The year was 1971, and I know the expression is cliché, but I remember it like it was yesterday, when Harold "Gomer" Hodge’s Cleveland baseball legend was built on key, back-to-back pinch-hitting assignments.
Let's look at how the legend started.
Opening Day — April 6, 1971
This was Hodge’s only season in the big leagues as a utility infielder (and even though he played all infield positions adequately, he always said his best position was "hitting.")
On this day in Detroit, Hodge came up against tough Tiger left-hander Mickey Lolich in his first pinch-hitting assignment of the year. The Tribe’s next game, their home opener on April 8, saw Hodge get an eighth-inning pinch-hit double that led to him also scoring the Tribe’s first run of the game. Remaining in the game, he delivered a two-run single that secured a 3-2 Tribe win, putting his legend into overdrive with Cleveland baseball fans hungry for a winning season and hopes for optimism.
A few days later in Boston, Hodge once again came through as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning with a solid double, spurring the Tribe to a 7-2 win over the Red Sox.
So, if you are keeping track, Hodge was 4-for-4 in his first four official plate appearances, which led to the first of many quirky quotes that Cleveland sportswriters came to drool over. When asked about his success in those first four at-bats, Hodge simply exclaimed, “Golly fellas, that means I’m hitting 4.000.”
Another Lost Cleveland Baseball Season
Unfortunately, as it pertains to the 1971 season, those first few weeks were probably the high point, as the team’s fortunes slid into another miserable season, and for Hodge, whose batting average slid to a lowly .205, it ended with a demotion to Triple-A Portland, never to return to the major leagues.
The organization eventually asked Hodge to become a player-coach, and he knew that meant his time in the big leagues was finished, but if the team thought highly enough of his skill set to ask him to coach, perhaps he could remain around the game he loved so much.
He did rise to become a manager at the lower levels of the farm system before getting fired in 1976. This led to him making the decision to try and forget about baseball by returning to Rutherfordton, North Carolina, helping his father out on the family farm.
But baseball was not done with Gomer just yet, as Cleveland farm director Bob Quinn called Hodge in 1981 to ask if he had any interest in managing their Class-A team in Waterloo. Although eager to get back in the game, Gomer could not help but ask why he had been fired the first go around. Quinn replied, “You had a “bleep” record!”
Gomer Hodge's Managerial Success
More success as a manager came Gomer’s way this time around as he was named Manager of the Year in the Midwest League in 1981 and 1983. From there, Gomer went on to work in various positions at various levels in the minor leagues for Cleveland, Milwaukee, Boston, and Montreal.
Today, we are seeing baseball’s international popularity grow at warp speed, but Gomer was there at its beginnings as he even coached in Australia and Mexico for a period.
Health, and even some financial issues, eventually forced him from the game altogether.
You probably guessed by now that Hodge got the nickname from the television character Gomer Pyle, given to him by minor-league teammates who thought Hodge did indeed sound, and in many ways act, like the TV character.
Our Favorite Gomer Hodge Memories
While a scout in the Montreal Expos organization for the winter leagues in 1992-1993, Hodge came across a 17-year-old kid with an amazing skill that he dug in on and told the Expos to sign. The kid, one Vladimir Guerrero, became one of the best players of his era.
Another favorite memory was that aforementioned day in 1971, when Hodge was called into manager Alvin Dark’s office near the end of spring training. Hodge thought it was going to be the dreaded “you’re going down to the minors" conversation but happily it was to inform Gomer that he made the team. Hodge always said in his time, players played for the love of the game, just the way they did as kids and throughout their rise to the majors. He always felt that many of today’s players do not completely appreciate what it means to step out onto a major-league field for the first time, let alone what it took to remain there.
Hodge remained in North Carolina for the rest of his life after his final stop in baseball with the Expos before passing away on May 13, 2007. Gomer, I just want you to know, that this writer was a 12-year-old Cleveland baseball fan in 1971, and your legend and the memories you brought to that season are nowhere near forgotten just yet. I am fairly certain that in your Field of Dreams, you are still coming through in the late innings when called upon to grab a bat. Rest in peace.