[dougscats]

Gil was my idol as a youth though I didn't see him play much, mostly when he was finished as a NY Met.

I did see him hit three balls out of the Polo Grounds in a double-header, I guess it was '62. The last one was right down the line, above the foul pole, over the roof. The umpires deliberated before calling it fair. I learned later that Drysdale, with a 10-0 lead, purportedly grooved it for his old teamie.

I also saw him close up in Leemark Lanes, a Brooklyn bowling alley. He did have huge hands!

I've personally rooted/campaigned for him for the h-o-f for so long now that I'm disgusted and fed up, remembering last year's vote.
I read on Net54 awhile back that Ted Williams, who finished second to him for 1969 manager of the year, and Earl Williams, who lost to him in the World Series, actively campaigned against him.
You'd think Tom Seaver, who venerated Gil, would now stand up for him.

As far as belonging, his stats are close to Cepeda and Perez if I remember correctly, and he did lose a year or so due to the war. And besides his fielding, he was also a teammate who quietly had Jackie Robinson's back.
But what has to put him in the h-o-f is his managing of the '69 Miracle Mets.

I've been watching baseball for 60 years now, and that was the single greatest managerial season I've ever seen. Every move he made was right. Look at their roster--they were a team that was greater than the sum of their parts--and he was their leader.
I've studied baseball history all my life; what manager ever had a better year than that one? In 1968 he took over a 10th place team that had lost 101 games the year before, and by '69 they'd won 100!
1969 was the year America put a man on the moon, and, let me tell you, the Mets were a longer shot.

PS: Whenever I'm leaving Brooklyn, going home to Breezy Point, I go over the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge. Yup, Brooklyn named a bridge after him. Beloved is the word.

When, h-o-f?