Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — When fans of the LA Dodgers think of famous players wearing number 14, they’re likely to think of catcher Mike Scioscia from those great teams of the 1980s, or maybe Kiké Hernandez from the team’s more recent glory years. However, when fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers think of number 14, there is only one name that comes to mind: hard-hitting first baseman Gil Hodges. And from now on, it is Hodges that the number will be associated with. The Dodgers announced that Hodges’ number will be retired next weekend, when the New York Mets come to town.
It is fitting that the June 4th ceremony will happen during a Mets’ visit to Dodger stadium. Hodges played his final two seasons with the Mets in 1962 and ’63. His 96-year-old widow, Joan, still lives in Brooklyn.
Typically, the Dodgers do not retire the numbers of ballplayers who are not in the Hall of Fame (Jim Gilliam being the only exception). And it was no different for Hodges. After a long time on the outside looking in, Hodges’ name will finally join baseball’s elite when he is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 24. He was voted in by the veterans committee.
Best years in Brooklyn
During his 16 years with the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, Hodges helped the team win World Series titles in 1955 and ’59. He was an eight-time All-Star. From 1949-55, he drove in over 100 runs per season. However, Hodges was in definite decline when the team made the move to LA. Though he played for the LA version of the team from 1958-61, really only the first two years were memorable, and included the Dodgers’ first LA World Series title, in 1959.
Hodges died in 1972 at age 47, when he was managing the Mets. He guided that team to the 1969 World Series title. And, though his WAR is a little on the low side for inclusion in the Hall of Fame, it’s his second career as a manager that perhaps finally tipped the scales in favor of induction.
Hodges joins elite fraternity of Dodger greats
Hodges joins Walter Alston, Roy Campanella, Don Drysdale, Jim Gilliam, Sandy Koufax, Tommy Lasorda, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Don Sutton and Pee Wee Reese among Dodgers players and managers to have their numbers retired in left field.
When it was announced that Hodges would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, fellow HOFer Vin Scully had this to say:
I am often asked who the best ballplayer was that I watched during my broadcasting career. In looking back over my 67 years behind the microphone, I was truly blessed to watch firsthand so many of the all-time greats performing at their very best on the biggest stages in the game’s history. It is truly impossible for me to single out just one player. However, in terms of the players I watched who performed at a high level on the playing field, but at an even higher level off the field in how they lived and carried out their lives, my response is an easy one — Gil Hodges.
Vin Scully
Welcome to the club Gil. I’m sure you’ll be smiling down on the proceedings from up in Blue Heaven.
