Ron Hodges
From The Met Wiki
Ron Hodges was a catcher who played his entire 12-year major league career with the Mets. In 666 games from 1973 to 1984, Ron batted .240 with 19 home runs and 147 runs batted in. Hodges had 342 hits and 119 runs scored as a Met.
Hodges joined the Mets in 1973. In his third game, he hit a home run that put the Mets ahead to stay in a 3-1 win over the Padres on June 17. During the pennant drive that season, Ron got a run-scoring single in the 13th inning to defeat the Pirates, 4-3, at Shea Stadium on September 20. In Game 1 of the World Series, Hodges walked in his only Series plate appearance.
In 1974, Hodges appeared in 59 games in his first full season in the majors. He had 30 hits during the year, four of which were home runs. On April 28, Ron's two-run homer in the seventh inning broke a tie and led the Mets to a 6-4 win at San Francisco. He homered of Hall-of-Famer Bob Gibson in a 5-3 Mets' loss to the Cardinals at Shea on June 30. Hodges also hit a home run in the Mets' 5-4 victory over the Astros on August 26 at Shea.
After spending the 1975 season in the minor leagues, Ron joined the Mets in September. He hit a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Mets a 9-7 win over the Phillies on September 20. The following day, he homered in the ninth off Tug McGraw for the Mets' only two runs in a 4-2 loss to the Phils.
Hodges appeared in 56 games in 1976. For the season, he set personal highs with 35 hits, 24 RBIs and 53 total bases. He also hit four home runs during the '76 season, three of which came in Atlanta. On May 11, Ron and Bud Harrelson each hit their first homers of the season in a loss to the Braves. Hodges homered in the Mets' 4-2 win over the Braves in Atlanta on July 10. He also had a home run in a 9-8 Mets defeat in Atlanta one day later.
On May 19, 1977, Hodges was the catcher for Met pitcher Jackson Todd's first major league win. In the game, Ron supported his battery mate with 2 singles and an RBI for a 4-3 victory over the Giants at Shea. His only homer of the '77 season came as a pinch-hitter at Pittsburgh on August 11.
From 1978 to 1980, Ron played in a total of 142 games and batted .217 with 10 doubles and 17 RBIs. During this period, he got his first major league triple off Joaquin Andujar in a 9-7 Mets win at Houston on May 27, 1978. In '80, Hodges drove in the winning run with a 10th inning double for a 3-2 win over the Reds on May 5. He also got a run-scoring single in the 11th inning to give the Mets a 6-5 win over the Pirates on June 7 at Shea.
In the strike-shortened 1981 season, Hodges batted a career-high .302 with 13 hits in 43 times at bat. His only home run of the season came off Bill Lee in the Mets' 4-3 loss to Expos on April 19.
Ron set new highs for himself in 1982. His totals of 56 hits, 12 doubles, 5 home runs and 27 RBIs were among his never-reached-before numbers. Hodges hit a three-run homer in the Mets' 6-3 win at Cincinnati on June 6. He got his second career triple off the Reds' Bruce Berenyi in the Mets' 3-2 win at Shea on September 4. Ron also hit the only grand slam of his career in the Mets' 9-1 victory at Pittsburgh on September 8.
Hodges played in a career-high 110 games in 1983. For the season, he batted .260 and hit 12 doubles to tie his mark from the previous year. In '84, he concluded his career with a .208 batting average in 64 games. He hit a pinch-hit homer to help ignite a Mets comeback in an 8-6 win over the Braves on July 12. It was his last major league home run. On September 25, he singled in the ninth inning off the Phillies' Larry Andersen to score Mookie Wilson just before Rusty Staub hit a game-winning home run. The single was Hodges' last career hit and the 6-4 win clinched second place for the Mets in the National League East Division.
