As we all know, Gil Hodges will be on the Veterans’ Committee Hall of Fame ballot for 2012. So expect to hear plenty of discussion over the next few months about whether or not he should be enshrined. 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. [...]

To take our minds off the floundering excuse for a baseball team, I present to you a look back at a bit of baseball history from a different perspective. Recently, I was lucky enough to interview Gil Hodges’ widow, Joan Hodges. She was so sweet and had so many great stories. As the saying goes, “Behind every great man, there stands a great woman.” Such is the case for Gil. On Dec. 26, 1948, Hodges married [...]

Gil Hodges must’ve been crazy! The Mets had just lost 101 games and finished in 10th place, 40 ½ GB of the Cardinals. Yet when Hodges was hired by the Mets in the off-season of 1967 he stated, ‘I see a lot more right with the Mets than wrong.’ Hodges first year as skipper provided us 73 wins, most in team history to date. And we all know what happened the year after. He and [...]

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 [...]

Nolan Ryan was one of the many Mets honored before Saturday night’s game at Citi Field during the celebration of the 1969 World Championship team.  It was his first return to Flushing in a Mets uniform since the ill-fated trade to the California Angels on December 10, 1971.  Would Mets history have been different if the Mets weren’t in such desperate need for a third baseman that they were willing to part with the young [...]