Gil Hodges

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by jgannon

Just getting back to you here quickly. You can spin this anyway you want. As far as the 1954 voting for NL MVP, my point was that his numbers were MVP-worthy. I looked up the voting and Kluszewski was the only player to hit more home runs than him, and have more RBI's. Johnny Antonelli, the pitcher came in 3rd in the balloting. All of these players had great years in their own way. To say that Hodges wasn't a serious MVP candidate is a smear, and it's a remark which is just as subjective as the voting that goes into selecting the MVP.

It's a cheap shot again, when you insinuate that Hodges in part, did poorly in WS play, because he was playing against "the best". Anyone can have a bad series, during the season or in the post season, against strong teams or weak teams. Sure, Hodges had a .267 average if you take in all of his games. Mantle's WS average was .257. Maybe Mantle with his .298 lifetime average, and having a number of seasons with more than 99 strikeouts shouldn't be in the HOF smh. The point is Hodges had some great World Series hitting .364, .292, .302, and .391 in 1953, 1955, 1956, and 1959 respectively. Yep, 1952 was a disaster. But Hodges didn't let that affect him going forward - which is the mark of a pro and a champion. And he contributed significantly to the Dodgers becoming champions in '55.

If you want to spin statistics negatively, that's your prerogative.

That 52 series for Hodges is interesting to me because it took all of a minute after watching series highlights to realize that he was pull off the ball (stepping in the bucket) on every swing. You would think that an experienced coaching staff would have seen that and said something (even without the help of video). Anyway, glad he's in the Hall and I'm assuming that he's the last of those great Brooklyn Dodgers to get in (anyone want to push for Carl Furillo?). LOL