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Eight-time All-Star Gil Hodges was an outstanding first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers who, when he retired in early 1963 after being a charter member of the hapless New York Mets (who lost a record 120 games in their inaugural season of 1962), was #10 all-time on the career home run list with 370 circuit clouts. Though a worthy candidate, he has perpetually fallen short of enshrinement in the baseball Hall of Fame, despite serving in the Marine Corps during World War II, which . Hodges perhaps is best known as the manager of the "Miracle Mets" who beat the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles to win the 1969 World Series.
Hodges was the top first baseman in the National League during the 1950s, winning three Gold Gloves as a fielder and batting in 100 or more runs seven times. He appeared on seven pennant winning teams with the Dodgers from 1947 to 1959, winning two World Series (in 1955, when the team was in Brooklyn, and in 1959, when the team was in Los Angeles). Named to eight All-Star teams, he played in six. His 1960 and '61 production lagged behind his career averages due to knee problems, which made him consider retirement until the Mets selected him in the expansion draft.
Hodges slugged the first home run ever hit by a Met. Plagued by injuries, he played only 11 games with the Mets in the 1963 season, during which he was traded to the new, expansion Washington Senators for outfielder Jimmy Piersall (if Fear Strikes Out (1957) fame) in order to serve as the Senator's new manager. After the trade, Hodges announced his retirement as a player to concentrate on managing.
Replaced as Senators manager after the 1967 season, he was hired by Joan Payson to manager her Mets, leading them to a 73-89 record that was the best since joining the National League. It was the first year that Mets, in a 10-team league, had finished out of the cellar, in ninth place. In 1969, when both leagues expanded by two teams and split into two divisions each, Hodges led the "Miracle Mets" to the World Series championship in five games. Hodges' Mets were the first expansion team to win the World Series, and Gil was named Manager of the Year by "The Sporting News".
While playing golf with Mets coach Yogi Berra and other members of the coaching staff on an off-day during spring training, he dropped dead from a heart attack in West Palm Beach, Florida on April 2, 1972. Hodges died two days shy of his 48th birthday. He has had a great deal of support for enshrinement in the baseball Hall of Fame, but fell one vote shy of being elected by the Veterans Committee in 1993.
