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The Mets will tip their caps to the late, great Gil Hodges with a bobblehead in his honor this season.
The statue of the beloved former player and manager — who was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in 1982 and will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this summer — will be given to the first 25,000 fans at Citi Field on July 24.
“It’s a beautiful remembrance. It’s nice that people get to keep it in their homes,” said his daughter Irene Hodges.
Irene, who was 21 when her father died in 1972, said he would have found the nod amusing. “He’d probably laugh; he’d find humor in it, for sure,” she said.
The idea for the statue came about when the first basemen’s long-awaited entry into Cooperstown was announced.
“Once we saw that … it was sort of a no-brainer for us,” said Tara Napoli, the Mets director of venue services and promotions.
She made sure that Irene got to see a rendering of her dad’s statue before the process was complete.
“I loved it,” said Irene, who has lived in Brooklyn — where her dad debuted for the Dodgers in 1943 — for her entire life.. “Of course, I saw it on the screen, but it looks tremendous. They worked really hard to do a good job.”
An Indiana native, Gil played 16 years for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and L.A., before becoming an original Met in 1962 and retiring the next season. His career was interrupted when he was drafted and fought in World War II, but he still finished with 370 home runs. He became the Mets manager in 1968 and led the Miracle Mets to the 1969 championship over the highly-favored Baltimore Orioles.
“My greatest memory was the ’69 World Series,” Irene said. “My dad was so happy for his players. No one ever thought they would ever win. But he was also thrilled for New York. He loved the New York fans; they were always so loyal.”
Gil’s untimely death from a heart attack at the age of 47 “remains one of the great what-ifs in the history of the Mets,” said Nick Davis, the filmmaker behind ESPN’s 30 for 30 Mets documentary, “Once Upon a Time in Queens.”
“It is altogether fitting and proper that the Mets are honoring him this year in the second year of new ownership, and in the first year of a new manager whose demeanor and approach has Mets fans dreaming, maybe even with good reason, of their first championship since 1986,” he added.
“He served our country as a Marine and was a devoted husband and father,” said Jay Horowitz, director of alumni affairs for the Mets. “It’s a great bobblehead for a great manager, and more importantly, outstanding person.”
The Mets open the season on Thursday in Washington against the Nationals, and face the Arizona Diamondback at their April 15 home opener.
Irene will be there when her dad’s bobblehead debuts. And she already knows where hers will go — on her mother Joan Lombardi Hodges’ dresser. “She will be very happy to keep it close to her,” she said.
The Mets 2022 bobblehead roster includes Pete Alonso, which will be released on April 30; and Francisco Lindor, coming out on May 14. The team also announced a trio of bobbleheads — Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling — which will attach together to create a larger keepsake.
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