It's Hall or nothing
Those who watched him say it’s time Hodges finally makes it to Cooperstown
EVEN when no baseball is being played, the National Baseball Hall of Fame is a hot topic. It is time for the Hall to correct a terrible mistake that has gone on for decades.
Gil Hodges should be a Hall of Famer.
That oversight can be fixed by the Golden Era committee, which meets in December for the Class of 2021. The Brooklyn Dodgers first baseman is the only player to have received 60 percent or higher of the BBWAA’s vote three times and not have made it into the Hall.
In one past veterans committee vote, Hodges came up one vote short. No one else has come so close only to be denied. When Hodges retired after the 1963 season, he had the most home runs of any right-handed batter in NL history and he missed nearly three years of his prime fighting in the Pacific as a Marine in World War II. Add to that his ability to lead as manager of the 1969 Miracle Mets and you have a true Hall of Famer.
Just listen to legendary broadcaster Vin Scully and former Dodgers teammate Carl Erskine. Both men wanted to talk to The Post about Gil Hodges the man, and what he meant to the team as a slugging, Gold Glove first baseman, someone Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson leaned on for assistance.
In the 1950s, Hodges led all major league first basemen in nearly every offensive category, including hitting 310 of his 370 home runs at the position in his 18-year career.
“I’d love to see him get in, he had the numbers,’’ Scully told The Post from his home in Southern California, “and you had to see him play to realize he was a ballet dancer at first base. It was either Life or Look magazine, and to illustrate Gil’s prowess with the glove, they had a series of pictures of [Vaslav] Nijinsky, the famous dancer, in all kinds of remarkable positions and then they had pictures of Gil. It was amazing how Gil was Nijinsky-like at first base.
“As much or more than his numbers was the quality of the man,’’ Scully said. “He was a Marine who fought in Tinian and Okinawa, [Japan]. He got the Bronze Star as a Marine in combat. He never spoke about it. Don Hoak, a young Dodgers third baseman, was also a Marine and went in the wake of Gil in the Pacific and I remember him telling me as he tapped his chest, as in big heart, ‘Wherever I went, I heard only about that great guy Gil Hodges.’ His character was overwhelming.’’
This generation of baseball fan needs to know that. Hodges died in 1972 at the age of 47 after a massive heart attack. That big heart gave out.
Erskine, a right-handed pitcher, pointed to the role Hodges played in helping Robinson.
“Pee Wee Reese was our captain and Pee Wee had a strong identity with helping Jackie, which is absolutely true,’’ Erskine, 93, said from his home in Indiana. “When Pee Wee went in the Hall of Fame, and I was there in 1984, it was made plain, that aside from Pee Wee’s skills, he played alongside and supported Jackie and that was part of his credentials for the Hall of Fame.
“Gil played on the other side of Jackie and he was a peacemaker, especially around second base where there were a lot of pileups down there that could have easily broken out in those early years with a lot of fisticuffs. Hodges was down there pulling them off the stack. Everyone respected Gil and his strength. He saved a lot of potential fistfights around second base with Jackie.’’ Scully wholeheartedly agreed. “I know it helped Jackie to lean on the big guy all during those early years,’’ Scully, 92, said in his melodic voice, regarding Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier. “One of the scariest moments occurred in St. Louis, at old Sportsman’s Park. There was a high foul off first base and Hodges went over to field it, and Robinson directly went over to back him up and a whiskey bottle came flying out of the upper deck and just missed Hodges and Robinson.
“It landed between them. I was horrified. But there was a moment where Gil reached out and kind of patted Jack as if to say, ‘We are both in this thing together,’ ’’ Scully recalled. “It was a beautiful moment. I’ll never forgot it.’’
There needs to be one more beautiful moment: Jackie and Gil together again in the Hall of Fame.