They started out as a joke, but the last laugh was on their foes. The New York Mets were birthed in a riotous jumble of errors, over-the-hill ballplayers, and Casey's barely decipherable Stengelese. And then there was Marv Throneberry, a player destined for infamy for his head-scratching botches on the diamond. But just eight years later, the Amazin' Mets were world champions, boasting a team of young athletes headed by near-bionic pitchers Tom Seaver,...