Hey Mack, read this interview with Mr. Ade!

There’s a long history between Mets360 and today’s interview subject, Mack Ade. Many of you know Mack from his terrific site – Mack’s Mets. But did you know that there was talk of Mack being involved with Mets360 right from the start? Co-founder John Strubel tried to get Mack to join us and there were several emails among the three of us trying to make it happen. Ultimately, we couldn’t make it work. Perhaps we should have tried harder.

If you asked me what my top compliment was to someone who writes about the Mets, it would be that he knew what he was doing. Well, when it comes to the Mets, Mack knows his shit. He was a podcast guest several times and my goal with the podcast was to make the guest look great. To that end, it was standard fare to provide the guest the questions ahead of time, so they could give an intelligent answer. Mack always turned down the questions and simply said, “Ask me anything.” And he always had an answer and he could surprise with the depth of his responses.

Mack also made it here to the site in other ways, too. He was a frequent contributor to roundtables and jumbalayas, articles where I looked for interesting things from the Mets blogosphere. And he also wrote 22 articles for Mets360, which you can access by clicking here.

And for what it’s worth, I’ve left more comments on articles posted at Mack’s Mets than I have at every other Mets site combined.

Because of my history with Mack, most of the typical “getting to know you” questions have been eliminated. But there are a bunch of questions that replaced those and my hope is that you’ll find this a very entertaining read. On to the interview!

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

I started rooting for the Mets in 1962 and traveled to a number of games at Polo Grounds from Ozone Park via the A train. My earliest memory was my tryout with them sponsored by the Daily Mirror newspaper at the Polo Grounds.The tryout was held by coaches Cooky Lavagetto and Solly Hemus..
Only one local got a contract. Rick Herscher.

When did you first write about the Mets and how did you come to focus on writing about prospects in the Mets’ system?

I retired from broadcasting in 2001 and began writing about the Mets on various sites like NYFS, Gotham, and Flushing University. I started Mack’s Mets to concentrate on the Mets minor teams and players.The only other Mets minor league site was by Toby Hyde. I also wrote a weekly two pages for local newspapers, one page of which covered the Savannah Sand Gnats. Later on, the Mets granted me press credentials in St. Lucie for the Mets spring training games.

What made you change your focus from writing about prospects to writing about the draft and amateur players?

My site grew in writers to a point where I could branch off into the basic scouting area that always was a void for Mets writers. I developed relationships with many scouts and was really having fun with it until it became too taxing to me during my decline in health.

From reading your site for years, I know a little about your background. Tell us who Henry Hill was and your involvement with him.

Henry Hill was one of the crew members of the mob hijacked Lufthansa 7mil cash heist out of JFK Airport which was depicted in the Goodfellas movie. His character was played by the late Ray Liotta.

The truck that was hijacked was forced to drive to the garbage dump off Van Wyck Expressway and brought to Ozone Park Queens, home turf for that crew. I grew up there and helped unload trucks behind the Social Club on 101st Avenue.

My meeting Henry came at a Sand Gnats game where a friend of mine told me he wanted to introduce me to someone. I instantly recognized him even before names were exchanged. He put his finger to his mouth and motioned to say nothing.

I smiled back and we talked baseball.

You were also in the radio business for awhile and among others, you interacted with Bruce Springsteen. Do you have a favorite story about “The Boss?”

I was one of the managers of WIP radio in Philadelphia in the early 80s. Our sister station was the rock FM WMMR, whose morning DJ was the legendary John DeBella. John was good friends with Bruce and was the first disc jockey working at a major market station to play Bruce’s songs.

Anyway, he would show up, guitar in hand, whenever he wrote a song he particularly loved and play it live on the air. John would announce on the air that he was coming in about an hour before he arrived and then open the windows at our office on 19th and Rittenhouse Square so Bruce could wave to the crowd that formed.

The whole radio world stop at those moments and the entire city would turn to MMR to hear The Boss.

You were also involved in the format change for WKTU. Tell us that story.

Three of us were hired for the original management team when we put WKTU on the air in 1975. We played soft eclectic rock (The Mellow Sound) but were a cult station at best. In 1978 we were ranked dead last for commercial radio stations in NYC.

The President of our company, Ed Cosman, took his wife out to dinner one night at a fancy French restaurant off Park Avenue. Halfway through dinner, the staff moved them to the bar because the main dining room was converted to a dance floor at nine. This nice old Jewish couple watched hundreds of rich affluent Park Avenue types flood in to dance to a new form of music that wasn’t played on the air. Disco.

Ed called a meeting the following day where I and four others attended, told the story, and said we were changing the format to disco. Everyone in the meeting voted no. Ed voted yes and declared the decision was in. Disco it was. We all left that meeting knowing it was a huge mistake.

The first ratings came out three months later and, not only were we ranked number one in New York, but we were the most listened to station in the nation.

See what we knew?

I recall you having a high opinion of former New York Post columnist Kevin Kernan. How did you cross paths with him?

The Mets granted me press credentials for the first time in 2005. I received them because I wrote about the minor league franchises for Morris Publishing, not because I was a blogger. Bloggers were taboo in those days.

My first visit was for Pitchers/catchers that year and I went into the process pretty naked. The drill was that the press gaggle gathered just inside the clubhouse and let’s just say there was nothing warm and fuzzy about them.

The exceptions were Adam Rubin and Kevin Kernan.

Adam introduced himself in the newsroom and told me he loved how I wrote. Kevin came over to me when I was standing outside the gaggle, introduced himself, and told me the do’s and don’ts regarding the rules for writers.

We still stay in touch on Twitter.

How many years have you run your site, Mack’s Mets?

I started Mack’s Mets in 2005. It has had a number of great writers some of which still write for the site. David Rubin was the first contributor. Others included ex Mets players.

I am now retired from the site and only participate in the comment sections of other writer’s posts. The site carries on today under Paul’s acting as the person who oversees it.

Talk about the changes you’ve seen in the Mets’ blogosphere since you began Mack’s Mets thru today.

Mack’s Mets started in 2005. Back then there was Matt Cerrone’s SNY site, Toby Hyde’s site, Mike’s Mets, and mine. Today, everybody and their first cousin seems to have either their own blog, podcast, or You Tube site.

Very crowded these days

Before we start talking more specifically about the Mets, give us an update on you and how you are doing health-wise (Note: If you’d rather not talk about this, we can skip it completely.)

I’m doing fine for a cancer survivor pushing 80 with a wife and daughter that also have had cancer. The past two years have been difficult due to my surgery plus my daughter having four cancer surgeries.

I retired because the volume of time needed to compile the prospect files wore me out.

What’s your opinion on the first three years of the Steve Cohen ownership?

Hmm. I should tread lightly since Steve and I have become friends. You asked so I will answer honestly.

I have spent most of my career in top management. You can’t succeed in business without solid, steady management. The Mets, during the Cohen era, have had more changes in top management than the Republican Party’s Speaker of the House candidates.

Fix the top floor. Build the system.

There’s been a ton of discussion about a President of Baseball Operations (PoBO) ever since Cohen took over. Now that he has a PoBO, how worried should we be that the team currently doesn’t have a GM?

I’m not a big fan of the whole POBO/GM thingy. Why would you hire a baseball brain like Stearns and then muddy the decision waters with another person?

I also thought the title of POBO was a glorified name for the GM.

I would have an additional person as VP of Business Affairs and let that person run the operational portion of the organization like Sandy Alderson did.

My opinion is that the front office should set big-picture priorities – like giving Kodai Senga extra rest or encouraging more stolen bases or having a long man in the bullpen – but once they set those, the manager should run the day-to-day game operations. What’s your view on the manager/GM/PoBO dynamic?

To me, this team is now set up for a great graduation class in 2025. They have to respect and build around that. They also need to build up the scouting and minor league evaluators. This seems to have started with the firing of some of the scouting staff.

What’s one player-related move that you hope the Mets accomplish this offseason?

The Mets can’t make the playoffs with their current projected rotation. Yamamoto is the obvious first choice. Hop the plane and take Senga with you. They share the same agent so I would think that would help.

If not Moto, I would target Nola or Snell

Finally, for all of the sand that the Braves have kicked in the face of the Mets over the years, they’ve lost in their first playoff series the past two seasons. Are they disappointments/failures because of this? What can the Mets take from the current Braves, both in their regular-season triumphs and their playoff failures?

The Braves template stares every other team in their face and yet few follow it. The Braves build within both drafts and sign their top young talent to extensions early on in their pro career. The Mets sign old players and pray they stay healthy. Signing up Nimmo and McNeil were a good thing. Extending Pete wouldn’t hurt either. Then consider Alvarez.