—Howie Rose, Broadcaster, New York Mets, WOR Radio 710 AM   “Erik Sherman visits with this remarkable cast of characters to put the impact of the '86 Mets in perspective. An important book about an important team.”—Marty Appel, author of  Pinstripe Empire and Munson Erik Sherman has been a freelance sportswriter in the New York area since 1980. He is also a coauthor of Out at Home: The True Story of Glenn Burke, Baseball’s First Openly Gay Player ;  Mookie: Life, Baseball, and the ’86 Mets;  and Steve Blass: A Pirate for Life . I had always wanted to be “the one at the end of the ambulance ride.” Now I figured that even if I might have my usual trouble working in big hierarchical systems, I would never doubt my competence in, and caring about, what I at best called “healing.” And with Fats again? Driving into Man’s 4th Best, I mused on a kind of medical heaven. I parked in a six-story lot and got lost. I had been here often during med school, but everything had changed. On the crest of a hill, the glorious Art Deco Pink Building and garden and the 1816 neoclassic granite Blue Building were darkened by skyscrapers. I forgot the building name and asked Information for the office of hospital president Jared Krashinsky. “Oh, that’s your Twitter Building.” She handed me a map, as complex as linguine. A whispering rocket ride to floor 40 and out. Staggered by the sheets of morning sunlight backlighting a panorama of sea and threads of bleached clouds and then nothing but magical realism blue. The meeting was in the dimly lit, hushed board room, leather and chrome. On a giant bright screen was a slide. As my eyes adjusted, I saw, at a square glass table as big and blocky as my Prius, the Fat Man in a florid and horrific Hawaiian shirt. Beside him was Humbo, a young, compact Hispanic guy in a short white doctor coat. And then what he’d called his “A Team” from the House of God: Eat My Dust Eddie, Chuck, Hyper Hooper, the Runt, and Gath, an Alabama cracker who’d been a surgical resident. A nurse, Angel Jones, the Runt’s wife, sat beside him. I hadn’t seen most of them for many years. Also, a woman doctor, I guessed from India. I slipped into a seat. Panting, wiping off sweat. Way late. Jared Tristram Krashinsky, of the Lithuanian Krashinskys, Man’s 4th Best president and titan of industry, stood at a lit screen in dim light, a power suit reading a PowerPoint: “—this slide shows Core Concept One: Mobile Self-Management. Notice th