As long as I live, when I hear “manager of the New York Mets,” this 1970 Topps card is the image that will stick with me. Gil Hodges is to Mets managers what sky is to earth: he’s what’s up there above everybody else as high as you can see. I loved Davey Johnson, I loved Bobby Valentine, but I revere Gil Hodges.
• Seven consecutive 100+ RBI seasons
• One of the top sluggers of all-time at the time of his retirement
• One of the best fielding first basemen ever
• Key on- and off-field role on one of the great dynasties in National League history
• Universal admiration and esteem while he played and while he managed
• An outstanding leader of a previously pathetic expansion team…in the American League with the mid-’60s Washington Senators.
• And that whole Miracle Mets thing, not incidentally.
I understand there’s an organization of some sort that aspires to be known as a Hall of Fame, that it attempts to bestow baseball immortality on its members. They have long been incomplete in their mission.
And now they’re just insulting [1].