3 Dodgers legends who deserve more Hall of Fame consideration

The Los Angeles Dodgers have plenty of Baseball Hall of Fame representation, but it’s worth examining these three stars’ cases further.

The Dodgers are one of baseball’s premier franchises for a reason, sporting a legacy of greatness that extends far beyond their time in Hollywood to the Brooklyn days.

That explains their heightened representation in baseball’s hallowed halls — 55 players, executives and managers who spent their time in Dodger blue have been enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Add in the team’s four honored broadcasters, and you’ve got what we like to call “domination” going on.

But is it possible that the franchise’s footprint at the Hall should actually be larger than it currently is? There are a few Dodgers legends who should probably have a plaque by now who are still languishing in history’s purgatory — or, at least, if they don’t merit induction, we should make the conversation louder.

These three Dodgers deserve to have their cases argued on a wider scale.

3. Steve Garvey

Dodgers icon Steve Garvey should’ve come closer to Hall of Fame induction.

Iconic Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey would be a Hall of Famer if the statistical revolution hadn’t retrospectively devalued the way he played the game.

But how was he supposed to know every point of emphasis would change in the late ’90s?

Back in Garvey’s day as the face of the multi-time National League champion Dodgers, he wasn’t told that a walk was “just as good as a hit” — rather, he came up to the plate intending to smack singles and hit often and with power, which is exactly what he did.

A career .294 average offset by a meager .329 OBP would be unimpressive for a modern first baseman, but Garvey wasn’t planning to retire to glory based on the strength of his eye. The league MVP in 1974 (.312/21/111), that season kicked off an eight-year stretch of nothing but All-Star appearances, replete with three NL championships. At the time, you could make the argument that Garvey was the game’s biggest star on its largest stage.

He even rejuvenated himself with the Padres at age 35 in 1984, leading an entirely different team to the World Series with his veteran guile and still-potent bat.

If the Hall was truly a shrine for the famous, Garvey would’ve skated in on the first ballot. Unfortunately, his credentials somehow became less impressive over time, and he fell off the ballot in 2007 after 15 full years, peaking at 42.6% in his third year but never rallying with any sort of momentum, eventually petering out at 21.1%. Generally, someone who debuts at 41.6% these days sees a precipitous rise; not so, in this case.

We understand Garvey’s limitations and the reason for his exclusion, but the trajectory of his numbers is a bit baffling, especially for such a consistent on-field performer.

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1. Gil Hodges

The case for Brooklyn Dodgers star Gil Hodges is an emotional one by now.

Sure, the desire to see Gil Hodges join Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese and Roy Campanella in the Hall of Fame is mostly rooted in our desire to celebrate the iconic figures in baseball’s rich history. But what’s so wrong with that?

Can you tell the story of baseball in the 1950s and 1960s without mentioning Gil Hodges? No. And why would you want to?

Hodges pounded a remarkable 370 home runs between 1947-1963, the vast majority of them (344) coming between ’48 and ’59. Blessed with a 297-foot right field wall at Ebbets Field, Hodges still navigated it better than almost anyone else in his era, emerging as a face of the franchise’s iconic Dem Bums 1955 World Series championship.

The widow Hodges, Joan Lombardi, is still alive and advocating for her husband to this day, whose career has become associated with the New York Mets thanks to his managerial efforts in the 1969 season, as well as his tragic death. For some inexplicable reason, the man has been eternally bypassed, including missing election in 1993 by one reported vote.

Hodges was (whew, here we go) a better player than Phil Rizzuto, who was enshrined the very next year for mostly sentimental reasons. Why can’t we do the same for Hodges now, especially when his counting numbers are vastly superior?

His comparables do him no favors (Rocky Colavito, Norm Cash, Mark Teixeira, George Foster), a laundry list of Hall of Very Good members. But nobody on that list had the managerial success Hodges did, and everyone on that list was afforded the opportunity to fervently argue their own case. Not Hodges, and it’s an annual shame.

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