Which Dodger...
 

..is most deserving of HOF enshrinement who isn't already in? Is there any team with more borderline players?

Gil Hodges
Steve Garvey
Ron Cey
Willie Davis
Reggie Smith
Tommy John

Are names you see thrown around a lot. Garvey might be the most often tossed around of the bunch yet he is probably the least deserving! Still I would take all of these position players over Harold Baines and definitely take Tommy John over Jack Morris. I definitely support Hodges as a hybrid player manager selection but none of the others particularly bother me.

You could also make an argument that Orel Hershiser, Jerry Reuss, Burt Hooton, Bob Welch, Fernando Valenzuela, Charlie Hough, Andy Messeremith, Don Newcombe, Clause Osteen and maybe even Dave Stewart aren't significantly worse pitchers than Morris, though I wouldn't argue for putting any of them in (though I have a soft spot for Newcombe)

He'll never make it, but I would say Garvey because even though his career numbers are not that compelling especially using the newer metrics, he was considered to be one of the very best players in the game for around a decade. By that logic Hodges might deserve it too although not sure he was as high up the charts in the 50s as Garvey seemed to be in the 70s.

I think no on the others you mention has been the right call.

I don't think any are HOFers but if I had to pick one, I'd say Gil Hodges. Good career plus manager of 1969 Mets.

Hodges was supposed to be considered at the time of the winter meetings but it got pushed back until next fall.

With the advanced metrics of today none of them will make it, but from the eyeball test of watching them Steve Garvey is the only one who would get my vote.

I’ll take Garvey over Baines...and Garvey post season stats are very strong which adds a lot of value for me. He really raked in the postseason so to me that’s clutch.

Gilly hands down. Like Santo, he's been gone far too long to now honor his enshrinement after his passing. But deserved just the same.

Right on, Dave. After 1952, Gil Hodges always had a good World Series, including that classic managerial gem of '69! Sure, Gilly never won batting championships, nor led the league in this, that, or the other; his teammates did that, while Gil was often up in the top 5. He was a Rock of Gibralter to his marvelous mates, a quiet leader who helped keep the team on track. You could say that of Jack and Pee Wee, of whom enshrinement came to both of them, though very late for Pee Wee. I truly believe Ted Williams black-balled Gil on the Veterans Committee, when Gilly should have and would have been enshrined. I articulated about that matter a decade ago, and won't repeat. Be that as it may, Gil belongs, period. -- Brian Powell

Mike Brito should be enshrined on style points alone.

The problem for Hodges is and always has been his underwhelming career stats.



Black Ink
Batting - 2 (657), AverageHOFer ≈ 27

Gray Ink
Batting - 128 (144), AverageHOFer ≈ 144

Hall of Fame Monitor
Batting - 83 (239), LikelyHOFer ≈ 100

Hall of Fame Standards
Batting - 32 (283), AverageHOFer ≈ 50

JAWS
First Base (40th):
43.9 career WAR/ 33.7 7yr-peak WAR/ 38.8 JAWS
Average HOF 1B (out of 21):
66.9 career WAR / 42.7 7yr-peak WAR / 54.8 JAWS

This is also telling, not a HOFer among them.

Similar Batters
1.Norm Cash (930.3)
2.George Foster (926.4)
3.Tino Martinez (918.9)
4.Jack Clark (911.2)
5.Edwin Encarnacion (904.0)
6.Mark Teixeira (901.2)
7.Boog Powell (899.2)
8.Rocky Colavito (897.5)
9.Joe Adcock (895.3)
10.Lee May (892.9)

https://www.baseball-fever.com/forum...ommittee/page2


Here is an interesting post/thread about animosity toward Hodges by Williams, Earl Weaver and others.

Going to throw my hat in the ring for Tommy John.

Recognizing all that, a 'natural comparison' between Hodges and Tony Perez seems logically as they performed the same roll during their prime- dependable slugging corner infielder for the dominant National League team of their era.

Gray Ink
Hodges-128
Perez-129

HOF Monitor
Hodges-83
Perez-81

HOF Standards
Hodges-32
Perez-41

WAR
Hodges-43.9
Perez-54.0

Years Played
Hodges-18
Perez-23

Homers
Hodges-370
Perez-379

RBIs
Hodges-1274
Perez-1652

BA
Hodges-.273
Perez-.279

SA
Hodges-.487
Perez-.463

RBIs in Prime Decade
Hodges: 1042
1948-57: 70-115-113-103-102-122-130-102-87-98
Perez: 1028
1967-76: 102-92-122-129-91-90-101-101-109-91

Admittedly, I'm not a huge Perez fan and I did cherry-pick these stats, but if Perez is in, I believe Hodges should be too.


.

You wonder why neither Perez nor Cepeda made the top 10 in similarity scores.