Wrapping Up the Gil Hodges HOF Thread

Last Friday I posted an entry on The Grandstander asking people to justify why Gil Hodges is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Trust me, there is an army of folks out there who believe he should be in the HOF, and will back up their claims with voluminous documentation.  I wanted to hear from the Other Side of the Argument.  I posted my blog entry on the SABR Listserv board and on several Facebook Chat pages in which I participate.

And I did hear from people.  Lots of them.  I won't go into all of what was submitted to me, some of it, frankly, was a lot of SABRmetric gobblety-gook, but, basically, it all came down to "Gil was a good to very good ball player, but he was and is, at best, a borderline Hall of Famer, like a lot of other players for whom no one is beating the drums for HOF entry".  I also got a lot of arguments along the lines of "two thirds of the guys IN the Hall shouldn't be there, so why compound this error by including yet another borderline guy".

Both sides are correct, I conclude.  Hall of Fame immortality is a subjective topic at best.  One local BBWA guy in Pittsburgh applies what he calls the "think test" when he fills out his HOF ballot.  In other words. "if I have to think about whether this guy belongs in the Hall of Fame, he probably doesn't belong", and I can't argue with that logic.  Looking at HOF players I have seen in my lifetime as a fan (1959 to present)...Johnny Bench, Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Mike Schmidt?  Absolutely!  Gary Carter, Don Sutton, Phil Niekro, Jim Rice? Well, those guys I gotta think about, but that's just me, but if someone else, writers or a Vet's Committee, says they are Hall of Famers, I salute them as such.

I recognize the passion of certain fan bases for promoting their favorite sons, and the Brooklyn Dodgers Boys of Summer Cult no doubt plays a large role in the support for Hodges.   As a Pirates fan, I am tickled to death that Bill Mazeroski went in in 1999, but I know that there would be a lot of people leading the charge to take him OUT of the Hall of that was ever done.  I hope Hodges makes it some day, but if he doesn't, well, that doesn't mean that the other side is wrong.

So Tell Me, Why ISN'T Gil Hodges in the Hall of Fame?

Since I have been involved with SABR and become part of several baseball discussion groups on various social media, I can tell you that there is no topic - none! - that stirs the fires and passions of a certain segment of the baseball community than the fact that Gil Hodges is not an enshrined member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Ask the question or making a comment either for or against Hodges being in the Hall on certain Facebook pages, and you are absolutely certain to be starting a thread that will generate thirty, forty, fifty or more comments.

Myself, I had no particular bias one way or the other.  If a guy makes the Hall of Fame, I'm happy for him, but if a certain player doesn't, I don't lose sleep over it either, and I always found the debates amusing, especially when it veers into the area of "O'Malley's-a-bastard-for-taking-the-Dodgers-out-of-Brooklyn".  However, this is what being a baseball fan is all about, and some folks have embraced this cause with an amazing passion.  Facebook friend and Pirate Chatter Scott Russell has compiled some documentation that has absolutely convinced me that Hodges should be in the Hall of Fame.

All of this brings me to the question stated in the title of this post: Why ISN'T Hodges in the Hall?  What is the case against him?  He was passed over by the BBWA in regular Hall voting for all fifteen years of his eligibility.  He has been passed over (or "snubbed" as the Hodgesophiles would put it) by the various iterations of the Veteran's Committee ever since (although there is anecdotal evidence that Hodges was voted in by the Vet's Committee one year, only to have his entrance sabotaged by Ted Williams on a procedural technicality).  

Again, why?

Everyone makes the case FOR Hodges, but I am asking for someone now to make the case AGAINST him.  Can somebody please state the case as to why Hodges has never reached the Promised Land in Cooperstown?  I'd be interested in hearing the other side of this. Please state the case, and please be civil.

Oh, and a couple of points of my own.  When making their arguments, the Hodges Backers always include as reasons (a) that Gil was a nice guy, the salt of the earth, and (b) that he managed the 1969 Mets to a World Series win.  To me, these are NOT reasons to put him in the HOF.  We all know that "nice" doesn't get you in the Hall, witness Ty Cobb and Steve Carlton, to name only two, and if "nice" was a criterion, then Mike McKenry would be a first ballot entrant..  As for managing the '69 Mets, that would make a nice footnote on his HOF plaque, but there are a lots and lots of managers who have won one World Series.

As I always do, I will be copying this post on several Facebook pages, and I am looking forward to the responses.