Russ Hodges

Russell Pleasant Hodges

• Born June 18, 1910 in Dayton, TN USA
• Died April 18, 1971 in San Francisco, CA USA

Biographical Information

Russ Hodges was a broadcaster who did play-by-play for several teams, most notably the New York Giants and San Francisco Giants.

After beginning his career in 1929, Hodges was nomadic for two decades. He worked for the Chicago Cubs, Washington Senators and Cincinnati Reds, before landing in New York with the New York Yankees.

In 1949, Hodges finally found a home with the Giants. On October 3, 1951, he was at the microphone for Bobby Thomson's famous "Shot Heard 'Round the World". It was Hodges who cried, "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" When the club moved to San Francisco in 1958, he followed the club west. He continued working for the team through 1970, when he retired.

Hodges died suddenly of a heart attack in 1971. In 1980, he was the fourth recipient of the Ford Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcasting. In 2000, the Giants named the press box in their new stadium the Hodges-Simmons Broadcast Center in honor of Hodges and his former partner Lon Simmons.

Further Reading

• Russ Hodges (as told to Ray Sons): "The Game I'll Never Forget", Baseball Digest, September 1969, pp. 53-55. [1]

Related Sites

• Russ Hodges at the SABR Bio Project