The New York Mets said that Ron Hodges died on Friday at the age of 74. He had been in the Major Leagues for 12 years. The Mets were Hodges’s team for his whole career.
Several other teams tried to draught Hodges before he finally signed with the Mets. In the sixth round of the 1970 draught, the Baltimore Orioles picked him, but he didn’t sign with them. In 1971, Hodges was chosen by the Kansas City Royals in January and the Atlanta Braves in June. However, he didn’t sign with a team until New York picked him up in the second round of the secondary phase in the January 1972 draught. After signing, Hodges quickly made it to the major leagues. In June 1973, he made his start with a Major League team.
During his rookie year in 1973, Hodges played the part he would play for the rest of his career: backup catcher and pinch-hitter and came off the bench. In his first big league game, Hodges caught Hall of Fame right-hander Tom Seaver. That same year, he made the team’s postseason squad. Even though he didn’t play in the NLCS against the Reds, Hodges came in as a relief hitter in Game 1 of the World Series against the Oakland A’s. He walked in his only at-bat of the series, as the Mets lost to Oakland in seven games.
Hodges spent most of his first eight seasons as a player meant to fill in for injured pitchers or starters. He did a good job in that role, hitting.233/.320/.314 in 377 games over those two seasons. In 1981, though, Hodges got a little wild with the bat. Even though he only played in 35 games, he did very well with his slash line of.302/.375/.419 in 48 at-bats that season. Because of how well he hit, he got more playing time during the 1982 season. He split time behind the plate with John Stearns and played in 80 games, hitting above-average.246/.358/.373 in 276 plate appearances.
Hodges did well in a bigger part in 1982, which led to an even bigger chance the next year. In 1983, he started behind the plate for the Mets on Opening Day and caught Seaver in his first game back in Queens as an adult. Following that, Hodges played in 110 games for the Mets that season and hit.260/.383/.308 in 305 at-bats. It turned out to be the second-to-last season of Hodges’ career. He stopped after the 1984 season, having played in 666 games and hitting.683 times. Hodges got 342 hits over the course of his career, hitting.240/.342/.322. We at MLBTR are sorry for Hodges’s family, friends, loved ones, and coworkers’ loss.
