Happy Memorial Day! In honor of this American holiday, I want to talk about a certain player who probably did not make it into the Hall of Fame because of military service:
From 1943-1963, Gil Hodges had a very respectable career with the Dodgers and Mets. He hit 370 homers, 1,275 RBIs, and had an on-base percentage of .359. That's pretty good. The only problem was that he did not play in 1944 or '45 because of World War II, and then was retooled and missed more time. If he had played those seasons, he probably would have had 400+ homers and 1,400+ RBIs. And to top off this should-be Hall of Fame career, he led the Amazin' Mets to a World Series in 1969 and ended up winning the contest as the manager! If that doesn't spell "Hall of Fame" to the Veterans Committee (the committee that elects players into the Hall of Fame around 20 years after retirement), then I don't know what does.
Good post Matt. The Players who lost seasons to military service--like Ted Williams--deserve to be acknowledged. Gil should get the vote.
ReplyDeleteAmen Kurt
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