It’s Hall of Fame Week here at Umpbump. We’ll be taking a closer look at the Hall and giving you our take on who does and doesn’t belong in Cooperstown. In the last of our 5-part series on who belongs, we have a look at the case for Brooklyn Dodgers legend Gil Hodges.

It is long past time that Gil Hodges was put into the Hall of Fame.

One of the core members of the mighty “Boys of Summer” Brooklyn Dodgers dynasty, the soft-spoken Hodges was the beloved first baseman and cleanup hitter of a Dodgers squad that went to 7 World Series in a 13 season stretch. More than any other player, Hodges defined that team - his first full year in 1947 marked their first trip to the World Series, and his last full season in 1959 marked their last World Series appearance. In the intervening years, Hodges had 7 seasons in a row in which he banged out at least 100 RBI, and 11 seasons in a row in which he hit at least 22 homers, including two seasons over 40. Although Hodges’ career totals in the counting stats are sometimes seen as falling short, it is important to note that he did lose 4 prime years to service in the Marines during World War II, and even so, when he retired in 1963 he held the National League record for most home runs ever by a right-handed batter.

But while Hodges’ hitting numbers alone are impressive, he was also one of the finest defensive first basemen of all time. Throughout the 1950s, Hodges was universally acknowledged as the best defensive first baseman in the National League, acclaimed for his soft hands and great range. Hodges won the first three gold glove awards ever awarded to first basemen, including winning the first award in 1957 when there was only one Gold Glove at each position for the entire Major Leagues. Presumably, he would have won many, many more if the award had existed earlier.

Hodges also deserves commemoration as a respected Major League manager, who masterminded one of the most famous and improbable World Series runs ever as the skipper of the 1969 “Miracle” Mets. All in all, Hodges managed 9 seasons in the Majors, and was at the height of his esteem and respect as a manager when health issues forced his retirement in 1972 and caused his untimely death at the age of only 47 later that year.

The fact is, no player has ever come closer to making it into the Hall of Fame with out actually getting in than Gil Hodges. Consider:

• No player has ever received more votes from the Baseball Writers Association over the course of his 15 years of eligibility without getting in than Gil Hodges and his staggering 3010 votes.
• Gil Hodges is the only player to ever receive more than 60 percent of the vote in a year without eventually getting in. Today, clearing 50 percent is considered almost a sure sign that a player will eventually get in.
• At various times during his 15 years on the ballot, Hodges finished with more votes than 21 different players who would later become Hall of Famers.

There are historical reasons for why Hodges has been kept out of the Hall of Fame. Many have cited his early death as having prevented him from having the time to become one of the game’s respected elder statesman and get all chummy with the members of the veterans committee who elected so many of their buddies in the 1990s.

Just to take one example of an a first baseman inferior to Hodges who got elected by hanging around long enough to become a respected elder statesman, consider Tony Perez, who was elected in 2000 after years of heavy lobbying by “Big Red Machine” teammates already in the Hall, such as Joe Morgan. Hodges outslugged Perez (.487 to .463) had a higher OBP (.359 to .341), made more All-Star teams (8 vs. 7), won more Gold Gloves (3 out of a possible 3 vs. zero), had just as many 100-RBI marks (7) in fewer seasons, and his 370 homers were only 9 fewer than Perez hit in 2,748 additional at-bats.

But the simplest and biggest reason Hodges has been denied the Hall was that Hall voters deeply love the statistic of batting average. Although Hodges was good at drawing walks, his batting average was “only” .273. Just to give some perspective, even by the time of Hodges death in the 1970s, the Baseball Writers had only ever elected five players who had a career batting average below .300, and all five were either catchers or shortstops. Even today, it seems likely that many of the Veterans Committee voters look first at Hodges’ batting average and get no further, simply thinking to themselves “.273? That is not a Hall of Famer.”

But that is a shame. Because Gil Hodges was the prototype of the modern first baseman which all teams look for - a premier home run hitter who also gets on base and plays flawless defense around the bag.

So to recap: 1. Gil Hodges was the cornerstone of a legendary team which went to SEVEN World Series. 2. Gil Hodges put up Hall-worthy career numbers despite losing 4 years to military service. 3. Gil Hodges was the best offensive first baseman in the National League throughout his career. 4. Gil Hodges was also the best defensive first baseman in the National League, and perhaps all of baseball, throughout his career. 5. Nobody has drawn more support from more people for Hall induction than Gil Hodges has, without actually getting in.

Let’s put this man in the Hall already.

The Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee used to be a bastion of old-boyism, gleefully electing their friends into the Hall while snubbing more deserving candidates they didn’t get along with.  After several years of this, the committee had elected so many undeserving candidates that baseball finally had to step in and make the rules a lot more stringent.

But now the Committee is going in the opposite direction, from electing too many people to electing none.  Denied the ability to shoo in their old pals, the vets seem bound and determined to make sure nobody at all gets in.

If you ask me, the problem is the whole idea of letting the “Veterans” (ie living HOF members) choose.  Just because you are in the Hall of Fame yourself doesn’t mean you necessarily have any idea who deserves to be in the Hall.  Back when the committee had a license to put in anyone they wanted, they overwhelmingly chose people they knew personally or had seen play, because man, remember that one time he hit that one home run? That was awesome!

The Baseball Writers Association of America, for all the criticism it gets, has been far, far more judicious and fair in its selections.

Three perennial HOF snubs stand out as being especially worthy:

First is Ron Santo, who just about everyone thinks should be in, except for the Vets. The face and co-captain of the Cubs along with Ernie Banks in the 1960s, Santo is probably one of the three or four most beloved Cubs ever.  Oh yeah, and he was also a 9-time All Star, twice led the National League in on-base-percentage, and won 5 gold gloves at third base.  Santo fell just 5 votes short this year, so he is likely to get in next time, but at age 67, with his body ravaged by type-1 diabetes, and already on two prosthetic legs, we can only hope he can make it two more years until the Committee votes again.

Next on my list is Gil Hodges. One of the core members of the mighty “Boys of Summer” Brooklyn Dodgers dynasty, the soft-spoken Hodges was the beloved first baseman and cleanup hitter of a Dodgers squad that went to 7 World Series in a 13 season stretch.  More than any other player, Hodges defined that team - his first full year in 1947 marked their first trip to the World Series, and his last full season in 1959 marked their last World Series. In the intervening years, Hodges had 7 seasons in a row in which he banged out at least 100 RBI, and 11 seasons in a row in which he hit at least 22 homers, including two seasons over 40.  Although Hodges’ career numbers are sometimes seen as falling short, he did lose 4 prime years to service in the Marines in World War II, and he also deserves commemoration for his role as the manager of the 1969 “Miracle” Mets.

Finally, there is Maury Wills, who is so well-known for skills as one of the greatest leadoff batters of all time, that most people I’ve ever talked to about him assume he must already be in the Hall of Fame.  The speedy shortstop for a Dodgers team that went to 3 World Series in the 1960s, Wills single handedly reinvented the stolen base as a weapon that could win games, pennants, and World Series.  His 104 stolen bases in 1962 shattered Ty Cobb’s decades-old Major League record of 96, and earned Wills an MVP award. So forgotten was the stolen base, that the runner-up that year was Wills’ teammate Tommy Davis, who only swiped 32! Wills was also a master bunter, one of the greatest of all time, who was so feared that opposing teams would water the dirt around home plate and first base to the consistency of mud whenever the Dodgers came to town, in a futile attempt to slow his legendary first step. Another lasting impact Wills had on the game was his revolutionary way of leading off second base, toward the outfield rather than directly toward third. This not only allowed him to round third and score faster, but let him get back more quickly to second on a pickoff. The lead is now used by all baseball players everywhere. On a pitching-rich, hitting-poor Dodgers squad, a Wills run was often the difference in a 1-0 victory for Sandy Koufax or Don Drysdale.