A thought-provoking piece is up from the tremendous Brian Joura at Mets360.com about Gil Hodges’ Hall of Fame case. Joura writes:
“Hodges had a very fine playing career and seems by all accounts to have been an outstanding person, too. It’s a combination that has always led many people to conclude that he should be in the Hall of Fame. I’m sure it’s an argument I made myself in my younger days. But unfortunately it just doesn’t hold up to serious scrutiny.”
Joura makes the case that with Hodges’ WAR falling below that of Orlando Cepeda, 46.8 to 44.6, it is hard to justify his inclusion- especially with Cepeda himself a controversial pick. As I responded to Brian in his comments:
1. You seem to penalize Hodges twice for his era- bWAR, which has him essentially equal to Cepeda, already takes park/era into account. Speaking of WAR, World War II also delayed the start of his career.
2. You wrote that Hodges had three Gold Gloves- worth remembering that he won the first three ever awarded (began in 1957), and was the best-regarded defensive first baseman of his era for roughly a decade before that. In reality, his defensive case is far closer to a Keith Hernandez 11 GG) than, say, John Olerud (3 GG).
3. You write of his managerial career seperately, but they are combined in determining a candidate’s HOF worthiness.
Put another way, Hodges’ case is Cepeda offense plus Hernandez-level defense and a World Championship as a manager. I think he belongs.
The Hodges case itself is filled with close calls- most famously when his supporter Roy Campanella missed a Veterans’ Committee vote due to illness, and Hodges fell a single vote shy. I can’t claim to be unbiased here- my father was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, loved Hodges, and we both belong to the Gil Hodges for the Hall of Fame mailing list. My hope is that this year’s version of the Veterans’ Committee sees it my way. The vote will be held on December 5. Here’s hoping all of Hodges’ supporters are feeling well enough to attend.
UPDATE: Brian has responded to my response, and I have responded to his response to my response. Worth checking out over in the comments section of his site.
6 Comments
WAR, bWar, GG, – stop with the never ending, psuedo intellectual jargon. You have a ball, a bat, a glove, three bases and a plate. Too many adequate, but middling players in the Hall of Fame as it is. Rizzuto and Mazeroski for starters, dozens more.
Really? “Gold Glove” is pseudo-intellectual jargon?
Don’t believe even Hodges’ detractors would call him “adequate, but middling”. Present company excluded, of course.
Gold gloves are often given out politically, like certain Nobel Prizes. Case in point – David Wright? David Wright????
Back when David won his, the idea was not outrageous, though today it would be.
Howard, are you certain the Veterans’ Committee is allowed to take into account his managerial career? That would tip me over to supporting him, but I thought it was either/or.
Definitely combined.
Factually, Hodges deserves to be in the Hall as much as, or more than some who are already there. But, many who are already there are highly suspect choices. Interestingly, Hodges was looked at as a physical monster in his day, and was actually slightly smaller than Daniel Murphy.