[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqh3Jf4hdoM&w=550&h=413]
By Jon Weisman
Gil Hodges died 42 years ago today, at the too young age of 47. He would have turned 90 on Friday, and one can only imagine what a wonderful birthday party could have been thrown for him at a Dodger home Opening Day.
Only Duke Snider hit more home runs in the 1950s than Hodges, who fell 44 votes short of the Hall of Fame in 1983, his final year of eligibility, and one vote short of election by the Veterans Committee in 1993. Hodges amassed more Hall votes than anyone on the outside looking in.
Above and below is raw footage from Hodges’ funeral, where you can see such mourners as Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe and Pee Wee Reese.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LECTjLiCyCg&w=551&h=413]
oldbrooklynfan
I went to Gil Hodges’ wake but not the funeral. It’s hard to believe it was 42 years ago. I’ll always remember how tan (sunburn)he was. Hodges was popular enough as a Dodger. Too bad the team is so particular about retiring numbers.
Mort Zachter (@Mortzachter)
When his father died in November of 1957, Gil Hodges had purchased plots in his home town of Petersburg, Indiana so he could be buried near his dad. Yet, the fact that Hodges is buried in Brooklyn within a few miles of Ebbets Field seems appropriate. My biography, “Gil Hodges: A Hall of Fame Life,” will be published by the University of Nebraska Press in march of 2015.