Gil Hodges was one of the best players of his era. He was also a legendary manager of the New York Mets. We now dive into the facts about Gil Hodges.

Gil Hodges was born April 4 of 1924. Gil Hodges was an outfielder/first basemen for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets. He was amazing with the bat and with the glove. Gil won the Gold Glove award in 1957, 1958, and 1959. 1954 was arguably his best season. That year, Hodges got a career high in home runs with 42, hits with 176, batting average with .304, runs batted in (RBIs) with 130, and slugging percentage with an astonishing .579. In his 18 year career, Hodges posted amazing numbers. In 2,071 games, Hodges crushed 370 home runs, drove in 1,274 RBIs, scored 1,105 runs, knocked 1,921 hits, got 295 doubles, and posted a .273 career batting average.

When Gil Hodges’ playing career ended, he transitioned to the manager role. He managed the Washington Senators for five years. He was an average manager. He led the Senators to a 321-444 record. One year, his team lost 100 games. Gil left the Senators and went to manager for his former team, the New York Mets. After one rough year in 1968, he gave hope to the Mets. The next year, he led the Mets to a 100-62 record. This record got them all the way to the postseason. The Amazin’ Mets ended up winning their first World Series in franchise history under the watch of Hodges. The next two years, the Mets posted a steady record of 83-79. 1971 was Gil’s last year in baseball. In 1971, Gil Hodges suffered from a sudden heart attack and died at the age of 61. Despite his loss, his memory is still survived. There is a lot of controversy about whether or not Hodges should be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1982, he was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame by retiring his number 14. In conclusion, Gil Hodges was one of the best baseball figures of all time.