Queens College Reading Affirms the New York Mets’ Status as the True Inheritors of Baseball’s Underdog Origins, October 14
—Best-selling author and podcaster A. M. Gittlitz will read from his work and discuss his radical history of the team—
WHAT: Queens College will host The Anti-Team: The Subversive History of the New York Mets, an event with writer A. M. Gittlitz, as the newest entry in its ongoing calendar of Writers at Queens: The Queens College Reading Series.
The evening will feature a reading from Gittlitz’s radical reinterpretation of the Mets—as the true inheritors and symbols of the underdog origins and rebellious, anti-authoritarian meanings of baseball. The reading will be followed by a conversation with Gittlitz, moderated by Professor Sawyer Kemp; a reception; and a book signing.
. This event is free and open to the public.
WHEN: Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 7 pm
WHERE: In person at the Queens College Music Building Choral Room; or on Zoom HERE.
WHO: A. M. Gittlitz is a journalist who covers radical and countercultural subjects. He is the author of Metropolitans: New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People’s Team (Astra House), a New York Times bestseller and loving tribute to a team known best for losing. This work explores the radical interconnections of class, race, and social justice in a homegrown sports arena. Despite many contradictions—such as corporatization—he argues that the Mets retain their hold on fans’ hearts, loyalty, and imagination precisely because of their longshot status and their rebellions against the team’s owners.
Gittlitz has also authored I Want to Believe: Posadism, UFOs and Apocalypse Communism (Pluto Press), a critically acclaimed study of an eccentric left-wing movement in Argentina, and the forthcoming Beyond Antifascism (OR Books), a look at the evolution of collective action in the 21st century. A long-time podcaster, he hosted the popular Antifada Podcast and now co-hosts This Wreckage.
Sawyer Kemp is an assistant professor of English at Queens College, specializing in Shakespeare studies, performance theory, queer and transgender theory, and queer and transgender life in the 16th and 17th centuries. Kemp has published widely and frequently speaks at professional conferences.
Background: Writers at Queens: The Queens College Reading Series is co-sponsored by the School of Arts, the English Department, and the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation. Directed by Nicole Cooley, professor of English and creative writing, it celebrates the cultural diversity and vitality of the borough of Queens with a variety of multidisciplinary events. For more information, contact writersatqueens@qc.cuny.edu.
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