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Gil Hodges, 1954
Stats: .304/.373/.579/.952, 42 HR, 130 RBI, 176 H, 106 R, 23 2B, 140 OPS+, 335 TB
Awards: All-Star, MVP (10th in voting)
Baseball Reference WAR: 6.2
FanGraphs WAR: 6.0
Combined WAR: 6.1
Although he’s considered to be one of the better power hitters in franchise history, this is surprisingly the only time Gil Hodges finds himself on this top 100 list. 1954 was his best season of his career, as he had career-highs in a number of categories. Here are the different stats in which Hodges had career-bests in during the 1954 campaign.
- 42 home runs
- 130 RBI
- 176 hits
- .304 AVG
- .579 Slugging %
- .952 OPS
- 335 total bases
Hodges was named to the All-Star team, one of eight times he’d receive the honor during his career. He also finished 10th in MVP voting, the second highest he’d ever finish. It is crazy to think that a guy who finished with 40+ homers and 130 RBI finished 10th in MVP voting, but it’s understandable considering guys like Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Stan Musial and Pee Wee Reese finished ahead of him.
Some noticeable splits from his 1954 season include his dominance against lefties. He only had 86 plate appearances against them, but he hit .417/.465/.667/1.132 with four homers and 20 RBI.
Hodges got off to a hot start to begin the year, as he hit .358 with an OPS of 1.122 through the first month of the season. He cooled down a bit over the next few months, but got hot again in August as he hit ..354/.417/.584/1.001. In 28 games during the month, Hodges hit seven homers and scored 29 runs.