I-69 bridge in Indiana honors Baseball Hall of Fame member Gil Hodges

PETERSBURG, Ind. (WISH) — An Interstate 69 bridge near the White River has been named for a Baseball Hall of Fame player from southern Indiana, the Department of Transportation says.

Gil Hodges was honored after state lawmakers in March approved a resolution that requested the bridge in Pike County be named after the man who competed in seven World Series.

Hodges was born April 4, 1924, in Princeton. As a youth, he excelled in baseball in his hometown of Petersburg.

In 2022, the player who wore jersey No. 14 was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The hall’s website notes he hit 370 homers in 2,071 games as a player for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets, and was 660-753 in nine seasons as a manager with the Mets and the Washington Senators team. The Mets retired his uniform number in 1973, and the Dodgers did the same last month.

Also, Hodges received the first three Gold Glove Awards for first baseman in the National League.

Indiana Department of Transportation says a mural for Hodges will be placed in his hometown of Petersburg at the intersection of State Road 57 and State Road 61 on Saturday.

He died in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Easter Sunday in 1972 at age 47 after suffering a heart attack.