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Hodges is Hall-worthy

© Joseph J. Checkler

Being on the cusp of becoming a Hall of Famer is one of the most helpless positions to play in baseball. Unlike a presidential candidate, a baseball retiree cannot make one last campaign stop to positively or negatively place his stamp on the voters. Such is the (baseball) life of the late former Dodger and Met player Gil Hodges, a man who is perhaps best revered for his managerial work with the historic 1969 miracle Mets.

Hodges hit a career .273 in his 20 major league career, hitting 370 home runs and knocking in 1,274 runs. In his prime, from 1949 to 1958, he averaged .281, with 31 home runs and 104 RBI’s. He was a first baseman, a position where power is expected. This ten-year period automatically catapults Hodges into Hall of Fame consideration. Sure, first base is a select group in Cooperstown, but there is room for Hodges.

There are nineteen first basemen in the Hall of Fame. Inductees include Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg, and Harmon Killebrew, four dominating sluggers who left no questions for the voters. Also enshrined are Negro League stars, such as Buck Leonard, turn of the century legends, like George Sisler, and recent greats, including Tony Perez. Can you guess the name that does not belong in this paragraph?

Perez and Hodges have strikingly comparable career stats. Perez hit a career 6 points higher than Hodges, with nine more homers. He was an important member of the 1970’s Big Red Machine, but he does not have the credentials of Hodges. He only managed for a short period of time in the big leagues, while Hodges skippered a team to an improbable World Championship. (We’re not going to blame Gil for his problems managing the Washington Senators. Remember the old joke that talks about Washington being “first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League").

It is easier to get into the Hall of Fame today than it has ever been. Kirby Puckett’s statistics would not have approached “first ballot” induction status forty or even twenty years ago. If the eras that Perez and Hodges played in were reversed, chances are that he would be in the hall already. It’s almost comical that Perez was actually voted in the old-fashioned way, while the charismatic Hodges can’t even get in via the Veterans Committee. Stan Musial, Yogi Berra, Hank Aaron and the others who make up the Vets Committee have elected Phil Rizzuto and Bill Mazeroski, but not Hodges. They all played with him, maybe he cracked a few jokes about their wives when they stood next to him at first. Alright, it might be unfair to compare positions like shortstop and second base offensively to first base, but the point has been made.

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