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.