3/1957- Gil Hodges- Brookyln Dodgers. UPI color slides.
Gil Hodges is the only baseball player who has been eligible for Baseball Hall of Fame induction by the Veterans Committee that has garnered at least 50% of the BBWAA vote and has not been elected. When Hodges finished in third place in 1981 with 60.1% of the vote, eight of the next nine players who finished below him eventually made their way to Cooperstown. So why hasn’t Hodges followed, and does the Hall of Fame have a financial incentive to vote Hodges in with this year’s Golden Days Committee decades after the writers couldn’t?
In 2013, the BBWAA pitched a shutout, failing to elect a single candidate. That year’s induction ceremony featured three long-deceased inductees from the newly formed Pre-Integration Era Committee. It was one of the poorest attended ceremonies in recent memory, with the Hall of Fame reporting 2,500 fans in Cooperstown that weekend. In contrast, the 2019 ceremony which featured Mariano Rivera and five additional living inductees drew 55,000 fans.
While the above comparison represents the extremes between Hall of Fame classes, the evidence is compelling; fans aren’t trekking to Cooperstown to see the deceased get inducted. In Hodges’ case, a 10-year-old that was alive when Brooklyn won its only World Series in 1955 would be 76 in 2022. With most of Hodges’ die-hard fans over 70, how many would travel to Cooperstown to witness his induction in-person or later visit to see his plaque up close?
Eras Committee Voting History For Gil Hodges
Looking at recent Eras Committee votes, Hodges’ chances have been unfortunately trending downward. In 2011, Hodges received nine of the 12 votes needed for induction. That was with contemporaries Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, Ralph Kiner, Brooks Robinson, Al Rosen and teammate Tommy Lasorda comprising almost half the voting pool. Even with those strong first-hand accounts, the rest of the committee was unmoved to push Hodges towards enshrinement.
For the 2015 vote, Hodges slipped even farther down the ballot, appearing on less than three ballots from a panel considerably younger than 2011’s voters. The current committee assigned to the 2021’s Golden Days ballot doesn’t add any hope to his chances. While the trio of Bud Selig, John Schuerholz and Joe Torre might lean towards Hodges as one of their four choices, rumblings have pointed to the rest of the committee supporting younger living candidates like Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva.
Even though Hodges’ selection seems slim for 2021, his candidacy is one of the most spirited discussions come voting time. In 1993, Hodges received 12 of the 16 votes necessary from the Veterans Committee, but committee chair Ted Williams voided Roy Campanella’s vote because he did not attend the meeting in person. Williams’ decision only added more fuel to the fire regarding Hodges’ Hall of Fame worthiness.
Hodges Held In High Esteem By The New York Faithful
In New York, Hodges is still revered by aging Dodgers and New York Mets fans that witnessed his 1955 and 1969 World Series championships. In Brooklyn, there is a both a school and a bridge that bears Hodges’ name. At Citi Field, the Mets retired Hodges’ number 14 and placed him in their Hall of Fame.
Defensively, Hodges was one of the finest first baseman of his era. He won three Gold Gloves, including the first ever awarded in 1957. At the plate, Hodges hit over 30 home runs six times during his career. At the time of his retirement, his 370 career home runs were the most by a right-handed hitter in National League history.
Away from the field, Hodges was one of the most respected figures in baseball. Frank Howard, who spent the first four seasons of his career as Hodges’ teammate with the Los Angeles Dodgers, shared how many in baseball viewed Hodges' persona.
“[He was] probably the most fundamentally sound, or as fundamentally a sound manager and player that has ever played in the big leagues,” Howard said. “The epitome of presence, class, charisma … he would walk into a room, and the room would light up.”
Is Hodges the type of candidate that will excite young baseball fans to visit Cooperstown? Probably not, but Hodges represents a precise picture of excellence from the Golden Era of which young kids would find worthy emulating. His supporters hope these voters will look past Hodges' ability to move the Cooperstown's turnstiles and instead focus on how Hodges would add an upstanding citizen to its ranks.
