In 1967, the Washington Senators went 76-85 under manager Gil Hodges and finished just out of the first division in the American League, tied for sixth (out of 10) with the defending World Champion Baltimore Orioles. Hodges had taken his team from a winning percentage of .346 in 1963, to a more respectable .472 in his fifth year as skipper. Local baseball fans were certain Hodges was the guy to take the ballclub to the next level of competitiveness.
Then he quit.
Well, he didn’t quit in the traditional sense, but it was about the same thing. Hodges, who spent the bulk of his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, wanted to manage the Mets and the Mets wanted him. So Hodges informed general manager George Selkirk of his intentions, and Selkirk traded Hodges to New York for pitcher Bill Denehy. Denehy pitched two nondescript innings for the ’68 Senators, and Hodges went on to take the ’69 Mets to an improbable World Series victory. Hodges was never castigated for bailing on Washington, since, well, he was Gil Hodges, by God.
Hodges’ career winning percentage in Washington was .420. He never had enough good players to compete for a postseason slot, and obviously, the Mets didn’t hold that against him. Jim Riggleman’s career winning percentage is .445, but like Hodges, he’s never really had a top flight roster, outside of 1998 when his Cubs were a wild card. Looking back at that roster today makes you wonder how they ever won 90 games.
The longer I’m around this game, the less I understand the whole managerial procedure. If someone’s winning percentage determines whether or not he’s a good manager, then why did Casey Stengel get another shot with the Yankees when he’d done so poorly with the Braves and Dodgers? Gene Mauch managed for 26 years in the big leagues and won just two division titles, yet reporters who covered him still speak of him with great reverence. There’s no consistency.
Riggleman may have said it best himself when he told reporters following his resignation last Thursday: “I’m no Casey Stengel, but I think I’m pretty good at what I do.”
Most anyone you speak to inside the game agree with that assessment, given the personnel he’s been given to work with since taking the job. Someday he may look back with some regret about the way he went about his departure, but he did what he thought was right for him.
As for the impact of Hodges’ departure from Washington, the Senators hired former slugger Jim Lemon to skipper the team in 1968, and most of the gains from 1967 fell by the wayside. Other than Frank Howard’s big year at the plate, the club slid back to last place, losing 96 games. I always felt Hodges’ leaving had a lot to do with that. Had Hodges stayed in the dugout and the on-field product continued to improve, maybe the Senators never move to Texas.
Examiner columnist Phil Wood is a baseball historian and contributor to MASN’s Nats Xtra. Contact him at [email protected].
