I recently had the privilege of talking with Dana Brand, author of Mets Fan, to discuss his book, the Mets and other things that popped up during our discussion. Below is my experience:

In the summer of 2005, Dana Brand was encouraged by his colleagues to submit one of his personal essays to Newsday. Brand, a lifelong Mets fan, had written a piece explaining why he is a Mets fan. The powers that be over at Newsday published the essay, entitled “If You Prick a Mets Fan, He’ll Bleed Blue and Orange.” According to Brand, an English professor at Hofstra University on Long Island, that was when he made the decision to write Mets Fan.

Mets Fan is a collection of personal essays regarding all things Mets. One of the most remarkable things about this book is the passion behind it. This was not written by a sport writer. In every word, every sentence, you know this was written by a Mets fan. Brand discusses everything, from his favorite games to the announcers on WFAN. The most surprising thing is how he seemed to put everything I was thinking on paper. As he described Steve Somers, I could hear his voice.

As Brand discusses in his book, during his time at Yale University, he became very close to one of his professors, A. Bartlett Giamatti, who would go one to become the commissioner of Major League Baseball. According to Brand, they would constantly talk about the things going on in baseball. Once Brand became a professor, he found that his students knew of his book because he had done a reading at Hofstra University after the book was published.

Brand also talked with me about the current state of the Mets. I met with Brand on September 22^nd, just at the Mets were beginning their final homestand at Shea. When asked how he felt about what is going on with the team, he replied “helpless and scared”. His prediction was that the Mets would take the wild card. I asked him how he would feel is the Mets didn’t make the playoffs, his response was “it will be 3 years down the drain. If they make it to the playoffs, its like 2007 never happened, but if they don’t, it’s like 2006 never happened.” As expected, his shared that he felt that the bullpen is fatal. He told me he was attending 4 games that week, including the last game at Shea.

According to Brand, Lynn Cohen is a big fan of his book. During one of their conversations, he mentioned that his dream would be to be able to take his mother, also a diehard Mets fan, to game at Shea before it closes. Lynn made that possible by inviting him and his family to sit in the picnic area at Shea during the one of the last games at Shea Stadium.

Dana also shared with me his daily blogs that he looks at. They include Mets Blog, Faith and Fear in Flushing, the Ed Kranepool Society and of course, Hot Foot.

As for what’s next for him? He shared with me two exciting pieces of news. His is currently finishing his next book entitled “The Last Days of Shea” It is expected to be out next summer. Equally as exciting, Dana Brand has been given permission to have a conference at Hofstra University on November 3-5, 2011 to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Mets. While it is still in the planning stages, we hope to help in the creating and success of this event and will bring you updates as they become available.

For more information about Dana Brand, and to read his thoughts on the final week at Shea, visit his website.