Hopefully you were still there at the end of QBC15 for the presentation of the Gil Hodges Unforgettable Fire Award to Ed Charles.
As I type this post I realize I will never do justice to it (and Greg Prince will over at Faith and Fear In Flushing, I should just link to that.)
As I stood in the back hanging on every word Ed said, every story he told, I was just so happy to be there when this moment happened. Ed was so happy, so comfortable telling stories.
Then he spoke about Gil, and I will say the same thing I say about everyone who speaks about Gil – if you listen to anyone speak about Gil for five seconds you pick up on how they all revere him. There’s nobody who disliked him or thought he was OK. They all revere him. You listen to Ed Charles, or Tom Seaver, or anyone from that time period speak and you can’t for the life of you figure out why Gil Hodges is not in the Hall of Fame.
I also had an eye on Greg Prince. The universe has chosen Greg to be the keeper of the Hodges flame, and it has chosen wisely. Greg doesn’t do this for self-credit he does it to keep Gil’s name out there. If QBC can contribute to getting people to say Gil Hodges frequently we will be happy to do so for as long as we keep having QBCs.
