Gil Hodges
From The Met Wiki
Gil Hodges was a first baseman and manager for the Mets. He played in 65 games for the team in 1962 and 1963 and served as manager from 1968 to 1971. Hodges had 37 hits for 65 total bases as a Mets player. As manager, he led the team to 339 wins and the 1969 World Championship.
Following a successful career with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, Hodges joined the Mets for their inaugural season. He had a .252 batting average in the '62 season. In the Mets' first game ever on April 11, Gil hit the team's first home run in an 11-4 loss to the Cardinals at St. Louis. He homered in the Mets' 8-6 victory over the Phillies at the Polo Grounds on April 28. Hodges hit a home run in the ninth inning to give the Mets an 8-7 win over the Braves on May 12 that completed a doubleheader sweep at the Polo Grounds. He homered twice in a 6-5 Mets loss to the Dodgers in a doubleheader nightcap at the Polo Grounds on May 30. Gil also hit a home run in a 10-3 Mets victory over the Cardinals at the Polo Grounds on July 6.
After playing in 11 games for the Mets in 1963, Hodges was dealt to the Washington Senators in a trade for Jim Piersall. Instead of playing for the Senators, he became the team's manager and led them to 321 wins over five seasons. In an unusual player-for-manager trade following the 1967 season, Gil returned to the Mets in exchange for pitcher Bill Denehy.
Hodges led the Mets to a 73-89 won-lost record in 1968. The following year, the team compiled 100 wins and claimed the National League East Division title. Gil and the Mets became National League Champions with a three-game sweep of the Braves in the first ever National League Championship Series. They went on to defeat the Orioles four-games-to-one in the 1969 World Series to complete their "miracle" season.
In 1970 and 1971, Hodges led the Mets to identical 83-79 records for a pair of third place finishes in the NL East. At the '70 All-Star Game in Cincinnati, his National League squad defeated the American League, 5-4, in 12 innings on July 14. During the players strike of 1972 (and two days before his 48th birthday), Gil suffered a heart attack and died in Florida. Team coach Yogi Berra was named Hodges' successor.
Hodges' uniform number 14 was retired by the Mets in 1973. He was elected to the Mets' Hall of Fame in 1982.
