HOF Golden Era Results

[brian1961]

Dave Foster----

Hiya pal. I'm sorry I couldn't get back to you regarding those who had a sharp axe to grind upon Gil Hodges with regard to voting him into the Baseball Hall of Fame. I work mid-afternoon to midnight. So, now I shall elucidate. However, please, by all means, if I am mistaken Dave, or if any one of you chaps sees a mistake here, correct me. The light I throw upon the matter is not done with a smug attitude or smile, as it's very unpleasant and says volumes about human nature.

The two individuals who were on the Veterans Committee and had it in for Gil Hodges were Ted Williams and Earl Weaver.

Ted Williams was a very proud man. He was immensely proud of what he did with the Washington Senators in 1969, turning them around and producing their first winning record, by a large margin no less, in quite a few years. However, when the The Sporting News, at the time very prestigious and authoritative, announced their Manager of the Year Award for 1969, they selected Gil Hodges. Ted Williams was very irked by that. Moreover, some scribes wrote that it was Gil Hodges, and NOT Ted Williams, that had paved the way for the lowly Senators to move up to a higher plane.

For the uninformed, Gil managed the Senators from 63-67, and every year their record got better and better, with the last year showing 76 victories, a very creditable improvement.

Those comments about Gil Hodges being the one who really deserved the credit for the Senators' 1969 performance got Ted's pot boiling. In the ensuing years, under Ted's lousy managerial skills, the team just got worse and worse, and worse. The players could not stand Ted Williams. On the contrary, most of the Mets players loved Gil Hodges, and really mourned his untimely death of a heart attack in 1972.

Ted Williams had a very large ego, and I'm sure it's what helped drive him on to be one of the greatest hitters in the game's history. But his feelings smarted over the credit and acknowledgement that Gil Hodges received as a manager. So, once Ted was in a position on the Veterans Committee, he would always blackball Gil Hodges.

Let's now move on to the other man, Earl Weaver. As opposing managers in the 1969 World Series, the Weaver-led Orioles had decimated the American League that year, coming so close to topping the league record for victories held by the vaunted 1927 New York Yankees. Or was it the 1954 Cleveland Indians? Well, anyway, the Orioles were heavy favorites over the Gil Hodges-managed New York Mets, a cinderella team if there ever was one. As a Chicago suburbanite, I was a Cubs fan, not a Mets fan, by the way.

Well, you know most of the rest. After the Orioles won the first game, the Mets took the next four. It was all over for the Orioles, and Earl Weaver was denounced, while Gil Hodges was lauded. Perhaps the most galling episode in that series was when Gil Hodges showed the umpire the black shoe polish on the baseball that proved it had hit Cleon Jones. Jones is awarded first base. Brilliant! Next batter, Donn Clendenon, socks a home run! The Orioles were shot down again, and again, and again. Earl Weaver was humiliated.

But there was more.

In the following year, one of the best baseball all-star games took place. The National League had been on a roll, but the AL was strong and determined. Opposing managers? That's right. Gil Hodges versus Earl Weaver again. The National League had come from behind to tie it after nine innings, and so it was nail biting until finally in the twelfth, Pete Rose bowled over Cleveland catcher Ray Fosse and scored the winning run. To this day, I still remember the excitement of that play as I watched it on national TV. Maybe you saw it too.

Well, the same results echoed in the ears of losing manager Earl Weaver, for once again, the National League had come from behind to snatch another victory from the Americans. Again Gil Hodges was raised to the rafters, while Weaver was earning a reputation of championship decrepitude.

In the minds of many, all that was forgotten as the Orioles took it all that year over The Big Red Machine. Weaver would eventually win two Sporting News Manager of the Year awards. Still, the echoes of those smashing defeats at the hands of Hodges as his opposing manager rang in Earl's ears forever. Gil's premature death only meant that Earl would never have the chance to show that he could outsmart and out-manage Gil. Gil Hodges was a better manager than Earl, period.

However, Earl Weaver, when he became a member of the Veterans Committee, used all his power and influence to blackball Gil Hodges from being enshrined in the Hall---'til the day Weaver died.

There ya have it, Dave. Now that I've written it, I feel a bit depressed. There is so much truth in the saying, "the truth hurts."

Enough of my elaboration. Take care. ----Brian Powell