I personally was not around when Gil played or managed, but I consider myself lucky to have heard the great stories of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the 1969 Miracle Mets. I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Joan Hodges recently, who said she hopes this is the year for Gil—even though she believes he should have been inducted a long time ago.

In addition, to speaking with Mrs. Hodges, I caught up with a few members of the 1969 Mets and asked their thoughts on if they think Gil will be elected this time around. The players only had great things to say about their former manager.

“I hope it’s the year,” said ’69 Mets shortstop Buddy Harrelson. “He was a very special man, not just as a ballplayer in Brooklyn but a very special man in the community.”

While his on-field achievements speak for themselves, Gil left just as significant an impact as a manager.

“I think Gil certainly deserves to be in the Hall of Fame,” said original Met Ed Kranepool. “We would have won more pennants under Gil Hodges.”

Hodges died from a heart attack in spring training 1972—right at the peak of his managerial career when the Mets were a feared team in the National League. Still, the players agree that Hodges got them to play much better than they should have.

Hopefully, the word continues to spread about what Hodges meant to the game of baseball.

“I know a lot of people have been working hard to help in that regard,” said ’69 Mets platoon right fielder Art Shamsky. “I think he’s certainly deserving of it, not only as a player and manager, but he was such a great person and ambassador for the game.”

Shamsky noted that Hodges was the main reason the Mets went from being the laughing stock of professional baseball to World Champions just eight years after coming into existence.

Being on the Veterans’ Committee ballot may work in Hodges’ favor for next year’s voting.

“These are people that might have recognized Gil or played against him, know what he’s done, and can vote the way it’s supposed to be voted,” said Kranepool. “There are guys in the Hall of Fame that don’t have his credentials.”

Harrelson likened Hodges to his own father in that both were rugged on the outside but were great men on the inside who deeply cared for their families.

“I loved him as a person and as a manager,” said Harrelson, who also looks forward to someday heading to Cooperstown for Gil’s induction ceremony.

Whether that’s this year or in the near future, I’ll likely be joining Buddy in paying homage to a great baseball player, a great manager and an even better man.

Former New York Met shortstop Buddy Harrelson has served as an ambassador for the Long Island Ducks for the past 12 seasons. He does a fine job with community and fan relations, but his true worth to the team involves his 16 years of MLB playing experience and another 11 years as a coach/manager.

Harrelson will always be remembered as the pesky shortstop for the 1969 World Series Champion Mets. Buddy played stellar defense at shortstop and came up with big hits all season.

In addition to his role as a player on the ‘69 team, Buddy served as the third base coach for the 1986 Mets, making him the only player/coach associated with both World Series titles in franchise history. (Technically, ‘86 Mets manager Davey Johnson would fit this category as well, since he made the last out of the ’69 series while playing for the Baltimore Orioles).

Buddy has great memories from both teams. He’ll always remember celebrating the franchise’s first ever World Series title in ’69 and racing Mets third baseman Ray Knight down the third base line in Game 6 of the ’86 Series after the ball had trickled through Bill Buckner’s legs.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the ’86 team, and Buddy will never forget the emotion he felt after the Mets battled back in Game 6 and took Game 7.

“You get older, and you’re not involved in winning and losing, but I was really happy and excited,” said Harrelson.

Harrelson affirms that the main similarity between the teams was the strong bullpen in the late innings. Tug McGraw and “Dr.” Ron Taylor were a great tandem in ’69, while not many bullpens in history matched the combination of Roger McDowell and Jesse Orosco in ’86.

Though Harrelson claims that both teams had pitching depth, he is well aware of the differences between the two squads. The ’86 started hot out of the gate and never cooled down until October, while the ’69 team didn’t take off until mid summer.

The ’69 team was a disciplined group of ballplayers under manager Gil Hodges, while the ’86 team was known as a fiery bunch. Davey Johnson let them play since the team’s chemistry on the field overshadowed any off-the-field incidents.

However, Harrelson believes the ’69 team showed more consistency and had a better starting pitching staff. While Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, Bobby Ojeda and Sid Fernandez were tough, matching up against Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, Jim McAndrew and Don Cardwell was a difficult task. In fact, the ’69 starting staff was so good that Hodges was forced to keep Nolan Ryan—a Hall of Fame pitcher who threw seven career no-hitters—in the bullpen.

“I always say the ’69 team would beat the ’86 team because I have to,” Harrelson said. “I played on the ’69 team.”

Harrelson says the camaraderie of the ’69 team still exists to this day. His roommate during road trips was none other than Seaver.

“Seaver’s like a brother to me,” said Harrelson.

Buddy has used his playing and coaching experience in the big leagues to the benefit of the Ducks franchise. Whoever comes in contact with him not only appreciates his baseball knowledge but also his fun-loving attitude.

“Buddy is a tremendous asset to the Ducks,” said Michael Pfaff, Ducks general manager. “So many people that come to the ballpark have watched him play, or watched him coach, or watched him manage, or grown up as kids watching him here as this ballpark.”

Since Buddy is enjoying what he’s doing, he sees no need to get back involved with the majors.

“This is fun,” said Harrelson. “It’s been fun for a lot of years. I don’t get tired of it. I don’t get tired of going to the ballparks, signing autographs, doing my thing.”

Buddy will continue to “do his thing” as he serves as a pioneer for the Ducks and independent league baseball in general.

Last week I wrote about how the Mets need to find ways to entice the fans to come out to the ballpark in 2011.  Last week I brought up the idea of retiring 17 in honor Keith Hernandez.  I thought it would give Mets fans something to look forward to during the long season that 2011 will be and I thought that when looking back on 2011 it would be a fun thing to remember.

The Mets have not had an old-timers days since 1994.  Back in 2009 WFAN’s Evan Roberts stirred up a bit of controversy when he relayed a quote from a Mets executive in regards to old-timers day.  Roberts said his source told him that it was too much work hosting old-timers day and that is why the Mets stopped doing it.  Dave Howard tried to do some damage control by saying:

It was particularly unpopular as a promotion. We didn’t see an increase in ticket sales or interest from sponsors or even from people who already had tickets. It died of its own unpopularity in the early ’90s.

I don’t know about you readers but one of the only times I ever watch the YES Network for baseball is on old-timers day.  I enjoy seeing the legendary players such as Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, etc…  Even Darryl Strawberry has donned the pinstripes over the years for the Yankees on old-timers day.  I watch it to see some of the legendary players and it looks like a lot of fun to be honest, seeing these older players who retired long ago having some fun playing the game.

I know a lot of Yankees fans who really look forward to old-timers day and go every year to see it.  They always tell me how much fun it is.  Now I can understand how in the 90′s they didn’t attract a lot of fans.  The early 90′s were not especially kind to the Mets and their fans.  However as the saying goes, “that was then, this is now.”

We learned in 2009 after the Citi Field opened how passionate Mets fans are about their history.  As nice and shiny Citi Field was there was not much of the Mets history on display and the fans let the Mets know how they felt about that proving that this fanbase wants to acknowledge their past.

Just thinking about an old-timers day while writing this piece has me excited.  I would love to see Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden pitch while Mike Piazza catches them in an old-timers game. I’m sure we all would like to see Darryl Strawberry hit in Citi Field.  I would love to see the Mets of yesteryear on the field, playing in a game.

I’m sure we all have our favorites whether they be Rusty Staub or John Franco or Bobby Valentine, Wally Backman, Keith Hernandez, Buddy Harrelson and many more favorite Mets on the field, playing in an old-timers day.

I know I would look forward to it as the season goes on and I’m sure if done right it will be a fun memory to have of the 2011 season.

In comments, let me know if you agree or disagree and for fun list some of the Mets you would love to see playing an old-timers day in the future.

It’s a real trip watching these guys… I love those original uniforms and it really makes me wish the Mets would stop playing games and just stick with these original beauties.

The video features Tom Seaver, Donn Cledennon, Buddy Harrelson, Jerry Koosman, Jerry Grote and even the original Mets owner, Mr. Charles Payson who was celebrating his birthday that day. 

It’s a lot of fun, enjoy it….