informative

SPEECH OUTLINE

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the 1986 New York Mets Major League Baseball team.

Central Idea: The 1986 Mets were one of the most exciting, dysfunctional and terrific baseball teams in history.

INTRODUCTION

1. (Attention Getter) – show a brief video of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18caPNisP2U

“Pretty exciting stuff, right?!?” Hopefully, this gets the audience wondering where I’m going with this…I’ve also just used a Presentational Aid.

2. (Reveal your topic) – Today I want to tell you about a team that’s near and dear to my heart, the 1986 NY Mets! Get right to the point.

3. (Establish Credibility) – I was seven years old on October 25, 1986. I was asleep when that happened live, but my mom showed it to me the next morning. She recorded the game for me because just like her, I was a huge Mets fan and I’ve been a fan for the better part of 40 years. This statement shows the audience I have an extensive background with this topic.

4. (Relevancy Statement) – Even if you’re not a sports fan, or a baseball fan, or a Mets fan you’ll enjoy this story. It’s about a very talented but very dysfunctional group of people who somehow held things together long enough to become champions. In this case the speech may not be relevant for some of the audience, so I’m telling them to sit back and enjoy an interesting story.

5. (Preview of Main Points) – Historically, the Mets were one of the worst organizations in baseball. By 1986 they had acquired enough talent to be the best team in the league, though that talent came with a lot of baggage. Look closely at that sentence. I just gave you my three main points in a conversational way. I didn’t just give a list of main points.

(TRANSITION: So why are 55,000 people going bananas in that video?  Because they are Mets fans and they have suffered for a long time. This tells the audience I’ve moved from the introduction to my first main point.

BODY

I. From the time the Mets were established in 1962, most seasons they were the laughingstock of baseball.

A. In fact, in 1962 they had one of the worst records in the history of baseball, 40 wins, 120 losses (Baseball Reference, 2020). You have to cite sources in APA format in your outlines.)

1. They didn’t have a winning season until 1969.

2. In their first seven seasons they finished last five times and next-to-last two times (Baseball Reference, 2020).

3. From 1969 – 1986 they finished first only three times (Baseball Reference, 2020).

B. The Mets had a history of cheap ownership who wouldn’t pay to bring in good players and wouldn’t pay to keep the good players they had.

1. In 1971 the Mets traded away Pitcher Nolan Ryan, who would go on to become a Hall of Famer and owns the record for striking out the most batters in history.

2. In 1977 the Mets traded away Pitcher Tom Seaver, who would also go on to become a Hall of Famer. Here I’ve finished my first main point (Roman Numeral I) and I’ve explained my first main points with two supporting ideas (A and B).

TRANSITION: Mets fans suffered a lot of heartache over the years, but things were about to change. This shows the audience we’re pivoting to a new main point.

II. In 1980 Nelson Doubleday became controlling owner of the team and over the next few years the talent started to arrive.

A. They drafted home run hitting Darryl Strawberry.

1. He won Rookie of the year in 1983 and would be an All-Star.

B. They drafted hard-throwing pitcher Dwight Gooden.

1. He won Rookie of the Year in 1984 and would be an All-Star.

C. In 1983 they traded for first baseman Keith Hernandez.

1. He was already an All-Star

2. To give you an idea of how poorly regarded the Mets were, Hernandez cried when he was told he’d now be playing for them.

D. In 1984 they traded for catcher Gary Carter.

1. He was already an All-Star

E. When the regular season ended in 1986 the Mets had one of the best records in the history of baseball (108 wins, 54 losses) (Baseball Reference, 2020). As I mentioned they would go onto win the World Series that October, thanks in large part to the play we watched at the beginning. It was glorious for us as fans! Again, I stated my second main point (Roman Numeral II and supported it (A-E)).

TRANSITION: While the fans were enjoying this amazing season, we would find out later that behind the scenes things were being held together with scotch tape and safety pins. Again, notifying the audience we’re moving to a new section.

III. Here's the title of sportswriter Jeff Pearlman's 2011 book about this team:

"The Bad Guys Won:  A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball...and the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on NY Uniform...and Maybe the Best.” Here I might hold up the book as another visual aid.

.

A. In July of that season four Mets players were arrested for starting a brawl in a Houston night club.

1. Over the ensuing years it would come to light that Mets players got into several “brawls” throughout the season. Remember this is a time before social media and camera phones.

B. After winning their first playoff series they did almost $10,000 of damage to the team plane in a drug and alcohol-fueled celebration.

C. At this time in the game of baseball, players taking speed pills (Greenies) was very common. Pearlman stated in his book, “while it was common, the Mets led the league, (Pearlman, 2004).

D. Several players on the team used cocaine virtually the entire season.

1. Darryl Strawberry was eventually suspended from baseball and went to rehab.

2. The same for Dwight Gooden. In fact, Gooden missed the World Series parade down Broadway in NYC because he was passed out in a strange apartment. Here I might show newspaper headlines of these events as another visual aid.

TRANSITION: I don’t condone drug use in any way whatsoever. In fact, many baseball experts will tell you this team should have won another World Series, maybe two more, but their hard partying and juvenile ways tore them apart before they had the chance. Once again, I’m telling the audience we’re moving on.

CONCLUSION:

I. We as fans, especially those who suffered through so many sad years don’t overlook the bad things this team did, but we don’t embrace them either. It’s part of who they are.

II. To me the 1986 NY Mets are like a member of the family. I love them for all the joy they’ve brought me, and I’ll always defend them. We don’t get to choose our family. I know they aren’t perfect; they did some bad things, weren’t always good people and they didn’t set a good example for the younger generation…

But they sure were interesting.

In the conclusion I’m summing up what I just discussed and also why I discussed it. I also try to use a memorable closing statement.

See below, outlines must have a reference page in APA format.

References

Baseball Reference. (n.d.) Retrieved July 18, 2020, from http://www.baseball-reference.com/

Pearlman, J. (2004). The Bad Guys Won: A season of brawling, boozing, bimbo-chasing, and championship baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid and the rest of the 1986 Mets, the rowdiest team to put on a New York Uniform, and maybe the best. New York: Harper Collins.