Gil Hodges is more identified with the Brooklyn Dodgers than the Los Angeles Dodgers, Roger Kahn’s “Boys of Summer,” and he may be the last Brooklyn boy to gain serious consideration for induction into the Hall of Fame when his name is considered by the Golden Era Veterans Committee Dec. 5.
Teammates Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, PeeWee Reese, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and managers Leo Durocher and Walter Alston have all been inducted into the Hall in Cooperstown. Even Dick Williams and Tommy Lasorda, who had slender 1950s ties to the Major League club have been inducted for their later managerial exploits. Some feel Hodges is the odd man out in this group, overlooked because so many other Dodgers of the time period are among the chosen.
Hodges is one of those baseball figures whose career crossed lines. He was an exceptionally good player and he showed signs of becoming an exceptionally good manager when he was struck down by a heart attack in 1972 at the too-soon-gone age of 47. He guided the “Miracle Mets” of 1969 to the World Series title.
Born in Princeton, Indiana, the son of a coal miner, in 1924, Hodges made his Major League debut in 1943, but he played in just one game before leaving for World War II service. Tried as a catcher and third baseman, the right-handed hitting and fielding Hodges found his niche as a first baseman and was an eight-time National League All-Star.
Hodges batted .l273 (that low figure is a strike against him), hit 370 home runs, and drove in 1,274 runs. He drove in 100 or more runs in a season seven times and hit more than 30 home runs six times, though he only batted .300 twice. Hodges is one of the small number of men who hit a Major League record four home runs in a game, a feat he accomplished in 1950. Hodges also hit for the cycle. But he never led his league in any of the major hitting categories. Hodges truly excelled in the field, owning the territory around first base. He set records for participating in double plays in a season and led the league in fielding and when the Gold Glove award was created in the late 1950s, Hodges won the first three for first basemen.
After retiring in 1963, Hodges immediately became manager of the Washington Senators. However, he made his big splash in the dugout with the Mets from 1968 and 1971. Not long before the Mets had been the worst team in baseball history, but they improved steadily throughout the 1960s. Yet it was still a shock when Hodges steered the lowly team to a W0rld Series crown in 1969. They came from behind to wrest the National League pennant from the Chicago Cubs and upset the Baltimore Orioles in the Series. That was the first year baseball had playoffs between the end of the regular season and the World Series and the Mets defeated Atlanta in divisional play.
Hodges was looking forward to a much longer managing career, but he passed away of a heart attack after playing golf in Florida with Mets coaches. The Mets retired Hodges’ No. 14 jersey. Hodges was enormously popular in the New York area and supporters have lobbied heavilyfor his candidacy for the Hall.
When it comes to boys of summer Dodgers not in the Hall, Hodges leads the pack of prospects. It seems unlikely that pitcher Don Newcombe or infielder Jim Gilliam will ever be selected. They are the next most prominent names left over from the Brooklyn late 1940s/early 1950s era who are not members of the Hall.
This may be Hodges’ last chance. There is a lot to recommend his selection, from being a two-time world champion as a player and subsequent world champion as a manager, to his fielding prowess, slugging ability, and frequent All-Star selections. But it is going to be a real challenge for Hodges to garner the 75 percent of votes needed to gain induction to the Hall.
There is a very thin line between being very, very good and great and that’s the line Hodges straddles.