NEW YORK — Ron Hodges, a catcher who spent his complete 12-season main league profession with the Mets, died Friday. He was 74.
Hodges died at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital after a brief sickness, Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz stated.
Chosen by the Mets within the second spherical of the second section of the January 1972 beginner draft, Hodges completed with a .240 batting common, 19 house runs and 147 RBIs throughout an enormous league profession that ran from 1973 to 1984. Hodges had a .342 on-base share with 224 walks and 217 strikeouts.
He performed underneath seven managers with the Mets: Yogi Berra, Roy McMillan, Joe Torre, George Bamberger, Frank Howard and Davey Johnson.
A local of Rocky Mount, Virginia, Hodges was the seventh of 9 youngsters of Daisy and Tony Hodges. He attended Franklin County Excessive College then Appalachian State.
Hodges was introduced as much as the Mets from Double-A Memphis in 1973 due to accidents to Jerry Grote and Duffy Dyer. Hodges made his debut June 13, 1973, 9 days shy of his twenty fourth birthday, catching Tom Seaver’s full sport win over the San Francisco Giants.
He batted .260 with one house run and 18 RBIs in his rookie season, hitting a Thirteenth-inning walk-off single towards Nationwide League East-leading Pittsburgh on Sept. 20.
Within the prime of the inning with a runner on first, Dave Augustine hit a two-out drive towards Ray Sadecki that caromed off the left-field wall above the 358-foot signal. Cleon Jones threw to Wayne Garrett, and the shortstop relayed to Hodges, who tagged Richie Zisk attempting to attain from first in what turned often known as the “Ball on the wall play.” The Mets pulled inside a half-game of first and took the division lead for good the next day behind Seaver’s five-hitter.
“I simply bear in mind so many key hits he bought for us,” Jones stated in an announcement. “Any time he performed, Ron at all times managed to do one thing to assist us win.”
Hodges had one postseason plate look, strolling towards Oakland‘s Rollie Fingers in Sport 1 of the 1973 World Sequence.
“Taking part in in that ’73 season with the pennant drive in September is my favourite reminiscence of my baseball profession,” Hodges stated in a 2018 interview with the Society for American Baseball Analysis.
Hodges was among the many gamers whose profession was interrupted by the 50-day midseason strike in 1981.
″If nothing occurs within the strike talks,″ he instructed The New York Occasions forward of the walkout, ″I will put everyone within the automobile and head house to Virginia. There’s not a lot demand for substitute lecturers in summer time faculty. However I used to get $25 to $30 a day throughout the winter, instructing phys ed within the center faculty — sixth, seventh and eighth grade. A number of days, I discovered myself in math and science. Whenever you’re a sub, you’re taking what they’ve.”
Hodges was behind the plate for Seaver’s return to the Mets on Opening Day of the 1983 season after the star spent 5½ seasons with Cincinnati. Due to accidents to John Stearns, Hodges performed 110 video games that 12 months, his solely season with greater than 80.
He’s survived by his spouse, Peggy; sons Riley, Grey, Nat and Casey; sisters Aubrey, Carmen, Pat and Donna; and two grandchildren. Funeral preparations had been pending.
