Gil Hodges: A 2nd microcosm of Cooperstown veterans committee screw-ups

I simply do not get the fandom for Gil Hodges. It's like a fricking cult, mainly of Brooklynites, but also of others. (See, I didn't even say "fucking," per the tone trolls commenting on my original piece about Veterans Committee screw-ups.)

And, TOTALLY unwarranted as I see it.

His case? Far worse than that of Minnie Miñoso, discussed in more detail here. Pretty worse than that of Tony Oliva, now discussed in detail here.

On my original piece about the VC's screw-ups, I said he wasn't even a AAA HOFer. In the longer body, I pulled my halfway-in-cheek tongue out, and per WAR, amended that to say he wasn't a AAAA replacement HOFer. I stand by that.

OK, the numbers.

43.9 WAR is the biggie.

And right now, I hear the "but WWII" chorus.

He was 19 in 1943 and got a cup of coffee call-up because of the war. No WWII, he's still in the minors in 1944 and 1945. So, you're already wrong. Or, Not.Even.Wrong. 

Now, to details.

First, on the sabermetric side? NO, NONE, ZERO 7-WAR seasons. Only one 6-WAR year. 

No, sabermetrics in general, and WAR in specific, aren't perfect, but it seems like the biggest bashers of them are people who know they can't make a good sabermetrics-based claim for a player's skill level.

Second, let's go non-sabermetrics; per the HOF numbers at bottom left of a player's profile? His only black ink is strikeouts once, sac flies twice. Total black ink points? TWO! Average HOFer? 27.

The rest of those categories? "Gray ink," "Hall of Fame Monitor," and "Hall of Fame standards," on ALL of them, he's somewhat to well below the benchmarks. 

I've never seen a THAT BAD on a player who has yammerers (you are) saying "let him in." Shit, even Jack Morris was above benchmarks on "Gray ink" and "Hall of Fame Monitor." When you're worse than Jack Morris, you're bad.

Third, back to sabermetrics. Never busted 150 on OPS+, which is "not good" for a first baseman. It, like WAR, is park-adjusted. Ebbets Field was not a total bandbox down the lines for a right-handed batter, unlike a lefty, but it was almost as bad a bandbox in left-center as in right-center, and, of course, a sub-400 foot center field covers both batters. And, that's why WAR and OPS+ are park adjusted. 

Yet, even though both black and gray ink are NOT park-adjusted, Hodges was out of the running on both. 

Career OPS+ of 120. Horrible for a first baseman who's an alleged Hall of Famer. Even Keith Hernandez, a lowish-power glove-first first baseman, is at 128.

Now, to Jay Jaffe's JAWS7, a good tool for putting a player heads-up with others at their position on a mix of longevity and peak. Hodges is 40th. He's worse than Frank Chance, someone else who doesn't belong in Cooperstown. (Unfortunately, Jaffe, like Bill James, is a Big Hall guy, and probably an emotion-driven one, too, who doesn't actually look at what sabermetrics says in many cases like this.)

If we click the top of the row for OPS+ on the JAWS7 for 1B, it's worse yet. The only name modern readers would recognize at 120 is Justin Morneau. Mark Grace is at 119. So is Andres Galarraga. (Grace is also ahead of him on WAR.) Part of the argument about Tony Perez not being Hall-worthy? He's only at 122. And, while I'm here, a sidebar to Dodgers bluebloods perhaps thinking this enhances Mr. Playboy's HOF chances? Steve Garvey at 117 OPS+. AND under 40 WAR.

Yep, that's Gil Hodges' company.

As for his managerial skills? IMO, he caught lightning in a bottle once. Having ditched the second, expansion Senators for the Mets, they continued to play as well after he left as before. As for claims that a short managerial career truncated his surely inevitable greatness? Danny Murtaugh won two World Series and two additional NL East titles after 1969 expansion, probably would have been the 1979 WS manager had he lived, but had his career interrupted multiple times by illness before his untimely death, yet can't get the time of day from various Vets Committees ...

Or from alleged sabermetric genyuses like Jay Jaffe, who both hates on Murtaugh as a manger and slobbers over (yes) Hodges as a player. If Jim Kaat's picture is in the MLB Encyclopedia next to "compiler," then Jaffe's is next to "hypocrite." It's next to Bill James, another Hodges slobberer.

Now, some Hodges fellators are probably doing a "player plus manager" bank shot, a la Red Schoendienst. Ixnay on that. Red was approximately the same on player WAR, but, went to two WS, back to back. In addition, he was on the coaching staff for the 1982/85/87 WS appearances and continued to serve as a team executive after that Besides, he lost not only a possible 1944 call-up as a player due to WW2, he also suffered eye damage from the war, per Wiki. Better yet, read Red's obit.