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Title: Wilpon's Folly
Subtitle: The Story of a Man, His Fortune, and the New York Mets
Author: Howard Megdal
Narrator: Pete Larkin
Format: Unabridged
Length: 2 hrs and 43 mins
Language: English
Release date: 03-06-13
Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury
Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2 votes
Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime
Publisher's Summary:
On December 11, 2008, in the middle of a busy baseball offseason, Bernard Madoff was arrested for orchestrating a massive financial fraud. Among his chief investors was Mets owner Fred Wilpon, who not only lost a major revenue stream as a result, but is now being sued for "fictitious profits" that he now owes to other Madoff victims. To the tune of almost a billion dollars.
How did this happen? Where did Wilpon go wrong, and why does a fraud victim suddenly owe money? The truth about these questions has been largely hidden, but in this short book, the whole story is fully revealed. In this tight narrative, Howard Megdal tells the dramatic financial tale and proves a surprising truth: Wilpon's 30-year reign as owner of the Mets is about to end.
Perhaps the most public victim of the Madoff scandal, Wilpon now faces a long road, and likely a difficult offseason. Here Megdal articulates both Wilpon's position and those against him. Like Michael Lewis' The Big Short, this book unravels the world of a major investment scandal through an entertaining and recognizable story.
Members Reviews:
Succint and to-the-point, yet fully detailed as well.
This brief yet detailed book lays out the full history of the current ownership of the New York Mets and its involvement with Bernie Madoff. The author does an excellent job laying out the facts of the matter and summarizing what has been discussed in so many different venues but never published in one volume before. The author's recommendation is a little out-of-the-box but is perhaps the only thing crazy enough to work. However, this is where facts turn into fiction as I see none of the involved parties willing to follow this suggestion. What is the suggestion? Read the book and find out for yourself! You'll be glad you did!
If you want the real story about the state of the New York Mets, it is here
Even if you read this well-reported book years after the settlement between the Wilpons, Saul Katz and Irving Picard, if you are a true Mets fan you will want to cry and never believe a word from this current team ownership group.
So this is why the mets are rubbish..???
Good read for any Mets fan trying to see why the team has no money to spend on players any more.
Interesting, Enlightening, but Preachy and poorly written
I can see why Howard lost his New York Mets press credential after reading this book.
First the good. The author does a very good job of presenting the "facts" of the situation and explaining how it all comes together. Particularly enlightening for me was the detailing of the financial struggles the Wilpons face apart from the Madoff Scandal. It also made me question the integrity of MLB commissioner Selig.
Next, the less good. The writing style made it difficult in places to separate the cold hard facts from the author's assumptions. The author has a tendency to lay out circumstantial (albeit very convincing)evidence and then present his interpretation of it as fact. He probably gets around the libel laws with his gratuitous disclaimer of the ilk of "ultimately a jury will decide" and the fact that the Wilpons are public figures.
The high point, for me, of the book were the questions it raised about the US judicial system and its judges.
