Former Mets manager Gil Hodges has once again been denied entry to the Hall of Fame by the Golden Era Committee.
Boo. The Mets could have really used this today.
I didn’t “get” Gil when I was younger, much like I suspect some of you don’t “get” Seaver or Gooden the way I might…and top of mind how Reyes is more important to you than any of the names I just mentioned.
As I aged and listened to how someone like Tom Seaver speaks about Gil I have come to really appreciate him. One can’t help but wonder what might have been had he stayed at the helm.
Gil died right at the end of spring training, and his body was flown back to New York on the Yankees’ plane! The Mets were scheduled to open in Pittsburgh and Tom let the Mets know there was no way in hell he was taking the mound and missing the funeral.
That year there was a brief labor thing (not sure if techincally it was a strike or what) and the game was canceled, so Tom never had to push the issue.
I’d be curious to hear more about Gil from some of you older Mets fans.
Hodges was not a Hall of Fame player. He was, in his time, the equivalent to a Steve Garvey, Don Mattingly, Keith Hernandez, or Mark Grace type player – very good, at times exceptional, a definite team leader, but never an overall league star.
A lot of people want to bring in his managerial record. OK, let’s do that. He won 1 World Series. In his career he lost 97 more games than he won. He managed 9 years, and had losing records in 6 of them. Even with the Mets, take out 1969 and he is 4 games over .500 over the course of 3 seasons.
There is a romantic aspect in New York attached to Gil Hodges – but when it comes right down to it he is more Hall of Garvey than Hall of Fame.
i agree with you dan 100 percent about gil hodges. i was in 12 years old when i met him and thought world of him. he simply does not have the stats to be a hall of famer. tha does nott mean he he did not have a damn good career and will be a hall of famer in our hearts. yes the mets winning the world series was the zenith of his carrer. i feel after the 1968 heart attack followed by the stress and pressures of managing in 1969,may have changed his way of running the team in 70′ and 1971 . the intensity of leading the team was not there any more. yes he will get voted in one day. when the voters consider his overall legacy and stats in one big package
I never saw him play…but I played in the Gil Hodges Little League as a kid…I bowled at Gil Hodges Lanes…drove over the Gil Hodges Bridge…loved to pass by his house on Bedford Avenue…loved his Mets. I am probably biased. He gave up two prime years in his career to fight in WWII…received a Bronze Star…won the first 3 gold gloves…was an 8 time all-star…team leader…and for one year, performed the best managerial feat of all-time. Without Gil, Tom Seaver, by his own admission, may not have become the pitcher he was. Is the Hall of Fame strictly about stats?
He certainly was a Hall of Fame Person.
i remember the day as if it were yesterday. gil passed away late in the day in w.palm beach. the only reason he flew on the yankees plane was there were not enough time to make travel plans to include flying him and the players back to n.y until the next day. mike burke president of the yankees offered to fly from ft. laudardale to palm beach to pick up the mets because the players did not want to fly back to new york without hodges
favorite gil hodges “move” he would stand in front of a player sitting on the bench so he would not see the scoreboard and ask the following questions
“who is at bat?”
“how many outs are there?”
“what is the score?”needless to say a lot of met back up players failed his “pop quiz”
I did that when I coached little league! Nice.
A sad day for me, I never saw him play, and I never saw him manage. But I always admired him for the man people say he was. Not to mention that he was a war hero as well. Plus I love his Mets and what they represent to the franchises history. He’s a favorite ol time player of mine and use his picture as my avatar because thats who I want my Mets to be like.