This collection of well-crafted essays spans more than 40 years of franchise history but hews to a single theme: the experience—sometimes humorous, sometimes painful—of being a fan of the New York Mets. From the sound of jets overhead to Keith Hernandez and the Seinfeld connection, Hofstra professor Dana Brand writes about the experiences and lore that make baseball in Queens unique. Mets fans will recognize themselves in this book, and everyone who enjoys great baseball writing will delight in the reading.

The late Dana Brand was a professor of English and American literature at Hofstra University. He received his Ph.D. from Yale, where he often talked baseball with A. Bartlett Giamatti, a Yale English professor who would go on to become the Commissioner of Baseball. The author of numerous articles about English and American literature, philosophy, and film, he lived in Connecticut.

Dana Brand
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 212
Bibliographic Info: index
Copyright Date: 2007
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3199-1
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8248-1
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1

Mets Fan      3
For Shea      5
Mr. Met.      7
Meet the Mets      9
Lets Go Mets!      10
The Mets Logo      11
Yankee Hatred      12
1962      15
My First Game      18
The Mets in the Sixties      20
1969      23
Tom Seaver      27
Jerry Koosman      30
1973      32
Rusty Staub      37
Eddie Kranepool      39
1977–1982      41
Meeting a Met      44
1984      48
Dwight Gooden      50
1985      52
1986: The Bad Guys Won?      54
The Most Exciting Mets Game Ever      57
Marrying the Red Sox      62
Mookie Wilson      67
Keith Hernandez      69
Darryl Strawberry      72
1987      74
1988      76
The End of the Eighties      78
The Mets in the Early Nineties      80
The Mets and Seinfeld      81
1997–1998      85
1999      88
The Second Most Exciting Mets Game Ever      93
The Mets and Frequency      96
2000      99
2001      104
The Mets at the Beginning of the Millennium      106
2005      109
Mike Piazza      112
Going to the Game with My Daughter      114
The Crowd at Shea      118
Diamond Vision.      120
The Home Run Apple      122
Cow-Bell Man      123
Seventh-Inning Stretch      125
The Guys Who Wipe the Seats.      127
Curtain Calls      128
Booing      129
The Mets in Queens      131
Inside Bob Murphy’s Voice      134
Ralph Kiner      135
Howie Rose      137
Listening to Mike and the Mad Dog as a Mets Fan      140
Steve Somers      144
Gary Cohen      145
2006: Getting Ahead      147
Pedro Martinez      149
Carlos Beltran      151
David Wright      152
Jose Reyes      155
Paul LoDuca.      157
Carlos Delgado      158
2006: Late Summer Blues      159
2006: The Clinching      160
Doris from Rego Park      162
2006: The Hour of the Wolf      164
Going to a Playoff Game: 2006 NLDS Game Two      166
Cardinal Red      168
Another Playoff Game: 2006 NLCS Game Six      170
The End of the 2006 Season      172
The Point of Baseball      174
Following Baseball      176
Baseball and the Life of the Mind: Memories of
Bart Giamatti      177
Why Do We Do This to Ourselves?      181
The Offseason      182
Mets Fans Are Geeks: Forumworld and Blogosphere      183
The Return of Baseball      186
Groundbreaking Ceremonies for Citi Field      188
The Mets in the Future      191

Index      195

“subjects range over a wide swath of topics and incidents in the team’s history”—The SABR Bulletin; “great baseball writing that will delight Mets fans and everyone who enjoys baseball”—Sports Collectors Digest; “a wonderful read”—Aethlon; “it’s the best exploration yet written about what it means to be a Mets fan”—The Jewish Press; “a happy book…a labor of love”—Newsday.com; “this is a book for us. It’s a book for Mets fans. It’s a book we deserve. It’s a book we will absorb through our pores…[Brand] has combined memoir with history and given us a rich tour of the lifetime of a franchise”—Faith and Fear in Flushing.