Gil Hodges
Gilbert Raymond Hodges was an American first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball who played most of his 18-year career for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers. An eight-time All-Star, he anchored the infield for the Dodgers through six pennant winners and two World Series titles before leading the New York Mets to their first World Series title in. One of the most beloved and admired players in major league history, Hodges was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022, fifty years after his sudden death.
Born in Princeton, Indiana, Hodges was the son of a coal miner. He grew up in Petersburg, Indiana where he was a four-sport athlete in high school, before attending Saint Joseph's College where he played baseball and basketball. He dropped out to sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers, making his debut at age 19 before being joining the United States Marine Corps during World War II, receiving the Bronze Star Medal after serving in combat as an anti-aircraft gunner during the battles of Tinian and Okinawa in the Pacific theatre. After being discharged, Hodges returned to the Dodgers' organization, making his way back to the majors in.
During his time with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Hodges was a core member of the "Boys of Summer", along with Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, and Pee Wee Reese. He was widely regarded as the major leagues' outstanding first baseman in the 1950s, with Snider being the only player to have more home runs or runs batted in during the decade. Hodges held the National League record for career home runs by a right-handed hitter from 1960 to 1963, with his final total of 370 briefly ranking tenth in major league history; he held the NL record for career grand slams from 1957 to 1974. A sterling defensive player, Hodges won the first three Gold Glove Awards ever awarded, for his position. The first was MLB-wide; not just for the NL. He led the NL in double plays four times and in putouts, assists and fielding percentage three times each. He ranked second in NL history with 1,281 assists and 1,614 double plays when his career ended, and was among the league's career leaders in games and total chances at first base.
After retiring as a player during the 1963 season, Hodges became the manager of the expansion Washington Senators. He did not have a winning season there, although the team did improve upon their win total each year during Hodges' 5-year tenure. Before the 1968 season, the New York Mets hired Hodges as manager. The following season, in what is considered one of the greatest championship runs in sports history, he led the team to their first winning season and World Series title. A heavy smoker, Hodges died suddenly from a heart attack two days before his 48th birthday, during spring training in 1972. The Mets retired his number, 14, the following season; 49 years later, during the 2022 season, the Dodgers, Hodges's long-time team, followed suit after his election to the Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hodges was born Gilbert Raymond Hodge on April 4, 1924, in Princeton, Indiana, the son of Charles P. Hodge, a coal miner, and his wife Irene. He had an older brother, Robert, and a younger sister, Marjorie. At some point, prior to 1930, the family name was changed from 'Hodge' to 'Hodges'.When Hodges was seven, the family moved to nearby Petersburg. He was a star four-sport athlete at Petersburg High School, earning a combined seven varsity letters in football, baseball, basketball and track. Hodges declined a contract offer from the Detroit Tigers, instead attending Saint Joseph's College with the hope of eventually becoming a collegiate coach. Hodges spent two years at St Joseph's, competing in baseball and basketball. He dropped out after his sophomore year, accepting a contract from Stanley Feezle, a sporting goods storeowner and part-time scout, to sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was first assigned to a Class D minor-league team, but did not appear in a game for them.
Aged 19, Hodges was called up by the Dodgers and made his debut on October 3, 1943, against the Cincinnati Reds, the last game of the 1943 season. Playing third base, he went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts and made two errors. A few days later, he entered the United States Marine Corps to serve in World War II.
Military service
Hodges entered the United States Marine Corps during World War II after having participated in its Reserve Officers' Training Corps program at Saint Joseph's. He served in combat as an anti-aircraft gunner in the 16th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, participating in the battles of Tinian and Okinawa, and received a Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" for heroism under fire.Following the war, Hodges also spent time completing course work at Oakland City University, near his hometown, playing basketball for the Mighty Oaks, joining the 1947–48 team after four games ; they finished at 9–10. One of his teammates, Bob Lochmueller, would go on to star at the University of Louisville and play in the NBA.
After being discharged from the Marine Corps in 1946, Hodges returned to the Dodgers organization as a catcher with the Newport News Dodgers of the Piedmont League, batting.278 in 129 games as they won the league championship; his teammates included first baseman and future film and television star Chuck Connors.
Playing career
The Boys of Summer
Hodges was called up to Brooklyn in 1947, the same year that Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. He played as a catcher, joining the team's nucleus of Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and Carl Furillo. Hodges's only appearance in the 1947 World Series against the New York Yankees was as a pinch hitter for pitcher Rex Barney in Game Seven, but he struck out. With the emergence of Roy Campanella behind the plate and Robinson's move to second base in, manager Leo Durocher shifted Hodges to first base, and he batted.249 with 11 home runs and 70 runs batted in during his rookie season.On June 25,, Hodges hit for the cycle on his way to his first of seven consecutive All-Star teams. For the season, his 115 runs batted in ranked fourth in the NL, and he tied Hack Wilson's club record for right-handed hitters with 23 home runs. Defensively, he led the NL in putouts, double plays and fielding average. Facing the Yankees again in the 1949 World Series, he batted only.235 but drove in the sole run in Brooklyn's only victory, a 1–0 triumph in Game 2. In Game 5, he hit a two-out, three-run homer in the seventh to pull the Dodgers within 10–6, but struck out to end the game and the Series.
On August 31, 1950, against the Boston Braves, Hodges joined Lou Gehrig as only the second player since 1900 to hit four home runs in a game without the benefit of extra innings; he hit them against four different pitchers, with the first coming off Warren Spahn. He also had seventeen total bases in the game, tied for third-most in Major League history. That year he also led the league in fielding and set an NL record with 159 double plays, breaking Frank McCormick's mark of 153 with the 1939 Cincinnati Reds He finished 1950 third in the league in both homers and runs batted in, and came in eighth in the Most Valuable Player voting.
In 1951, he became the first member of the Dodgers to hit 40 home runs, breaking Babe Herman's 1930 mark of 35; Campanella hit 41 in 1953, but Hodges recaptured the record with 42 in 1954 before Snider eclipsed him again with 43 in 1956. His last home run of 1951 came on October 2 against the New York Giants, as the Dodgers tied the three-game NL playoff series at a game each with a 10–0 win; New York won the pennant the next day on Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World". That year, Hodges broke his own record for most double plays with 171, a record which stood until Donn Clendenon had 182 for the 1966 Pittsburgh Pirates; he also led the NL with 126 assists, and was second in home runs, third in runs and total bases, fifth in slugging percentage, and sixth in runs batted in.
In 1952, with his last home run of the season, Hodges tied Dolph Camilli's Dodger team record of 139 home runs, surpassing him in 1953; Snider moved ahead of Hodges in 1956. That season, he again led the NL with 116 assists in the 1952 campaign and was third in the league in home runs and fourth in runs batted in and slugging.
Near the end of the 1952 season, Hodges suffered through one of the most famous slumps in baseball history: after going hitless in his last four regular-season games of 1952, he also went hitless in all seven games of the 1952 World Series against the Yankees, with Brooklyn losing to the Yankees in the seven games. Hodges was also involved in a blown call in Game 5. Johnny Sain was batting for the Yankees in the 10th inning of Game 5 and grounded out, as ruled by first base umpire Art Passarella. The photograph of the play, however, shows Sain stepping on first base while Hodges, also with a foot on the bag, is reaching for the ball that is about a foot shy of entering his glove. Baseball commissioner Ford Frick, an ex-newspaperman himself, refused to defend Passarella.
When Hodges's slump continued into the 1953 season, fans reacted with countless letters and good-luck gifts. One Brooklyn priest, Father Herbert Redmond of St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, told his flock: "It's too hot for a sermon today. Go home, keep the commandments, and say a prayer for Gil Hodges." Hodges began hitting again soon afterward, and rarely struggled again in the World Series. Teammate Carl Erskine, who described himself as a good Baptist, kidded him by saying, "Gil, you just about made a believer out of me."
Hodges ended 1953 with a.302 batting average, finishing fifth in the NL in runs batted in and sixth in home runs. Against the Yankees in the 1953 Series, Hodges hit.364; he had three hits, including a homer in the 9–5 Game 1 loss. However, the Dodgers again lost in six games. In 1954, under their new manager Walter Alston, Hodges had the best year of his career with career-highs in batting average with.304, 176 hits, 130 runs batted in, and 42 home runs and again leading the NL in putouts and assists. He also set a still-standing record with 19 sacrifice flies. He was second in the league to Ted Kluszewski in home runs and runs batted in, fifth in total bases, and sixth in slugging and runs, and placed tenth in the Most Valuable Player vote.
In the 1955 season, Hodges's regular-season production declined to a.289 average, 27 home runs and 102 runs batted in. Facing the Yankees in the World Series for the fifth time, he was 1-for-12 in the first three games before coming around. In Game 4, Hodges hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning to put Brooklyn ahead, 4–3, and later had a single that drove in a run as they held off the Yankees, 8–5; he also scored the first run in the Dodgers' 5–3 win in Game 5. In Game 7, he drove in Campanella with two out in the fourth inning for a 1–0 lead and added a sacrifice fly to score Reese with one out in the sixth inning. Johnny Podres scattered eight New York hits, and when Reese threw Elston Howard's grounder to Hodges for the final out, Brooklyn had a 2–0 win and their first World Series title in franchise history and their only championship in Brooklyn.
In 1956, Hodges recorded 32 home runs and 87 runs batted in. Brooklyn won the pennant again, and once more met the Yankees in the World Series, but ended up losing in seven games. In the third inning of Game 1, he hit a three-run homer to put Brooklyn ahead, 5–2, as they went on to a 6–3 win; he had three hits and four runs batted in during the 13–8 slugfest in Game 2, scoring to give the Dodgers a 7–6 lead in the third and doubling in two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings for an 11–7 lead. In Don Larsen's perfect game, Hodges struck out, flied to center, and lined to third base, as Brooklyn went on to lose in seven games.
In 1957, Hodges set the NL record for career grand slams, breaking the mark of 12 shared by Rogers Hornsby and Ralph Kiner; his final total of 14 was tied by Hank Aaron and Willie McCovey in 1972, and broken by Aaron in 1974. He finished seventh in the NL with a.299 batting average and fifth with 98 runs batted in, and leading the league with 1,317 putouts. He was also among the NL's top ten players in home runs, hits, runs, triples, slugging and total bases ; in late September, he drove in the last Dodgers run at Ebbets Field, and the last run in Brooklyn history. Hodges was named to his last All-Star team and placed seventh in the Most Valuable Player balloting, the highest position in his career.