Ron Hodges (split from 4/15/08 IGT)

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Valadius wrote: Edgy wasn't around to start the IGTs.

Like that's a real excuse.

MBTN was well ahead of the competition in celebrating Ron Hodges Day.

http://mbtn.net/happy-ron-hodges-day

I think I'm going to add a positional category "special" to recognize instances like this.

[metirish]

I wonder if all the current Mets appreciate what Hodges went through, can't have been easy being held back all those years from a starting job.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I suspect that most of the current Mets have no idea who Ron Hodges is.

Ron's son, by the way, recently posted an entry on his dad's UMDB page.

[metirish]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I suspect that most of the current Mets have no idea who Ron Hodges is. Ron's son, by the way, recently posted an entry on his dad's OMDB page.

I have often wondered what it must be like for a son or daughter to read some of the memories posted about their Dads , obviously it's not easy to read some of it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I was not nice to Ron Hodges, who really was useful; just not so useful that the Mets ever found great use for him, if you know what I mean.

He had a good eye at the plate and could hit a homer every now and again. He was good enough to have sat in everyday as a catcher if he had to -- prolly a better offensive player than Grote.

His initial callup to the Mets in '73 was something legendary. He was hitting around .200 in A-ball when a rash of injuries forced the Mets to go get him. I believe he had caught Yogi's eye in instructional league. But it would be like the Mets today getting an injury to Schneider and Casanova and calling up Francisco Pena.

He was believed to be over his head but actually performed pretty well that year, really contributed to the pennant race. He did not do as well in 74 and was down in the minors for much of the next year or so, before resurfacing as the "regular" 3rd catcher back whern teams carried 8 or 9 pitchers.

[Guest Grote15]

It would be like Schneider getting hurt and Hodges getting first call over Castro and the other guy

[Guest AG/DC]

Wouldn't it be nice to be Ron Hodges?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Ron's son, by the way, recently posted an entry on his dad's UMDB page.

Looks like both his boys did... Casey and Nat.

Casey is a senior pitcher for Mt. Olive, wears 24, and dreams of pitching to David Wright amd hitting off Johan Santana. Nat has logged at least 1 year on Radford U's team.

Meet Casey. What a name! We have to draft this guy.
http://www.mountolivecollege.edu/athletics/PlayerProfile.php?Section=athletics&RosterIDNumber=637

[Benjamin Grimm]

I just rediscovered that old Casey Hodges post (from 2004) a minute or so before you mentioned it, Johnny.

Lotsa memories of Ron Hodges here: http://leaptoad.com/mets/profile.php?PlayerCode=0209&tabno=7

He named his son Casey! Casey Hodges! How great is THAT!?! (Casey mentions that he was born in 1986, so his dad has been an ex-Met all his life.)

http://www.mountolivecollege.edu/home/dshulimson/images_athletics/Baseball/hodges.jpg
Casey Hodges

[Guest AG/DC]

He looks like Dad. If we can get a catcher named Davey Valentine (maybe a son of Javier) we can get all of our future Mets Hall of Fame managers in one battery.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Casey's averaging nearly a whiff an inning for Mt. Olive which is (gasp!) 40-4 so far this year.

[metirish]

His favorite book is Baseball America....he didn't specify which year.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Casey Hodges just has to become a Met.

Can they somehow pretend that he's Dominican and sign him NOW, without having to draft him?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I am so into that idea. I will use the bully pulpit of my unpopular blog to campaign for this (and maybe drop an email to Marty Noble... he'd be all over it).

[Frayed Knot]

Ron Hodges placed 12 times in the CPF Rankings project - only Franco & Kranpool had more - but wound up in the bottom half of the year in each of them including five times in the bottom five.

Such is the life of a backup catcher.

[soupcan]

I met Ron Hodges at a Met game when I was 12 or so. He was really nice to me and spoke in a slow, friendly southern drawl.

Doug Flynn's my all-time fave but #42 is right up there.

[stevejrogers]

Speaking of Ron Hodges, hey JCL, can you tell me the story of how this guy



ended up in your avatar?

[Farmer Ted]

I think that the MBTN author should send a copy of the book to the bitter young Hodges boys with a nice note on that classy, glossy MBTN letterhead.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Ron Hodges, Mo Vaughn, and Butch Huskey are all getting a lot of UMDB hits today.

Not Roger McDowell, though.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

lunchbucket -"Casey's averaging nearly a whiff an inning for Mt. Olive which is (gasp!) 40-4 so far this year."

Not only is Mount Olive 40-4, but they are ranked #1 for Division II for the past two weeks.

[Guest AG/DC]

soupcan wrote: I met Ron Hodges at a Met game when I was 12 or so. He was really nice to me and spoke in a slow, friendly southern drawl. Doug Flynn's my all-time fave but #42 is right up there.

Holy shit! My brother!

[soupcan]

I always knew.

[Guest AG/DC]

Marty Noble using the CPF for material again:

Son of former Met a chip off old block

Casey Hodges, son of Ron, a star for Mount Olive College

By Marty Noble / MLB.com

NEW YORK -- Once was the time when the Mets' Minor League system was rife with the sons of former big league players -- Preston Wilson, Lee May Jr., Jamie Roseboro and the son of Larry Jaster. And since then, the Mets developed -- and traded -- Brian Bannister and drafted but didn't sign the son of Howard Johnson.

Bloodlines are not to be dismissed. Now another son is visible on the horizon, though not necessarily the Mets'. Not only is heredity at work in this case, but the player's name has a decidedly Mets sound to it -- Casey Hodges.

Where the son of former Mets catcher Ron Hodges stands -- or if he stands at all -- in the club's thinking as the First-Year Player Draft approaches is an unknown. Clubs typically keep their amateur thoughts confidential. But his father has seen Mets scout Marlin McPhail at the games Casey Hodges has pitched for Mount Olive College. And McPhail isn't the only scout.

Mount Olive, a member of the Carolina Conference, isn't a high-profile baseball power, but it runs a successful program in North Carolina. It is ranked No. 1 in the nation among Division II schools. And this Hodges, named for Casey Stengel and not related to Gil Hodges, is a primary figure in the school's recent successes as a right-handed pitcher and utility man.

Hodges, a senior, had a 7-1 record and a 2.08 ERA as a junior, and has an 8-1 record and a 2.78 ERA in 13 games -- 12 starts -- this year.

"He's had a nice run," Ron Hodges said by telephone from his home in Rocky Mount, Va. "And the scouts have been around. He's getting a lot of attention. If the Mets take him, that'd be great."

Hodges, who played with the Mets from 1973-84 and for no other team, still refers to the Mets in the first-person plural and maintains an interest in both them and the baseball career of his fourth son.

"Casey throws 88-92 [mph] with a breaking ball and a split-finger changeup that people like," the father says. "He throws strikes and he's poised. I'd like to say he takes after his father. But if he did, he'd be a catcher."

Marty Noble is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs

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[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I tipped him off the other day!

[Benjamin Grimm]

Johnny Lunchbucket gets credited with an assist.