Gil Hodges’ household has waited 50 years since his dying in 1972 for the previous Dodgers star first baseman and Mets supervisor to lastly have baseball’s final honor — enshrinement within the Corridor of Fame — bestowed upon him.
Members of his Mets’ household additionally will likely be making the trek upstate to Cooperstown for the induction ceremony Sunday, together with 1969 World Sequence mainstays Cleon Jones, Ed Kranepool, Ron Swoboda and Artwork Shamsky. Tom Seaver’s daughter, Sarah Seaver Zaske, and longtime PR government Jay Horwitz additionally will likely be amongst these representing the group that Hodges fronted to one among two championships in staff historical past.
“I do know members of Gil’s household and gamers who performed with him and for him, have lobbied for this nevertheless they might. However I feel we’re all elated that it lastly occurred after so a few years,” Shamsky mentioned at a remembrance for Hodges, alongside Kranepool, earlier this week on Lengthy Island. “It by no means ceases to amaze me, what's it now, 53 years later, and we’re nonetheless speaking about 1969 and Gil.
“In my case, it’s one yr that form of signifies your profession and your life. However Gil was so large part of that, and we'd not have gained the World Sequence with out him. Clearly, we wouldn’t have gained with out Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman and Cleon Jones and the remainder of the fellows, both — everyone contributed that yr — however Gil was the supervisor that put all of it collectively.”
Hodges appeared in a single recreation for the Dodgers in 1943 earlier than serving two years within the Marines in World Warfare II, incomes a Bronze Star. Shamsky and Kranepool, who additionally was a 17-year-old rookie teammate of Hodges’ with the growth 1962 Mets, each referred to him as an “American hero.”
Hodges returned full-time to the Dodgers in 1947 — the yr Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s colour barrier — and went on to belt 370 dwelling runs over the following 17 seasons, with comparable profession numbers to Corridor of Famers resembling Orlando Cepeda, Tony Perez, Jim Rice and Ron Santo.
Hodges’ Corridor resume additionally featured two World Sequence championships as a participant for the Dodgers (1955 in Brooklyn and 1959 in Los Angeles), plus the magical trip main the Miracle Mets in his second yr as their supervisor in 1969.
Each gamers imagine the pitching-rich Mets would have gained extra titles beneath Hodges, however he died unexpectedly of a coronary heart assault two days earlier than his forty eighth birthday late in spring coaching on April 2, 1972. He debuted on the Corridor of Fame poll with 24.1 % in 1969 and topped out at 63.4 % — shy of the 75 % crucial for induction. He then fell quick in a number of tries by the assorted Veterans Committees earlier than lastly getting voted in by the Corridor’s Golden Eras committee in December.
“I’m so pleased that Gil’s spouse continues to be with us to see this present day,” Kranepool mentioned of 95-year-old Joan Hodges, who will likely be unable to attend Sunday’s ceremony. “It’s simply nice to see it and so well-deserved.
“He in all probability obtained extra votes than anyone in the event you depend all of the instances he was on the [different] ballots. He ought to have been in there a very long time in the past.”
Each gamers retold all the well-known tales about Hodges, resembling convincing the umpires in Sport 5 of the 1969 World Sequence that Jones had been hit on the foot by a pitch by exhibiting them a shoe-polish mark on the ball. In addition they mentioned accepting Hodges’ reasoning for using platoons at first base, second base, third base and proper discipline all through the 1969 season.
“He satisfied us all it was in our greatest pursuits,” Kranepool mentioned. “There’s not a participant round that likes to platoon. It cuts your season and your numbers, however Gil was in a position to persuade us. And we had been the higher for it.
“As a participant, Gil was a real star on and off the sector. And as a supervisor, he was the appropriate man for our staff. He had one algorithm for all 25 guys and we revered him a lot. We're all so pleased that he’s lastly getting this honor.”
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