It didn’t work for Roger Maris…

August 31, 2012 · 1 comment

But will it work for Gil Hodges?

In 2010, Danny Peary and Tom Clavin collaborated on Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero. In conversations, Peary made no bones about his desire to see Maris inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Is this becoming a cause celebre for the writing team? Their newest project is Gil Hodges: The Brooklyn Bums, the Miracle Mets, and the Extraordinary Life of a Baseball Legend. Hodges is another oustanding player who always fell just short in HoF voting.

In this piece, Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News addresses the authors’ pet project and whether or not Hodges is HoF-worthy (and who might be to blame if he’s not).

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1 Gary Perilloux September 1, 2012 at 3:24 am

Though Hodges was the better fielder, Norm Cash’s offensive numbers are remarkably similar and his career WAR and OPS numbers are superior to Hodges, though Cash scarcely scratched the surface in Hall of Fame balloting. For players such as these, I’m convinced there some day will be a second-tier Hall of Distinction at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, a place for the pastime’s demigods in the same shrine with the sport’s Hall of Fame immortals. I would think it appropriate that some currently in the Hall of Fame be transferred to the Hall of Distinction by something like a Veterans Committee. There should be a special place for players like Stan Hack, Milt Pappas, Ken Boyer, Ted Simmons, Sal Bando and others while some like Freddie Lindstrom and, as this writer suggests, Lloyd Waner — http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cashno01.shtml — ought not to be in the upper room of the Hall of Fame, but in a somewhat lesser place of distinction.

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