John Brattain passed away today from complications during heart surgery. I am still having trouble figuring out how to process this. Brattain's work may not be all that familiar to those of you. He was a vocal writer at BBTF, BDD and THT among other places. As a guy who loved to take digs at David Samson and wrote tirelessly on Barry Bonds being locked out of baseball this past season, I think we can all appreciate his causes.
More than that though, John was a great representative for the online baseball community, someone who was endlessly thoughtful and considerate of others. The amount of times that he would respond to a simple question with a reply long enough to put one of Jeff's vintage game recaps to shame were too numerous to count.
I had the rare opportunity over the past two plus years to be part of the The Hardball Times and through that, the privilege of getting to read the goings-on with all of the staff on our e-mail listserv. It isn't doing near enough justice to say the Brattain was a man whose personality shone bright. Always jovial, sincere, upbeat and willing to talk to anyone anytime about anything. I never got to meet him in person but there's not a shred of doubt in my mind that I would have enjoyed his company immensely.
There is a BBTF thread here where others are remembering John if you wish to drop a comment. And if you never read Brattain before, I suggest you go here and search for posts from Bones McCoy and then read through his THT archives.
John, you will be missed.
Best Regards to you this time.