An interview with a member of the 600 Club, Charlie Hangley

It was late in the 2010 calendar year that Charlie Hangley started writing for Mets360. Since then, his byline has appeared at the site over 600 times. I first came across Charlie at the old Baseball Primer, now known as Baseball Think Factory. It’s still in existence today but is only a shell of what it used to be. For the uninitiated, they would post links to newspaper and blog articles from around the country, along with a pull quote and a riff on the article or subject matter. At one point, it had a thriving Mets audience, one that was so big and so vocal that it tended to take over threads on other teams. It was glorious. It’s also the same place where I was introduced to the work of Chris Dial.

Much like Metsense is here, Charlie was often the voice of reason in those old Primer threads. And he was able to keep things from running off the rails with concise comments. Given that there were some long-winded guys posting there, it was a welcome thing. The ability to say a lot in relatively few words is an underappreciated gift.

I got to meet up with Charlie at a Mets game awhile back but it wasn’t as long as I hoped, as my crew ran into trouble on the BQE and barely made the game on time. But we hung out on the Shea Bridge for a bit and it was great to see him after interacting online with him for so many years. My hope is that our paths will cross once again in real life. On to the interview!

How old are you?  Under 25, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55+  

— I am 58 years old. Oh, God…

Do you live within an hour’s drive of Citi Field? 

— As with everything in the City, the answer is “Yes, depending on the traffic.”

What are your memories of the first Mets game you saw in person, whether Polo Grounds, Shea Stadium or Citi Field? 

— 1973. Hot night in July. Ron Schueler (of the Atlanta Braves, of course: I should have known then…) took a no-hitter into the 9th, broken up by an Ed Kranepool single with one out. Mets lost.

How did you get involved with Mets360? 

–Well, in 2009, I had started my own blog with WordPress that some fella named Brian Joura read and liked and he asked me to come aboard.  The rest, as they say, is history…

We used to spend time at Baseball Primer when it had a great Mets following.  And idea what caused the site to lose popularity?  When’s the last time you visited and what was your experience there?

— I really think the quality of commentary on BBTF declined with the sharp political divides of 2016. There were a lot of factions. I stuck my nose in there about a month ago; I was unimpressed.

As someone who has seen a bunch of games at both Shea and Citi, if we had a magic machine that would allow you to watch 2024 Mets baseball at Shea, would you ever do it?

— I actually love Citi Field and I think it is a vast improvement over Shea in almost every aspect.

How important do you think a GM will be for the Mets with David Stearns around as PoBO?

— If Kim Ng is still floating around, I would snap her up in a heartbeat, but otherwise, I don’t think there’s any great urgency to fill the spot.

If you were put in charge of hiring the next manager, what are the top two or three qualities you would seek?

— Communication and connection with the players, above all. An ease with the press would be helpful. And y’know, handling a big league bullpen would be a plus…

What position does Ronny Mauricio play the most in the majors next season?

— Third base, I think. His defense shone there and I would much rather have Jeff McNeil manning second as the regular.

When you write an article, how much does reader expectation matter to you?  Do you enjoy interacting with others on columns you’ve written? 

— I do! I like to see if they “got it” or not. I like to see who gleaned what kind of insight from my piece and it’s even better if they have a differing opinion: back-and-forth is a good thing!

You’ve lost a ton of weight in the last 18 months or so.  How are you feeling and how has it impacted your life? 

— I feel fantastic, thanks! As far as impact goes, where do I start? Before the surgery, I was pre-diabetic, had high blood pressure and sleep apnea. I was your basic mess, in short. All gone! And it’s a helluva lot easier to find size 34 pants than size 52, trust me!

None of the Baby Mets did particularly well in 2023.  But three of them did at least something to make you feel good for their future.  Francisco Alvarez hit a bunch of homers and did better than expected in blocking balls in the dirt, Mauricio looked solid in the field and had great exit velocities, Vientos ended the year on a high note, showing the HR power he did in the minors.  And then there’s Brett Baty.  Is there still hope for him as a productive MLB player?  If so, what do you base that on?

— I hold out hope for Baty as a possible Justin Turner-type story. I think he just hasn’t figured himself out yet and that’s all based solely on his youth and the small sample size of his MLB tenure.

Mets fans entered 2023 with expectations of 95 wins.  With Steve Cohen telling Max Scherzer that he wasn’t viewing 2024 in the same way, what are your expectations for next season?  Can Mets fans be happy with the thought of 85 wins and meaningful games in September?

— Well, 85 wins can get you to the World Series nowadays (the Arizona Diamondbacks would like a word…) so I will take a ten-game improvement every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Seriously, the current WS opponents each had 100-loss seasons a mere two years ago. So a jump from 75 wins to 85 wins is well within reach.

Let’s Go Mets!