1986 Sportflics Decade Greats - Hodges/Vernon/Kluszewski

 

This was a particularly hard card to get good photos from. Hodges looks fine but I kept getting Mickey Vernon wearing a Dodgers hat or Ted Kluszewski wearing a Senators hat. The card looks much better in person.

Gil Hodges was recently elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Hodges was a solid but not really spectacular hitter, but had the good timing to have his best years with the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the 1950s. He was a lifetime .273 hitter and never led the league in any offensive category. However, he did hit 370 home runs, and hit .267 with 5 HR and 21 RBI in seven World Series. His HOF candidacy was helped by his managerial career - despite a 660-753 record, he managed the legendary 1969 Mets. Sadly, he died of a heart attack in 1972, while still managing the Mets. None of the top 10 players to Hodges by similarity score are in the HOF - the top three are Norm Cash, George Foster and Tino Martinez. Hey, if Hodges is a HOFer, why not Tino? Both were core members of legendary teams, with similar numbers. Maybe in 50 years Tino gets in.

While Hodges was fortunate enough to star for one of the best teams in baseball, Mickey Vernon starred in anonymity for one of the worst. Vernon's career numbers weren't quite as good as Hodges (.286 average but with only 172 HR) but he did win two AL batting titles and led the league in doubles three times. Had he played on better teams he would certainly be better remembered today. A long-time coach and minor league manager after his playing days, Vernon died in 2008.

Ted Kluszewski was thought of primarily as a big, mashing slugger, but he actually had a better batting average than Hodges or Vernon (.298). From 1953 to 1956 he was one of the best hitters in baseball, with 35+ home runs and .300+ batting average each season. Unfortunately back injuries prevented him from much further success. Kluszewski had a great batting eye, walking over 100 times more than he struck out. After his playing career he was the hitting coach for the Big Read Machine and owned a chain of steakhouses in the Cincinnati area. He died of a heart attack in 1988.