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This year the Bronx-born, life-long Mets fan is celebrating his 30th year in magazine publishing, having served as an publisher, editor, writer and magazine doctor for various and sundry publications . . . In 1983, with his wife Beatrice, Hanks launched New York Sports Magazine, which boasted the bylines of Bad Mets "Famous Mets Fans" Steve Bloom and Roy Trakin . . . The premiere issue, which had Tom Seaver on the cover, featured a profile of then Mets' relief pitching star Neil Allen, who blasted the team and his teammates in the piece. The controversial quotes were picked up by all the New York papers and was one of the contributing (but unknown until now) factors in why Allen was traded to St. Louis for Keith Hernandez. The Mets were so pissed about the piece, Hanks was banned from Shea Stadium for a year! The magazine lasted six more issues and Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden were on two of the covers . . .
Hanks' boyhood idol was Tom Seaver and he still has his scorecard from the April 1970 game during which Seaver struck out 19 San Diego Padres and the last 10 in a row. He didn't cut school that day, it was Passover vacation! . . . Hanks was also present when Seaver won his 300th game at Yankee Stadium as a member of the Chisox . . . Hanks started his magazine journalism career at Sport Magazine a few months after the famous issue in which Reggie Jackson claimed he was "the straw that stirred the drink." . . .In 1980, at the tender age of 24, Hanks became the Editor in Chief of the National Hockey League's GOAL Magazine . . . After New York Sports folded in 1985, Hanks wrote sports for the Village Voice (one of his Voice pieces was published the week Tom Seaver's number was retired and made the case for Seaver being the greatest righthanded pitcher of all time--screw you Roger Clemens) served as an editor for a number of sports and children's magazines, wrote unauthorized bios of Wayne Gretzky and Bo Jackson and wrote The Game That Changed Pro Football, the oral history of the New York Jets 1968 Super Bowl Champions . . . In 1999, Hanks created the children's archaeology magazine DIG, for the Archaeological Institute of America and the magazine was named one of the top launches of the year by the Educational Press Association, Temple University and Sumir Husni's Guide to New Magazines . . . From 2004-2006, Hanks was the Publisher and Editor of the health and nutrition magazine Energy Times and is currently serving as the Publisher and Creative Director of Rugby Magazine . . . A four-year baseball player at Lehman College in the Bronx, Hanks still plays baseball in over-40 baseball leagues in New Jersey and in tournaments held in Cooperstown, NY and Florida (see photo) . . . A multi-tasker, Hanks plays a lot of different positions, although not at the same time . . . Hanks is a member of the International Al Jolson Society and is the Creator and Producer of the Broadway Musical Fantasy Camp, a performance workshop for amateurs that produces staged readings of classic Broadway shows for friends and family of the cast . . . He currently lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with Bea and daughter Jeannie and almost never misses a Mets game . . . Hanks thinks Johan Santana is manna from heaven!
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