In honor of the off-day yesterday, I wanted to pay homage to a guy who usually doesn’t get enough recognition in today’s Mets world, though plenty recognition in Mets history. And that guy is Gilbert Raymond Hodges, aka Gil Hodges.
If you are familiar with the book Mets by the Numbers, I asked Jon Springer (one of the authors) a simple question — besides Gil Hodges, did anyone else ever wear the number 14?
Of course, Gil Hodges was part of the original Casey Stengel’s “Amazin’ Mets,” a bridge to New York National League’s baseball history by being a part of Brooklyn Dodger history (and went to LA for a time), prior to returning to NY in ’62. Being #14 for the Dodgers in both Brooklyn and L.A., he immediately was issued #14 in his return to NY NL baseball. According to MBTN, he was the original #14, until his retirement from playing after the 1963 season.
We all know #14 is retired by the Mets in honor of Hodges. However, it was retired with Hodges’ success as a Mets manager, not due to his playing (Tom Seaver holds the honor of being the only Mets player with a retired number).
With Springer’s due diligence, we are able to see that in addition to Hodges as a player, Ron Swoboda wore the number from in 1965 (and was #4 throughout the remainder of his Mets career), and Ken Boyer wore the number from 1966 to 1967. Hodges joined the Mets as team manager in 1968 and no one besides him has worn #14 since then. The number was retired in 1973, one tear after Hodges’ death.
The numbers 14 and 37 have been retired for the Mets since I’ve been old enough to understand baseball and since I’ve been a fan. Seaver’s #41 was retired in 1988 (I attended that ceremony at Shea too!). Numbers are one of those arbitrary things that we agree or not with vehemently as fans. Some fans may think honoring a player by retiring his number is a classy act, or that it borders on being overrated. I’m of the ilk that it’s a classy move. I think the Mets need to get on the boat with this and acknowledge there is more to Mets history than Gil Hodges, Casey Stengel and Tom Seaver (though they’d have to redesign the whole stadium to acknowledge anyone else!).
In Gil Hodges’ case, retiring #14 was not only a classy move, but he is truly the embodiment of Mets history. He was one of the original Amazins, and led a young Mets team to believe in themselves and reach for the stars as manager of the storied 1969 Miracle Mets. Truly, there are few like him today, and few like him before. Gil was a hero in Brooklyn Dodgers lore and in New York Mets lore, truly gone before his time.
Thanks for writing this, it always warms my heart when I read about Gil Hodges – he was my Dad’s favorite player, Dad the introduced me to this crazy game I’m not addicted to. I read about Gil, I think about Dad and I miss him dearly but am endeared to him forever for bringing this into my life.
I loved Gil Hodges. I was actually a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers and watched many a game as a wee lad. Jackie and Gil were my favorite players.
He was my dad’s favorite also. My dad grew up a Brooklyn Dodger and his favorite players were Sandy and Gil. When Gil became the Mets manager my dad was over the moon. There’s a great book called The Quiet Man by Marino Amoruso about Gil. Nice job with this article Coop, you’ve brought up good memories.
Yeah, Sandy had his success in LA. I thought he was magical. Gil was the strong silent type always. Jackie was a dynamo.
As a kid, I could go through the Dodgers lineup, offensively and defensively, and I knew every number. Still know them.
I thought Jackie was good but there were so many good players that except for the sociological issues, Jackie was just one of the guys.
My favorite player was Billy Cox, #3. I guess it shows I like the underdog.