AUGUST 31, 1950 • BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS • Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers (today’s Los Angeles Dodgers) became the 4th player in major league history to hit 4 home runs in a game* on this date in baseball history (1950). The slugging first baseman’s four round-trippers and a single helped the Dodgers beat the Boston Braves (now in Atlanta) 19-3. Hodges had 17 total bases that day.
Hodges had at least 25 home runs nine times in his career. He had 100 RBI or more seven times. He finished with a .273 lifetime average and 370 home runs – at the time, the most by a right-handed hitter. Gil Hodges was a pillar of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950’s, the decade they finally came through, after 66 years in the National League, and won a World Series in 1955. Hodges had 27 home runs and 102 RBIs that year.
Hodges finished his playing career with the New York Mets in 1963, and then became manager of the Washington Senators (today’s Texas Rangers). The Mets came calling again in 1968 for Hodges to manage them. He helped turn the perennial last place team into the Amaz’in Mets who shocked the sports world in 1969 by winning the World Series.
*Chuck Klein of the Philadelphia Phillies and Pat Seerey of the Chicago White Sox each hit four home runs in one game prior to Hodges, but they needed extra innings to do it.
CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
The New York Times, Boston, Massachusetts, September 1, 1950