FanPost

Gil Hodges was the Better Manager and Better Man

Tom Seaver recently visited with Mike Krukow, who loves to talk about baseball in the SF Giants booth. Seaver talked about the pitch "watch" for the brilliant Mets pitching staff many of us remember. It went like this - 125 for Seaver, 135 for Jerry Koosman and 145 for Nolan Ryan. Since they were pitching before we kept track of every last thing, it's a bit of work to figure out how many pitches they did throw. But it's no stretch to see that they threw many. Seaver and Koosman finished 46% and 31% of the games they started for the Mets. Nolan Ryan, who was only with the team at the beginning of his career, completed nearly one in five of his starts. He averaged over six walks per nine innings, so as he would the remainder of his career, worked particularly hard.

Mets fans can look forward to a new set of very good pitchers in 2015. From out here on the left coast, Harvey, deGrom and Wheeler catch my attention. I'll be tuning in. But to this guy whose childhood memories are tinged with the Miracle Mets of 1969, the workhorses of the past still set the mark for excellence. While I wouldn't have traded the Cubs staff of Jenkins, Holtzman and Hands for them, I would have gladly traded the Mets the Cubs manager, Leo Durocher, for the steady and reliable manager of the Mets, Gil Hodges. Read more about it here, if you like.

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