Remembering Dana Brand

Lisa and I had the pleasure of meeting Dana Brand at a SABR event in February 2010. Dana read from his book "The Last Days of Shea: Delight and Despair in the Life of a Met Fan." Almost all of the mainstream media wrote about Shea Stadium as a dump that would not be missed. It was refreshing to hear someone discuss Shea, the ballpark of most Met fans' formative years, so passionately and eloquently.

Now Shea is gone and, shockingly, so too is Dana, way too soon at 56. Not only was Dana a central part of the Met blogging community, but he also was willing to help out a Yankee fan like Lisa when she interviewed Met bloggers for a piece she wrote for The Faster Times.

Dana inscribed my copy of "The Last Days of Shea" as follows:

To Jon
A fellow long-suffering still-believing Met fan.
Someday. . .
Dana Brand
2/6/10

I still can't believe that when someday finally comes, Dana won't be there to share it with all of the long-suffering, still believing Met fans.

Lisa and I send our thoughts and prayers to Dana's family.

We really regret that we only got to meet Dana and hear him speak that one time. Here are two remembrances from people that knew him much better - Greg Prince and Howard Megdal.