If you guessed "5", then you sure know your baseball trivia. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, and Omar Vizquel are four of the five. The fifth? Gil Hodges.
2001 SP Legendary Game Jersey #J-GH
Here's a look at the breakdown of how the Baseball Writers Association of America voted during the fifteen years he was on the ballot:
1969 Gil Hodges 24.1%
1970 Gil Hodges 48.3%
1971 Gil Hodges 50.0%
1972 Gil Hodges 40.7%
1973 Gil Hodges 57.4%
1974 Gil Hodges 54.2%
1975 Gil Hodges 51.9%
1976 Gil Hodges 60.1%
1977 Gil Hodges 58.5%
1978 Gil Hodges 59.6%
1979 Gil Hodges 56.0%
1980 Gil Hodges 59.7%
1981 Gil Hodges 60.1%
1982 Gil Hodges 49.4%
1983 Gil Hodges 63.4%
1970 Gil Hodges 48.3%
1971 Gil Hodges 50.0%
1972 Gil Hodges 40.7%
1973 Gil Hodges 57.4%
1974 Gil Hodges 54.2%
1975 Gil Hodges 51.9%
1976 Gil Hodges 60.1%
1977 Gil Hodges 58.5%
1978 Gil Hodges 59.6%
1979 Gil Hodges 56.0%
1980 Gil Hodges 59.7%
1981 Gil Hodges 60.1%
1982 Gil Hodges 49.4%
1983 Gil Hodges 63.4%
Hodges broke the 50% barrier eleven times. What so significant about that percentage? Well from 1936 to 2015... every player who reached the 50% mark in hall of fame voting at one point or another eventually received the call to the hall.
2005 Donruss Champions Impressions Materials #168
I'm not going to sit here and argue whether or not he deserves to be enshrined in Cooperstown. My vote doesn't count. But maybe Night Owl is right. Gil Hodges has been forgotten by the people whose vote does count.
Happy Wednesday and sayonara!
11 comments:
Wow, I had to look up why he got such a drop off in votes in 1982. Besides being headlined by Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson, the ballot featured a total of 12 eventual Hall of Famers. Poor Hodges finished 7th that year behind Aaron, Robinson, Marichal, Killebrew, Wilhelm, and Drysdale! That's a tough ballot to crack!
I had no idea Hodges was 50% so often...
2005 Donruss Champions is a set I have always liked. The relic cards looked good that year, especially bad relics.
Hodges really should be in the HOF. Even if his stats as a player aren't enough (which they are) he was a fantastic manager as well.
This is as good an argument as any that the 75% threshold is way too high and that dropping it to 50% or 60% would make the hall better.
It's a shame how close he's come without getting there. Here's hoping the Golden Days committee gives Hodges his due in December.
Hodges overall numbers look a little short at first glance, but I always try to remember that he lost three to four years of his career when he was younger to service time in World War II. He first appeared at 19, and while Baseball-Reference only marks down two years of military service on his player stats, his second season is not until age 23. I know the Hall of Fame voters have made some exceptions in the past for players whose careers were shortened, perhaps Hodges deserves another look with that same thinking in mind.
I've always thought he deserved to be in the Hall. Aside from usual quibbling about his career stats, etc, the main argument I've heard is simply that by dying so young he wasn't around to schmooze his way in like some other borderline cases have simply by being around. Not sure if that is a convincing argument in and of itself but its hard to figure how he would have come so close when he was on the ballot and never get in via the Veteran's Committee.
I don't here cases being made for Hodges often anymore. I can look at stats and have an opinion but I definitely think a veteran's committee would do a better job of evaluating him. Good post. Thanks.
I am actually glad those two didn't make it. No roid guys should be in the Hall besides the possible ones that are already in there.
I've given up being outraged at the stupidity of Hall of Fame voters. I love visiting the building itself but the baseball politics/grudges/personal agendas that rule the voting is tiresome.
Gil belongs in the Hall based on his entire body of work in the game. And people overlook the fact that he made himself into one of the best fielding first basemen in the modern era. His managing of the '69 Mets alone should get him in (as much as I hated the outcome of that season!) I was able to watch him massage that team to a title and thought his platooning was genius.
matt - wow. that 1982 ballot was loaded. that's worthy of a post in itself
base card hero - they sure produced a lot of relics that year. i probably have 10 to 12 different ones floating around my collection. the funny thing is... i don't think i ever opened a single pack of that product
nick - yeah... that's what i've heard
nick vossbrink - as a small hall guy, so i'm not sure how i feel about dropping the percentage. i'd probably need a little convincing. then again... i don't have a say anyways ;)
chris - i feel like it's only a matter of time.
the snorting bull - hopefully when the golden days committee gets together in 2025, they'll take that into consideration
sean - yeah, i was pretty surprised by the voting percentages and how unique his situation was until the ped era guys got on the ballot
bulldog - outside of reading his name on a few blogs, i don't hear much about him either
sport card collectors - we'll have to agree to disagree ;)
commishbob - i wasn't around yet, so i'll have to take your word for it. but there are enough guys out there who feel the same way. hopefully the golden days committee will too in a few years.
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