THIS APPEARED ON HALL WEB SITE 2/6/2007---IS IT TOO LATE???

First baseman Hodges was key to Brooklyn Dodgers' success in the 1950s
In 15 years on the regular Hall of Fame ballot, received the highest
cumulative vote total of any player not elected


February 6, 2007 | Ken Gurnick

COOPERSTOWN, NY: When Gil Hodges retired as a player 43 years ago,
he ranked 11th on the all-time home run list with 370. The 10 players
who were ahead of Hodges then are in the Hall of Fame now.

Right-handed slugger Gil Hodges posted seven straight 100-RBI seasons
for the Dodgers. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)


Hodges isn't, but the focus will be on him in the upcoming election
by the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee.

Hodges played 14 seasons in the Dodgers organization -- 10 in
Brooklyn and four in Los Angeles. He went to the New York Mets in the
1961 expansion draft and hit the first home run in Mets history, but
retired in 1963 to become manager of the Washington Senators for four
years.

He was actually traded back to manage the Mets from 1968-1971, a
tenure highlighted by the Miracle Mets' World Championship of 1969,
when the club erased a 9 1/2-game deficit over the final six weeks of
the season. Hodges died of a heart attack in 1972, while playing golf
two days before his 48th birthday.

In the 2005 Veterans election, Hodges tied with Ron Santo as the
leading vote-getters, but still fell eight ballots short of joining
Boys of Summer teammates Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella
and Pee Wee Reese. A candidate must get 75% of the vote to gain
election and Hodges had 65%.

During his 15 years on the regular Hall of Fame ballot, Hodges
received the highest cumulative vote total of any player not elected,
peaking at 67 percent in 1978. Results of the 2007 Veterans Committee
election will be announced on February 27, and the Induction Ceremony
will take place on July 29 in Cooperstown.

Hodges also had seven consecutive 100-RBI seasons, an achievement
matched in the National League only by Hall of Famers Willie Mays and
Mel Ott.

His home run total of 370 is only nine fewer than Hall of Famer Tony
Perez, despite Hodges having 2,748 fewer at-bats. It's also more home
runs than were hit by Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg,
Ralph Kiner, Yogi Berra and Campanella.

He had six seasons of at least 30 home runs when that milestone
really meant something. He's an eight-time All-Star and a three-time
Gold Glove winner, and was a first baseman for seven World Series
teams.

Hodges played one game as a rookie in 1943, but was immediately
drafted for 2 1/2 years of service as a Marine in World War II. He
returned to the Dodgers for the 1947 season.

"He is the kind of boy who makes his scout's job safe for 20 years,"
the late Dodger executive Branch Rickey is quoted as saying on
Hodges' official Web site, gilhodges.com.

Rickey put Hodges, a shortstop when he was signed at age 19, behind
the plate. But with the arrival of Campanella and the lack of
production from top first-base prospect Preston Ward, manager Leo
Durocher moved Hodges to first base.

In his book "The Duke of Flatbush," Duke Snider wrote about being in
the Hall of Fame "with people who meant a great deal to me during my
career. So many Brooklyn Dodgers are enshrined there -- Jackie
Robinson, Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Pee Wee Reese,
Walt Alston, even our president, Branch Rickey. Others from our time
belong there with us -- Gil Hodges and Leo Durocher."

St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial once called
Hodges "perhaps the best right-handed fielding first baseman of his
time."

The son of a coal miner, Hodges was quiet and unassuming. He didn't
seek headlines and never disrespected umpires or opposing players.
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times sports columnist Arthur Daley,
two days after Hodges' death, wrote that Hodges "lent class and
dignity and respect to his team and to his profession."

On Aug. 31, 1950, Hodges hit home runs off Warren Spahn, Normie Roy,
Bob Hall and Johnny Antonelli, driving in nine runs with 17 total
bases.

As was written in the Dodgers Centennial Yearbook, Hodges was the
most typical Dodger of the era:

"He was simply a great player who showed up every day, did his job
and did it well, but never received the superstar recognition to
which his stats entitled him because he was surrounded by so many
other outstanding players -- just as the Dodgers' team greatness was
obscured by the fact that the Yankees were even better."

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