Gil Hodges Funeral Part 1 

Long overdue, but Gil has finally been elected to the MLB Hall of Fame. Congratulations to his family. It is well deserved!

I grew up in LA and my earliest memory of the Dodgers was when I was seven in 1955. Dad ran track with Mack Robinson, Jackie's brother, when he was a teen and spent a lot of time in the Robinson home. Consequently the Dodgers were the only team followed in our home. I knew all about Jackie of course but in 1955 I became aware of Gil and he became my other favorite "Boy of Summer." While his baseball skills were amazing, I was drawn to him because I detected a kindness and faith that shaped him.

Love Gil Hodges. Thanks for posting this. He was beloved in Brooklyn and was a man of great integrity and character.

Let's honor this great player and manager's memory by inducting him into the Hall of Fame! There is a void in the hall without him...

Gil Hodges belongs in the Hall of Fame, period!

This was my home parish , sat in church a few times with Gil and shook his hand once. He was a neighbor hood ballplayer in the tradition of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Gil you made it--you are in the hall!! you were always in my hall and everyone who saw you play!

Thanks for posting.This is particularly interesting to me since,in addition to being a Mets fan,I also grew up just a few blocks from Our Lady Help of Christians church where this funeral was held.I actually joined the church little league just a couple of years after this funeral.The church and surrounding blocks look pretty much the same as they do here some 40 years later.

He is now in the hall of fame.

Many people have felt that the worst thing to happen in Mets history was when the Mets traded Seaver to the Reds or trading Nolan Ryan to the Angels. My Uncle who took me to Mets games and made me a Met fan in 1967 thought differently. He said the worst thing that ever happened to the Mets was the passing of Gil Hodges and I agree. Tom Seaver and David Wright are my favorite Mets. Willie Mays and Hank Aaron are in my opinion the greatest players in the game so far. For me Gil Hodges was my favorite person in the game and still the greatest manager the Mets have ever had. Rest in peace Mr. Hodges!

He should be in the hall of fame

Don Newcombe & Carl Erskine are still with us

This was in early 1972. Sadly, Jackie Robinson would have only months to live. His body had been ravaged by diabetes and it must have been quite an effort, both physically and mentally, to make it to Gil's funeral.

I remember my Grandmother told me Gil Hodges had died of a heart attack while playing Golf. We were devastated.

Wow, brought back a lot of memories.

Why is this great baseball player not in the Hall of Fame?!

Of all his friends and ex-players, they say Jackie Robinson was inconsolable following the church ceremony. Howard Cosell ask Hodges son to step into a limo where he found Robinson cry his eyes out.

I went to PS 193, which later became "Gil Hodges Elementry school! His death was truly a shocker! I believe had he lived longer the Mets would have had another WS..

Hmmmmmmmmm, the organ music being played as the casket is being carried into the church sounds like the opening bars of that old Navy hymn "Eternal Father Strong To Save" which was played at the Arlington National Cemetery gravesite ceremonies of John F. Kennedy in November 1963 and his wife Jackie in May 1994.

Also in attendance, at 8:05, is Michael Burke, then president of the New York Yankees.

Also attending, Mets owner Joan Payson.

I remember this sad time. Yogi Berra, who took over the management of the Mets, is still alive today, and he's only a year younger than Gil Hodges would have been. It suggests that those Old Gold cigarettes that Yogi endorsed in the 1950's when he was a Yankee player were not his favorite. At the time in 1972, I knew that 47 was early middle age, and I've passed it. However, the dangers of cigarette smoking remain. After Gil Hodges had a heart attack in 1968. he tried to quit, but then...

Look- M. Donald Grant @ 8:55! And see the bald guy with the glasses @ 7:11? That's Lou Niss. If you bought your Mets Yearbooks in the 60's and early 70's, you always saw him in the team picture. I believe he was the club's traveling secretary. Years before, he was sports editor of the old Brooklyn Daily Eagle. I think the lady with dark glasses in the same shot is Lorinda (?) deRoulet, who became club president when Mrs. Payson died.

We shared the same birthday (April 4th) and he died 2 days before I was born in '72.

It's bizarre that the Mets named Yogi Berra Gil's successor the day of his funeral.

The guy at the 6:15 mark looks like game show host Jim Lange.

Are the Mets cursed because they did not name the rotunda for Gil?I'll bet if Jackie knew what Wilpon did,he would veto it.

No Vin Scully?

Where in New York was this?

40 years later, of his contemporaries only yogi and ralph branca are left