A Travesty to Gil Hodges

The Veterans Committee for the Baseball Hall of Fame voted today to send...NO ONE to the Hall. What makes this worse is that this is the third time in a row that they could not pick one deserving person into the hollowed halls of Cooperstown. The purpose of this committee being formed was to make sure that executives, managers, and great players who slipped through the original Hall voting get their due. There were MANY deserving men who they chose to ignore today. Doug Harvey, one the greatest umpires of all time. Marvin Miller, the union head who saved players from antiquated labor and made hundreds of players millionaires. Ron Santo, one of the top third baseman of his time. Being a Gil Hodges (and Dodgers) fan, I have decided to focus my rant on their omission of Gil.

Gil Hodges is one of the greatest first baseman of the 1940's-50's. From the official Gil Hodges website, gilhodges.com:
"Hit at least 30 home runs a season for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954

·Had over 100 RBIs during the 1949 to 1955 seasons

·Played in seven World Series, six with Brooklyn and one with Los Angeles

·Inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1982

·Career consisted of:
2,071 games played
7,030 at bats
1,921 hits
1,105 runs scored
295 doubles
48 triples
370 home run
1,274 RBIs

·Had a career batting average of .273

·Had a career slugging average of .487

·Had more RBIs during the 1950s than any other player at 1001."

He had the numbers. He had more RBI in the '50's than Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, and Willie Mays. He appeared in 8 All-Star Games, won 2 World Series with the Dodgers, and managed the '69 "Miracle Mets" to the World Championship.

This Committee (who, by the way, are made up of Hall of Famers!), have committed a huge injustice to all true baseball fans, but more importantly, to these men like Hodges and Santo. It's time for baseball to take a hard look at changing their way of "selecting" these much-deserving contributors to this fine game. Let's fix this before the next vote in 2009.