Honoring a Dodger Never Booed at Ebbets Field

Story by Chris Randazzo

BROOKLYN - Few current baseball fans likely remember Gil Hodges—who would have turned 91 on April 4th—either as a star first baseman for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and later in Los Angeles, or as the manager who led the New York Mets to their improbable 1969 World Series victory.

Based on results released in December, even fewer baseball executives, veteran media members, or those inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (these categories comprising the Golden Era Committee) recall Hodges; out of 16 committee members, “three or fewer” cast votes for the beloved former Marine, denying him one final chance to be enshrined in Cooperstown.

Certainly, Hodges’s candidacy for major league baseball’s highest honors has merit. He was selected to the All-Star Game eight times. In 1957 Hodges received the first Gold Glove ever awarded to a first baseman, and he was similarly honored in 1958 and 1959. Among the Dodger’s all-time record holders, Hodges shows up near the top in many offensive categories. He is right behind teammate, Hall of Famer Duke Snider, the Dodgers’ all-time leader in home runs and RBIs, and ranks right behind Matt Kemp for 13th place in slugging percentage. Hodges is right behind another former teammate, Junior Gilliam, who ranks fourth overall in runs scored while wearing a Dodger uniform.

Many honors have been bestowed on Hodges since his untimely passing in 1972. His name is on two bridges: one is the Marine Parkway Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge in Brooklyn where he lived and played; the other is the Gil Hodges Bridge near where he grew up in Petersburg, Indiana. In 2007 the United States Marine Corps inducted Hodges, who fought in the Battle of Okinawa, one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, into its Sports Hall of Fame. The New York Mets have twice honored their former manager: on June 9, 1973, they retired his No. 14, and in 1982 he was a founding member of the Mets Hall of Fame.

A dedicated family man and devout Roman Catholic who prayed the “Our Father” whenever he put on a uniform, Hodges is remembered by many former teammates and players for his actions outside of baseball. Al Weis, who backed up second base and shortstop on the 1969 Mets team, regularly attended Mass with with his manager, and recalls Hodges “always standing ramrod straight” during the playing of the National Anthem.

Ron Swoboda, a Mets outfielder who clashed with the Mets skipper, lamented: “I wish I had made the attempt to know Gil better. He was a good man.” Cleon Jones, famously removed during a game in 1969 when Manager Hodges walked out to center field, recalled: “There were times when I didn‘t really understand why he did the things he did. But now I look back and I realize what Gil was trying to teach us, not only as ballplayers, but as people.” Duke Snider, who played with Hodges on the great Brooklyn teams of the ‘50s, said it best. “Gil Hodges was a great player,” the great Dodger slugger said, “but an even greater man.”

With four books written about him—including one published in 2012 and “Gil Hodges: A Hall of Fame Life” released last month—Hodges remains present in the American lexicon. In the movie Field of Dreams, Archie “Moonlight” Graham identifies a young Hodges among the players gathered on Ray Kinsella’s diamond. Father Herbert Redmond of Brooklyn‘s St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church remains famous to this day for something he said in 1953 about the then-Dodger in the throes of a tremendous batting slump, “It’s too hot for a sermon today. Go home, keep the commandments, and say a prayer for Gil Hodges.”

Enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame may have eluded him, but Hodges greatly deserves one final honor: the Los Angeles Dodgers should retire his No. 14. Typically the team does not retire a number unless that person has been inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame; however, prior to the start of the 1978 World Series, Junior Gilliam’s No. 19 was retired two days after he passed away suddenly after serving as the Dodgers’ first base coach.

The Dodger who was never booed at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn deserves the highest individual honor a team can bestow: his No. 14 on the wall of Dodgers Stadium at Chavez Ravine.

Chris Randazzo is a retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant, Mets fan and proud father of three.

Bibliographical references: the Duke Snider, Ron Swoboda and Father Redmond quotes are from “Gil Hodges - the Brooklyn Bums, the Miracle Mets, and the Extraordinary Life of a Baseball Legend” by Tom Clavin and Danny Peary (New American Library 2012) , Pages 360, 362 and 154, respectively. The Cleon Jones quote and Al Weis remembrance are from “Gil Hodges - The Quiet Man” by Marino Amoruso (Paul S. Eriksson 1991), Pages 157 and 158, respectively.

Randazzo had a telephone conversation with Al Weis, a Navy veteran, in 1992, during which he relayed the story about attending Mass with Gil Hodges.