The baseball writers long ago blew it. The many Hall of Fame veterans committees blew it time after time.
Now, it is past time to correct one of the biggest injustices at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. On the day Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, the late Marvin Miller and Ted Simmons were officially inducted into the Hall of Fame as the delayed Class of 2020, it’s time to get this right.
This is a fight I have been waging for nearly 20 years and others of much more influence than AMBS are making substantial arguments as well. I once had a boss many years ago, a unique character named Jerry Lisker, right out of central casting for a newspaperman, who when it was go-time in a tabloid war he would yell across the newsroom, “To the mattresses’’ stealing the famous line from The Godfather.
It’s time to go to the mattresses for Gil Hodges.
Too many others of less-deserving accomplishments are making it into Cooperstown while baseball and time have pretty much forgotten Gil Hodges. That is sad for baseball and the Hall of Fame but here at Baseball or Bust we don’t forget. We celebrate Gil Hodges.
His numbers as a player say Gil Hodges should be in the Hall of Fame, especially when you consider the era he played. He played one game for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943, enlisted in the Marines, missed the next two seasons fighting in the Pacific in World War II and returned in 1946 to play in the minors.
In 1947 he was back in the majors to stay, switching from catcher to first baseman, and played through 1963.
His accomplishments as a manager of the Miracle Mets of 1969 say he should be in the Hall of Fame as well. His bravery as a Marine, fighting for America in places like Okinawa as a member of the 16th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion also say he should be in the Hall of Fame. Sergeant Gil Hodges earned a Bronze Star for his efforts.
HODGES WAS REVERED BY HIS BOYS OF SUMMER TEAMMATES AND SHORTSTOP PEE WEE REESE ONCE SAID OF GIL, “IF YOU HAD A SON, IT WOULD BE A GREAT THING TO HAVE HIM GROW UP TO BE JUST LIKE GIL HODGES.’’
For me, that’s a Triple Crown winner right there.
That’s a Hall of Famer, who exuded class and leadership on the baseball field much like Jeter did. He will come up again on the Golden Days ballot this December.
Don’t forget Gil Hodges this time around.
During his Hall of Fame speech on Wednesday at the Clark Center in the hills surrounding Cooperstown, Jeter said it so well about the game of baseball.
“I respected the game,’’ Jeter said. “It’s more than a game in a sense … I wanted to make all you proud, not of statistics, proud of how to play the game, proud in how I carried myself and how I respected the game and those who came before and after … It’s a game that requires sacrifice, dedication, discipline and focus. It’s a game of failure and teaches you teamwork, teaches you humility. The one common thread with all of us here on stage is that we understand there is no one individual bigger than the game. The game goes on. And it goes on because of the great fans we have. So take care of it, protect it, respect it, don’t take the time you have to play for granted.’’
Jeter also said his one goal was “to win more than everyone else … and we did.’’
Don’t just believe me, though about Gil Hodges. Listen to two heavyweights in the world of baseball media, Tom Verducci and Bob Costas.
Verducci broke it all down in a presentation for Gil at the New York State Baseball Hall of Dinner last month in Troy, NY, when Hodges was inducted, saying of Hodges, “This one is personal. You see my dad’s first cousin is Joan Lombardi of Brooklyn, New York, who married Gil Hodges.
“Gil Hodges had an amazing baseball life,’’ Verducci said. “He was a great defensive first baseman for Brooklyn. He hit 370 career home runs and went on to win the World Series as manager of the Mets. No person in baseball history hit more home runs and went on to win the World Series as a manager than Gil Hodges.
“And remember, when he got to the New York Mets, he inherited some great young arms,’’ Verducci noted. “Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Nolan Ryan, Tug McGraw, all between the ages of 21 and 25. It was Hodges who invented the five-man rotation to keep his young arms healthy. Those four wound up pitching a combined 85 seasons in Major League Baseball. Gil Hodges was an innovator.’’
Was he ever. No matter how much they try in today’s baseball world, they can’t keep pitchers healthy. They can’t keep them off the Injured List. They can’t keep them from having Tommy John surgery. Somehow, through his mastery as a manager, Gil Hodges kept his pitchers healthy.
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