G
il Hodges was a World Champion, not only as a player with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955 and the L.A. Dodgers in 1959, but as a manager of the “Miracle Mets” in 1969. He hit 370 homers in 18 total seasons spent mostly with the Dodgers. Hodges had a stellar year in 1954 when he hit 42 dingers (a pretty size-able number for that era) and 130 RBI with a .304 batting average. He was an eight-time All-Star and won three Gold Gloves. He was top 10 in home runs in the National League 10 times during his career. Yet, despite all this, he is not enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
As T.S. O’Connell mentioned in a recent post on his Infield Dirt blog, there are several potential Hall of Famers on the Veterans Committee list. However, in my opinion, Gil Hodges should be at the head of that list. No, in fact, he shouldn’t even be on the list anymore. He should be in the Hall.
Gil Hodges cards are still popular in the hobby today, even with recent releases. A 2008 Prime Cuts Gil Hodges triple patch card recently sold in auction for $351 with 21 separate bids. I guess he’s still popular with fans and collectors. Now if the Veterans Committee would just put the same value on his major league career, we would get to see Hodges’ bust in Cooperstown.
