Gil Hodges: A Different Kind of October Hero

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To all those who support Gil Hodges for the Hall:

The enclosed essay tells a little-know Hodges' story that took place
in the summer of 1965. If any of you have the ability to get the
story out -- either to the public or to members of the veteran's
committee -- please feel free to do so. It might help Gil's case. If
any of the newspaper writers I am sending this to want to use it as a
basis for their own article you have my blessings. If the Mets win
tonight and make it to the World Series it will be a very timely
piece. Email me if you want to see my documentation for the facts in
the piece.

The University of Nebraska Press, which has a long history of
publishing sports biography, is going to publish the book I am now
writing about Gil. The expected publication date is opening day
2009.

If anyone who knew Gil is willing to talk to me and share their
stories (Carl & Clem were both kind enough to take the time to speak
to me) please email or call. Thank you.

Hoping 2007 is the year,

Mort Zachter
Princeton, NJ

609-279-9870

mortzachter@...


GIL HODGES: A DIFFERENT KIND OF OCTOBER HERO

The word "hero" gets a lot of use in October. Depending on when
you watched your first World Series, you might associate the word
with Sandy Koufax or Reggie Jackson or Mariano Rivera. But this
month -- as the Mets continue their postseason run and the veterans
committee is deciding whom to select for enshrinement in the Hall of
Fame -- one name stands out as a different kind of baseball hero.

Gil Hodges enjoyed his share of October heroics. In the 1955
World Series -- the only World Championship the Brooklyn Dodgers ever
won -- he drove in all the runs scored in the decisive, pressure-
packed seventh game. In the pivotal fourth game of the 1959 Series,
he hit the game-winning home run to lead the Dodgers to their first
championship in Los Angeles. And, in 1969, he managed the Miracle
Mets to their first World Series victory.

But one of the most significant episodes in Gil Hodges' life
took place on a bridge, not a baseball field, and, in his typical,
self-effacing fashion, he made sure the public never found out about
it.

On June 8, 1965, the Washington Senators acquired a 36-year-old
relief pitcher named Ryne Duren. It would be his last stop in the
majors. Pitching miserably, he appeared in only 16 games for the
Senators, compiling a lofty 6.65 ERA. In the second game of a
doubleheader against Boston on June 27th, Duren gave up an 11th
inning double to Carl Yastrzemski who then came in to score the
winning run. Later that season, after another poor outing, drunk and
despondent, Duren climbed to the top of a Washington DC bridge and
threatened to kill himself.

Decades later, in "I Can See Clearly Now", Duren's poignant
autobiography about his recovery from alcoholism, he recalled the
police bringing his Senators' manager to the bridge. Gil Hodges
talked him down. You're "too good a person to kill [your] self," Gil
told Ryne.

On August 20, 1965, the Senators asked waivers on Duren so he
could be unconditionally released from his contract. Hoping to spare
his player public embarrassment, Gil skirted around the reason for
Ryne's release when confronted by the press. A physically imposing
former Marine who won a Bronze Star on Okinawa, Hodges had a way of
firmly, yet politely, answering questions so reporters knew when to
back off. In his "Washington Post" column, famed sports writer,
Shirley Povich discussed Duren's release without any mention of the
bridge incident.

During his playing career, Hodges knocked in over 100 runs for
seven consecutive seasons, won three Gold Gloves, and retired as the
leading right-handed home run hitter in National League history. In
light of the unraveling effect steroids and human growth hormones
have had on the thread that holds baseball's statistical heritage
together, when considering whom to place in Cooperstown,
consideration should be given to what may now be the most verifiable
characteristics listed for enshrinement: integrity, sportsmanship,
and character. In terms of these qualities, Gilbert Raymond Hodges
had few, if any, equals.

As you watch this year's World Series, remember Hall of Fame
pitcher, Tom Seaver's words about his former Mets manager: Gil Hodges
was a hero before he ever stepped onto a baseball field.

_________________________________________________________________
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