Mike's Mets: Dana Brand Archives

September 24

Today is the first anniversary of the most disappointing game I ever attended at Shea stadium. To mark it, I would like to share a portion of a chapter of my new book The Last Days of Shea: Delight and Despair in the Life of a Mets Fan. I hope...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Fifty Years of the New York Mets: A Conference at Hofstra University

On the eve of the historic Presidential Debate at my home institution, Hofstra University, I would like to announce officially that on November 3, 4, and 5, 2011, Hofstra University will host a conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of the New York Mets. The conference will be organized and co-chaired...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 12:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Buying a Seat

As everyone knows by now, the Mets, beginning August 25, are going to start selling 16,000 pairs of seats from Shea to the general public at the cost of $869 a pair. This number is designed to remind Mets fans of the two world championships the Mets won, in 1986...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Proposal for the Hofstra Conference on the 50th Anniversary of the New York Mets

Editor's Note: This piece is reprinted with Dana's permission from his site. The need to honor the past of the Mets is something I firmly believe in. I know that many of this site's readers do, too. If you haven't already done so, please take a minute to leave a...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Last Home Opener at Shea

It's 8:30 am on April 8, 2008 and I begin my drive down to the last home opener at Shea Stadium. It's also the home opener of the 2008 season. These are two separate events, even though they are the same baseball game. I am grim and nostalgic about the...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Going Into the 2008 Season

Right now, in blogs and in columns, people are analyzing the upcoming season in the way that cable news analysts cover a political election. Baseball is being treated as if it were a horse race, a game, a mere competition between entities whose real and potential strengths and weaknesses can...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Sign Man

Karl Ehrhardt, the Sign Man, died last week at the age of 83. From 1964-1981, the Sign Man, an ad designer, had a season ticket in the field boxes at Shea. At his feet, he kept a bag of home-made professional-quality signs. When something significant happened in a Mets game,...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Dana's Review of Mathematically Alive

Editor's Note: Mathematically Alive, the documentary on Mets fans, is showing this weekend at the New Jersey Film Festival. Dana Brand was kind enough to share this review for those of you considering making the trek to Rutgers University. - M.S. Mathematically Alive is a new documentary film about being...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September Sunday

I went to the ballgame on Sunday. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon! I wanted to see Pedro pitch. I wanted to welcome him back, and so since we still have, for a season and a month, a nice big stadium that welcomes anyone who is interested, even...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 8:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Real Meaning of Ralph Kiner Night

Every day we feel something different about the 2007 Mets. The confidence we have when we take three out of the first four games played after the All-Star break is gone in a single evening. A pitcher pitches well against us and we're certain that our offense is still it...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Honoring Ralph Kiner at Shea

I wasn't really expecting the Mets' tribute to Ralph Kiner to be very good, because these things can be very disappointing. You have all of your emotions and there you are at the mercy of stadium sound systems, and athletes and officials and the way they use words. And then...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The Psychology of the Slump

I remember when the Mets lost seventeen games in a row in 1962. Losing seventeen games in a row is a pretty awful experience under any circumstances, but for the 1962 Mets there was little but dignity at stake. And there wasn't much dignity left when that slump happened. The...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Going To Shea on Opening Day

It's 10:15 am on April 9, 2007. It's Queens morning sunlight, that bright gleaming sunlight that seems just off the ocean. I get my first glimpse of Shea from the Whitestone Expressway. It is so big. So permanent-looking, like the Roman Coliseum. And it won't be there two years from...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Putting It in a Book

Editor's Note: This is Dana Brand's first contribution to this blog. - M.S. Over the past year, I've written a book to see if I could figure out why I cared so deeply about the New York Mets. I don't think I found the answer to my question, but in...

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By Dana Brand, posted at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Mike's Mets

New York Mets discussion, news and historical perspective -- now getting by with a little help from my friends.

September 24, 2009

September 24

October 15, 2008

Fifty Years of the New York Mets: A Conference at Hofstra University

August 11, 2008

Buying a Seat

June 8, 2008

The Proposal for the Hofstra Conference on the 50th Anniversary of the New York Mets

April 9, 2008

The Last Home Opener at Shea

March 21, 2008

Going Into the 2008 Season

February 12, 2008

The Sign Man

November 8, 2007

Dana's Review of Mathematically Alive

September 10, 2007

September Sunday

July 20, 2007

The Real Meaning of Ralph Kiner Night

July 15, 2007

Honoring Ralph Kiner at Shea

June 22, 2007

The Psychology of the Slump

April 10, 2007

Going To Shea on Opening Day

February 13, 2007

Putting It in a Book

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