April 4, 1924: Gil Hodges Is Born

April 4, 1924, 100 years ago: Gilbert Ray Hodge is born in Princeton, Indiana. By the 1930 Census, the family name had been changed to "Hodges."

 

Gil served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. He was an 8-time All-Star. He won the Gold Glove at 1st base the 1st 3 times it was awarded. He helped the Dodgers win the World Series in Brooklyn in 1955 and in Los Angeles in 1959. His 370 home runs don't sound like much now, but at the time of his retirement, they ranked 10th all-time. He peaked at 42 in 1954, including 4 in 1 game, and by 1960, was still considered enough of a slugger to be invited to appear on the game show Home Run Derby.

In 1963, he was named the manager of the Washington Senators. In 1968, he was named manager of the New York Mets. In 1969, he led the Mets to win the World Series. He died of a heart attack at the end of Spring Training in 1972, just short of his 48th birthday. He was the 1st of the Brooklyn Boys of Summer to die. (Of the players that Roger Kahn covered in the book, only Carl Erskine is still alive.)

 

The Dodgers and Mets have both retired Gil’s Number 14, and, long after his death, he was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. On April 4, 1978, what would have been Hodges' 54th birthday, the Marine Parkway Bridge, which connected the neighborhoods of Marine Park in Brooklyn to Rockaway, Queens was renamed the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge. Part of Bedford Avenue, though in Midwood, not the part that borders the site of Ebbets Field, is named Gil Hodges Way.