Slugging first baseman Gil Hodges (1924–1972) was one of the best players in baseball history who is not yet in the Hall of Fame.
After growing up in Indiana, the son of a coal miner, Hodges was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers out of St. Joseph's College in 1943, and went on to become one of the core members of the mighty “Boys of Summer” Dodgers dynasty of the 1950s. As first baseman and cleanup hitter of that Dodgers squad, the soft-spoken Hodges helped lead the team to 7 World Series in a 13 season stretch. More than any other player, Hodges defined that team - his first full year in 1947 marked their first trip to the World Series, and his last full season in 1959 marked their last World Series appearance.
In the intervening years, Hodges had 7 seasons in a row in which he banged out at least 100 RBI, and 11 seasons in a row in which he hit at least 22 homers, including two seasons over 40. Although Hodges’ career totals in the counting stats are generally seen as falling short of Hall consideration, it is important to note that he did lose four prime years to service in the Marines during World War II, and even so, when he retired in 1963 he held the National League record for most home runs ever by a right-handed batter.
But while Hodges’ hitting numbers alone are impressive, he was also one of the finest defensive first basemen of all time. Throughout the 1950s, Hodges was universally acknowledged as the best defensive first baseman in the National League, acclaimed for his soft hands and great range. Although already in the twilight of his career, Hodges won the first three gold glove awards ever awarded to first basemen, including winning the first award in 1957 when there was only one Gold Glove at each position for the entire Major Leagues. Presumably, he would have won many more if the award had existed earlier.
Hodges also deserves commemoration as a respected Major League manager, who masterminded one of the most famous and improbable World Series runs ever as the skipper of the 1969 “Miracle” Mets. All in all, Hodges managed 9 seasons in the Majors, and was at the height of his esteem and respect as a manager when health issues forced his retirement in 1972 and caused his untimely death at the age of only 47 later that year.
Although as of this writing, Hodges has not yet been elected to the Hall of Fame, many have argued that he is one of the most deserving candidates not yet in. The fact is, no player has ever come closer to making it into the Hall of Fame with out actually getting in than Gil Hodges.
Consider:
- No player has ever received more votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America over the course of his 15 years of eligibility without eventually getting in than Gil Hodges and his staggering 3010 votes.
- Gil Hodges is the only player to ever receive more than 60 percent of the vote in a year without eventually getting in. Today, clearing 50 percent is considered almost a sure sign that a player will eventually get in.
- At various times during his 15 years on the ballot, Hodges finished with more votes than 21 different players who would later become Hall of Famers.
There are historical reasons for why Hodges has been kept out of the Hall of Fame. Many have cited his early death as having prevented him from having the time to become one of the game’s respected elder statesman and become chummy with the members of the Veterans Committee who elected so many of their buddies in the 1990s.
But perhaps the simplest reason Hodges has been denied the Hall was that Hall voters deeply love the generally overrated statistic of batting average. Although Hodges was good at drawing walks, his career batting average was “only” .273. Just to give some perspective, even by the time of Hodges death in the 1970s, the Baseball Writers had only ever elected five players who had a career batting average below .300, and all five were either catchers or shortstops. Even today, it seems likely that many of the Veterans Committee voters continue to look first at Hodges’ batting average and get no further, simply thinking to themselves “.273? That is not a Hall of Famer.”
But that is a shame. Because Gil Hodges was the prototype of the modern first baseman which all teams look for - a premier home run hitter who also gets on base and plays flawless defense around the bag. Hopefully he will be elected someday soon.
Gil Hodges Career MLB Statistics:
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+
1943 19 BRO NL 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 .000 .333 .000 0
1947 23 BRO NL 28 77 9 12 3 1 1 7 0 14 19 .156 .286 .260 43
1948 24 BRO NL 134 481 48 120 18 5 11 70 7 43 61 .249 .311 .376 83
1949 25 BRO NL 156 596 94 170 23 4 23 115 10 66 64 .285 .360 .453 113
1950 26 BRO NL 153 561 98 159 26 2 32 113 6 73 73 .283 .367 .508 126
1951 27 BRO NL 158 582 118 156 25 3 40 103 9 7 93 99 .268 .374 .527 138
1952 28 BRO NL 153 508 87 129 27 1 32 102 2 4 107 90 .254 .386 .500 143
1953 29 BRO NL 141 520 101 157 22 7 31 122 1 4 75 84 .302 .393 .550 141
1954 30 BRO NL 154 579 106 176 23 5 42 130 3 3 74 84 .304 .373 .579 141
1955 31 BRO NL 150 546 75 158 24 5 27 102 2 1 80 91 .289 .377 .500 128
1956 32 BRO NL 153 550 86 146 29 4 32 87 3 3 76 91 .265 .354 .507 120
1957 33 BRO NL 150 579 94 173 28 7 27 98 5 3 63 91 .299 .366 .511 125
1958 34 LAD NL 141 475 68 123 15 1 22 64 8 2 52 87 .259 .330 .434 98
1959 35 LAD NL 124 413 57 114 19 2 25 80 3 2 58 92 .276 .367 .513 126
1960 36 LAD NL 101 197 22 39 8 1 8 30 0 1 26 37 .198 .291 .371 76
1961 37 LAD NL 109 215 25 52 4 0 8 31 3 1 24 43 .242 .313 .372 76
1962 38 NYM NL 54 127 15 32 1 0 9 17 0 0 15 27 .252 .331 .472 114
1963 39 NYM NL 11 22 2 5 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 2 .227 .320 .227 61
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+
18 Seasons: 2071 7030 1105 1921 295 48 370 1274 63 31 943 1137 .273 .359 .487 120