Baseball teams have different issues and during the course of a season, they have lots of losses. For the New York Mets there will not be a bigger loss than the passing of long-time team photographer Marc Levine. Unfortunately, he suffered a heart attack. I found this strange because he was a man with a very big heart.
He had been one of sports great photographers and he took it to the next level by just being someone that you looked forward to seeing every time you went to Shea Stadium or Citi Field.
We are in a business where there can be a lot of not-so-nice people. With Marc, he treated everyone the same. He didn’t care if you were royalty or just an average Joe. He was a true example of what a gentleman in sports is supposed to be.
I will never forget the times that I would take kids on field trips to Shea Stadium and Marc would make these poor kids feel so special by photographing them. He told them that they were bigger celebrities than the players.
The bottom line is that like so many of us, we lost a great friend and person that I will never forget.
I am grateful to Mets ownership, especially Steve and Alex Cohen because they always made Marc feel special. I will never forget Marc visiting former Mets bullpen catcher Rob Dromerhauser at the baseball camp that he ran with Bud Harrelson (Bud Harrelson Baseball Softball Academy). He would photograph every kid whether they paid for the photo packages or not. He would always leave the kids feeling happy about themselves.
My deep condolences to the whole New York Mets family. For those that didn’t know Marc, I’m sorry because you missed out on knowing a really really good guy!
