Dana Perlstein

1954-2001

Dana grew up near Hartford, CT, an avid reader and excellent student; his longing was to be involved in the movie industry. He followed the industry closely, he could tell you who starred, directed, produced, and even who filmed most of the major films made after 1970. His opportunities in the industry were outside of production, so he moved on to teaching English, but he would always add a film class, or sponsor a film club each semester.

For a pastime Dana’s number one passion was SOM. He loved to evaluate and compete. He was constantly working on his “secret” formula that he used to evaluate the cards. He was using OPS and OB% long before they were regularly published stats. Dana entered many SOM tournaments and frequently placed in the money. He came in 1^st place several times. He even qualified for the “SOM World Series” but did not play. He credited his evaluation formula for winning the StratFan Tournament of Champions. You can read the StratFan article titled, Give Perlstein system an A+, at the history section of DelCal home page.

Of all the leagues and tournaments Dana participated in DelCal was his favorite. A charter member in 1979, he selected Jim Rice as the very first DelCal player. At that time he lived in Laurel, Md. So he named his team the Laurel Green Sox. After his 2^nd season he moved to Los Angeles and renamed the team the California Wandering Jews, eventually shortening it to California Wanderers. He admitted the last change was out of political correctness. Dana served as commissioner from 1997 through most of 2000. As commissioner he was a taskmaster, he would say, “If you can’t do your stats on time, don’t play”. In 22 years in the league Dana made the playoffs 17 times, won 4 division titles and 3 World Series’.

When he lived in Laurel, Dana was married for a year, but he divorced before he moved to California. When I met him he was living with his girlfriend, Alisa, a former Miss Universe contestant from Thailand. They lived together for about 4 years more. Dana didn’t say much about his ex-wife, but he remained very close with Alisa even after they broke up. He never had any children.

The thing that I found most idiosyncratic about Dana was his refusal to get a computer. Using his only arm he would arduously type out newsletters, statistics, etc. Many people don’t want to learn new technology, but that was not Dana. He had the most modern DVD, stereo, and remote control systems he could afford. He was very fluent with technology. But when it came to SOM, he only wanted to play with the dice, meticulously keeping every statistic on a handwritten score sheet.

I met Dana at a SOM baseball tournament. I had never played in a play by mail league and Dana recruited me to DelCal. Dana resided near Downtown LA and I live about 45 miles away. During my first few years in the League we didn’t see each other except to play our series games. Eventually, we started tacking on an additional activity such as a movie, dinner, or art exhibit. Dana was very cultured and into sophisticated activities. He was a connoisseur of wines and fine dining. I am the antithesis, so he was popular with my wife. If an event or a high brow restaurant were in my neighborhood, all three of us would attend after we finished our baseball series. The most memorable activity was attending a tribute to Robert Altman on the 30^th anniversary of the release of the movie MASH. Dana had secured tickets from?? Elliot Gould, Sally Kellerman, and Radar, were all there. It was really cool.

In 1995 Dana was diagnosed with a subepidermal skin cancer. It required a minor surgery to remove a growth on his arm. In 1997 it returned and Dana lost his right arm and part of his back to the disease. He had to learn to become left-handed. Dana did not feel sorry for himself or want pity. He continued to work, and live his life as before. By the summer of 2000 he could no longer work, or even take care of himself. His parents stayed with him through the summer and then returned with Dana to their Connecticut home. Dana passed away there in February 2001.