Sunday, September 1, 2024

THE WHOLE NINE: SERIES 2- 1964 REDO FOR GIL HODGES

Today on the blog we spotlight another card from my recent custom set, "The Whole Nine: Series 2", this one my 1964 redo for Hall of Famer Gil Hodges:




Topps originally issued a card showing Hodges as the manager for the Washington Senators for the upcoming 1964 season, thus ending a Hall-worthy career as an elite slugger mainly for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers.
I created an alternate New York Mets card to cap-off his playing career, which was understated and stellar, finishing up at the time as one of the game's greatest sluggers of all-time.
I still cannot figure out why it took so long for him to get into the Hall, as he was a MAJOR part of those "Bum" Dodger teams, slamming 370 career homers, driving in 100+ runs seven years in a row between 1949-1955, and topping 30+ homers six times.
Later on he went on to a managerial career that includes one of the all-time great surprises in Major League ball, leading the "Miracle Mets" over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in 1969, an incredible turnaround that saw the Mets as World Champs just a few short years after perennial last place finishes, including their all-time futile 1962 season which saw them lose 120 games.
One of baseball's Hall of Fame snubs that thankfully finally got "fixed" with his election in 2022, 50 years after his sudden and shocking death from a heart attack at the young age of 47.
One of the era's best players finally getting his place in Cooperstown, and rightly so!