Mets’ 1967 trade for Gil Hodges made team miraculous

The rumbling had begun not long after Wes Westrum had reached out to Mets management to discuss his future and was told, in essence, that he had none, not in Flushing. That was Sept. 21, 1967. Salty Parker was a lifelong baseball man, but he was no long-term answer for the Mets. He managed the last 11 games of the 1967 season, won four of them. 

No, there was only one answer for the woman who owned the Mets, Joan Payson. 

And his name was Gilbert Ray Hodges. 

Payson had been a lifelong Giants fan and was, in fact, the only shareholder on the Giants board who’d voted against the move to San Francisco. Later, she was given first dibs on New York’s new National League expansion team and seized it. Despite her loyalty to the Giants, however, Payson always held a soft spot for one old Dodger. Hodges. 

“I don’t know anyone who’s met Gil Hodges who doesn’t think the world of him,” Payson said on Oct. 11, 20 days after Westrum was exiled, the day the Mets hired Hodges to be their manager. 

It was a costly transaction for the Mets, because Hodges was still under contract to the Washington Senators as manager. They agreed to fork over $100,000 (around $888,000 in 2022 dollars), a record amount for a non-player. The Senators were also due a player; their first ask was Tom Seaver. 

“If Seaver had been involved in the deal,” Hodges said a few years later, “there would’ve been no deal.” 

So the Mets offered three names, all pitchers: Bill Denehy, Al Schmelz and Frank McGraw — also known as Tug. McGraw’s lone claim to fame was that he’d been the first Mets pitcher to ever beat Sandy Koufax. But he was still years away from reinventing himself as a closer, and helping to reinvent the position of relief pitcher, too. The Senators chose Denehy, who only a year earlier had been rated as high as Seaver, had shared the 1968 Topps card with Seaver for “Best Mets Rookies.” 

“We were prospects 1A and 1B,” Denehy told the Hartford Courant in 2020, a few days after Seaver died. 

It took a few weeks to settle on those details. So on Oct. 11, 1967, before Game 6 of the World Series between the Cardinals and Red Sox, the Mets held a press conference in Boston. Hodges was seated between GM Bing Devine and VP Johnny Murphy. He was ecstatic, both with his deal (three years, $60,000 per) and his return to New York, where he and his family had kept their Brooklyn home. 

“It’s the most money I’ve ever made in baseball,” Hodges said. “And it’s the perfect situation for me and my family.” Then he joked: “Joan [his wife] accepted the job a few days before it was even offered.” 

What we know now, of course, is the reality that this move transformed not only the Mets as a franchise, but also Hodges as an icon. It only took two seasons for the Mets to rise from a 61-101 record in 1967 to a world championship in 1969; it took Hodges 53 more years to convince the Hall of Fame to open its doors to him, which it will Sunday in Cooperstown. 

For as terrific a player as Hodges was with the Dodgers and the Mets, it almost certainly took his four years managing the Mets — plus the expansion of Hall regulations allowing voters to consider the entirety of a man’s baseball life — to make this day happen. 

The funny thing? In real time, the hiring wasn’t greeted with unanimous acclimation. There was Hodges’ managerial record — 321-444 — in 4 ½ years in Washington. (“Hodges’ lifetime record seems a perfect fit for the Mets’ lifetime record,” Post columnist Larry Merchant quipped.) 

There was the fact Devine clearly didn’t want to make the deal, that it was forced on him by Payson and actually closed by Murphy (who’d roomed with Senators GM George Selkirk as a Yankee years before). Devine soon left the Mets to return to his old job with St. Louis, which in the moment felt like a terrible blow. And the fact is: $100,000 was a lot of money in 1967. And what if Bill Denehy became a star? 

Well, Payson had plenty of cash reserves. Denehy wound up with a lifetime record of 1-10. And Hodges added weight and heft to his status as a borderline Hall of Fame player. If it wasn’t the best deal the Mets ever made … well, it’s in the conversation.

Vac’s Whacks

I am not one of those guys who ever wonders “What would George say?” during the periodic periods when Yankees fans question Hal Steinbrenner’s spending habits. I am, however, absolutely one of those guys who wonders, “What would George say?” after that doubleheader loss to the Astros. That might’ve been a first-ballot back page hall of fame entrant. 

I recognize I’m a little late to this party, but “Yellowstone” has made for a wonderful summer binge watch in the Vaccaro household. 

The Braves really are starting to remind you of the relentless posse from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” You half expect Buck Showalter to open up a press conference and ask, “Who are those guys?” 

We can agree that the Jets may well improve more than the Giants this year — maybe much more — and Gang Green may still have 2-3 fewer wins than Big Blue, right?

Whack Back at Vac

Howie Siegel: If Jalen Brunson turns out to be a speedster, can we call him Brunson burner? 

Vac: Howie will be here all week. Try the veal. 

Alan Hirschberg: The big question isn’t when Jacob deGrom will make his first start. It’s when will he make his second? 

Vac: (As Mets fans all nod silently and solemnly …) 

@dye11: I don’t think the Yankees have to worry about losing home field by one game, the Astros can cruise to a 6-8 game margin over the Yankees. Yankees have to hope they don’t see the Astros in the playoffs period. 

@MikeVacc: I don’t know if the Astros are in the Yankees’ heads, but they sure seem to be in the fans’ heads. 

Mike Pristas: I have a gift for you. I was a lifelong Pirates fan until I met my neighbor Bob, a lifelong Yankees fan. It’s great to root for a team that is trying to win. I have since converted to the pinstripes. Anyways, I have a nickname for my former Pirate Clay Holmes who is a great success story and hell of a closer: “Surelock Holmes.” 

Vac: Hey, what can I say? I like that.