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Entheogen

Entheogens are psychoactive substances, including psychedelic drugs, such as magic mushrooms and magic plants used in sacred contexts in religion for inducing spiritual development throughout history.

Entheogens have been used in various ways, including as part of established religious rituals and as aids for personal spiritual development. Anthropological study has established that entheogens are used for religious, magical, shamanic, or spiritual purposes in many parts of the world. They have traditionally been used to supplement many diverse practices geared towards achieving transcendence, including healing, divination, meditation, yoga, sensory deprivation, asceticism, prayer, trance, rituals, chanting, imitation of sounds, hymns like peyote songs, drumming, and ecstatic dance.

The psychedelic experience is often compared to non-ordinary forms of consciousness such as those experienced in meditation, near-death experiences, and mystical experiences. Ego dissolution is often described as a key feature of the psychedelic experience.

Terminology
The neologism entheogen was coined in 1979 by a group of ethnobotanists and scholars of mythology (Carl A. P. Ruck, Jeremy Bigwood, Danny Staples, Richard Evans Schultes, Jonathan Ott and R. Gordon Wasson). The term is derived from two words of Ancient Greek, ἔνθεος (éntheos) and γενέσθαι (genésthai). The adjective entheos translates to English as "full of the god, inspired, possessed," and is the root of the English word "enthusiasm." The Greeks used it as praise for poets and other artists. Genesthai means "to come into being". Thus, an entheogen is a drug that causes one to become inspired or to experience feelings of inspiration, often in a religious or "spiritual" manner.

Ruck et al. argued that the term hallucinogen was inappropriate owing to its etymological relationship to words relating to delirium and insanity. The term psychedelic was also seen as problematic, owing to the similarity in sound to words about psychosis and also because it had become irreversibly associated with various connotations of the 1960s pop culture. In modern usage, entheogen may be used synonymously with these terms, or it may be chosen to contrast with recreational use of the same drugs. The meanings of the term entheogen was formally defined by Ruck et al.:

"In a strict sense, only those vision-producing drugs that can be shown to have figured in shamanic or religious rites would be designated entheogens, but in a looser sense, the term could also be applied to other drugs, both natural and artificial, that induce alterations of consciousness similar to those documented for ritual ingestion of traditional entheogens."

In 2004, David E. Nichols wrote the following:

"Many different names have been proposed over the years for this drug class. The famous German toxicologist Louis Lewin used the name phantastica earlier in this century, and as we shall see later, such a descriptor is not so farfetched. The most popular names—hallucinogen, psychotomimetic, and psychedelic ('mind manifesting')—have often been used interchangeably. Hallucinogen is now, however, the most common designation in the scientific literature, although it is an inaccurate descriptor of the actual effects of these drugs. In the lay press, the term psychedelic is still the most popular and has held sway for nearly four decades. Most recently, there has been a movement in nonscientific circles to recognize the ability of these substances to provoke mystical experiences and evoke feelings of spiritual significance. Thus, the term entheogen, derived from the Greek word entheos, which means 'god within,' was introduced by Ruck et al. and has seen increasing use. This term suggests that these substances reveal or allow a connection to the 'divine within.' Although it seems unlikely that this name will ever be accepted in formal scientific circles, its use has dramatically increased in popular media and internet sites. Indeed, in much of the counterculture that uses these substances, entheogen has replaced psychedelic as the name of choice, and we may expect to see this trend continue."

History
Entheogens have been used by different people groups for thousands of years. R. Gordon Wasson and Giorgio Samorini have proposed several examples of the cultural use of entheogens that are found in the archaeological record. Hemp seeds discovered by archaeologists at Pazyryk suggest early ceremonial practices by the Scythians occurred during the 5th to 2nd century BCE, confirming previous historical reports by Herodotus.

Most of the well-known modern examples of entheogens, such as Ayahuasca, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, and morning glories are from the native cultures of the Americas. However, it has also been suggested that entheogens played an important role in ancient Indo-European culture, for example by inclusion in the ritual preparations of the Soma, the "pressed juice" that is the subject of Book 9 of the Rigveda. Soma was ritually prepared and drunk by priests and initiates and elicited a paean in the Rigveda that embodies the nature of an entheogen:

"Splendid by Law! declaring Law, truth speaking, truthful in thy works, Enouncing faith, King Soma!... O [Soma] Pavāmana (mind clarifying), place me in that deathless, undecaying world wherein the light of heaven is set, and everlasting lustre shines.... Make me immortal in that realm where happiness and transports, where joy and felicities combine..."

The kykeon that preceded initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries is another entheogen, which was investigated (before the word was coined) by Carl Kerényi, in Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter. Other entheogens in the Ancient Near East and the Aegean include the opium poppy, datura, and the unidentified "lotus" (likely the sacred blue lily) eaten by the Lotus-Eaters in the Odyssey and Narcissus.

According to Ruck, Eyan, and Staples, the familiar shamanic entheogen that the Indo-Europeans brought knowledge of was Amanita muscaria. It could not be cultivated; thus it had to be found, which suited it to a nomadic lifestyle. When they reached the world of the Caucasus and the Aegean, the Indo-Europeans encountered wine, the entheogen of Dionysus, who brought it with him from his birthplace in the mythical Nysa, when he returned to claim his Olympian birthright. The Indo-European proto-Greeks "recognized it as the entheogen of Zeus, and their own traditions of shamanism, the Amanita and the 'pressed juice' of Soma – but better, since no longer unpredictable and wild, the way it was found among the Hyperboreans: as befit their own assimilation of agrarian modes of life, the entheogen was now cultivable." Robert Graves, in his foreword to The Greek Myths, hypothesises that the ambrosia of various pre-Hellenic tribes was Amanita muscaria (which, based on the morphological similarity of the words amanita, amrita and ambrosia, is entirely plausible) and perhaps psilocybin mushrooms of the genus Panaeolus. Amanita muscaria was regarded as divine food, according to Ruck and Staples, not something to be indulged in, sampled lightly, or profaned. It was seen as the food of the gods, their ambrosia, and as mediating between the two realms. It is said that Tantalus's crime was inviting commoners to share his ambrosia.

Africa
The best-known entheogen-using culture of Africa is the Bwitists, who used a preparation of the root bark of Tabernanthe iboga. Although the ancient Egyptians may have been using the sacred blue lily plant in some of their religious rituals or just symbolically, it has been suggested that Egyptian religion once revolved around the ritualistic ingestion of the far more psychoactive Psilocybe cubensis mushroom, and that the Egyptian White Crown, Triple Crown, and Atef Crown were evidently designed to represent pin-stages of this mushroom. There is also evidence for the use of psilocybin mushrooms in Ivory Coast. Numerous other plants used in shamanic ritual in Africa, such as Silene capensis sacred to the Xhosa, are yet to be investigated by western science. A recent revitalization has occurred in the study of southern African psychoactives and entheogens (Mitchell and Hudson 2004; Sobiecki 2002, 2008, 2012).

Among the amaXhosa, the artificial drug 2C-B is used as entheogen by traditional healers or amagqirha over their traditional plants; they refer to the chemical as Ubulawu Nomathotholo, which roughly translates to "Medicine of the Singing Ancestors".

East Africa

For centuries, religious leaders have consumed the khat leaves to stay awake during long nights of prayer.

Americas
Entheogens have played a pivotal role in the spiritual practices of most American cultures for millennia. The first American entheogen to be subject to scientific analysis was the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii). One of the founders of modern ethno-botany, Richard Evans Schultes of Harvard University documented the ritual use of peyote cactus among the Kiowa, who live in what became Oklahoma. While it was used traditionally by many cultures of what is now Mexico, in the 19th century its use spread throughout North America, replacing the toxic mescal bean (Calia secundiflora). Other well-known entheogens used by Mexican cultures include the alcoholic Aztec sacrament pulque, ritual tobacco (known as 'picietl' to the Aztecs, and 'sikar' to the Maya (from where the word 'cigar' derives)), psilocybin mushrooms, morning glories (Ipomoea tricolor and Turbina corymbosa), and Salvia divinorum.

Datura wrightii is sacred to some Native Americans and has been used in ceremonies and rites of passage by Chumash, Tongva, and others. Among the Chumash, when a boy was 8 years old, his mother would give him a preparation of momoy to drink. This supposed spiritual challenge should help the boy develop the spiritual wellbeing that is required to become a man. Not all of the boys undergoing this ritual survived. Momoy was also used to enhance spiritual wellbeing among adults. For instance, during a frightening situation, such as when seeing a coyote walk like a man, a leaf of momoy was sucked to help keep the soul in the body.

The mescal bean Sophora secundiflora was used by the shamanic hunter-gatherer cultures of the Great Plains region. Other plants with ritual significance in North American shamanism are the hallucinogenic seeds of the Texas buckeye and jimsonweed (Datura stramonium). Paleoethnobotanical evidence for these plants from archaeological sites shows they were used in ancient times thousands of years ago.

South America

The Tairona people of Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta use to chew the coca plant before engaging in extended meditation and prayer.

Nicotiana rustica is used in the Amazon by Mapacho, and tobacco shamans known as tobaqueros.

A ritual use by the Quechua people involves drinking guayusa infusion to have foretelling dreams for successful hunting expeditions.

Asia
The indigenous peoples of Siberia (from whom the term shaman was borrowed) have used Amanita muscaria as an entheogen.

In Hinduism, Datura stramonium and cannabis have been used in religious ceremonies, although the religious use of datura is not very common, as the primary alkaloids are strong deliriants, which causes serious intoxication with unpredictable effects.

Also, the ancient drink Soma, mentioned often in the Vedas, appears to be consistent with the effects of an entheogen. In his 1967 book, Wasson argues that Soma was Amanita muscaria. The active ingredient of Soma is presumed by some to be ephedrine, an alkaloid with stimulant properties derived from the soma plant, identified as Ephedra pachyclada. However, there are also arguments to suggest that Soma could have also been Syrian rue, cannabis, Atropa belladonna, or some combination of any of the above plants.

West Asia
The earliest credible evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the 15th century, in Yemen's Sufi monasteries. The Sufi monks drank coffee as an aid to concentration and even spiritual intoxication when they chanted the name of God.

Europe
Fermented honey, known in Northern Europe as mead, was an early entheogen in Aegean civilization, predating the introduction of wine, which was the more familiar entheogen of the reborn Dionysus and the maenads. Its religious uses in the Aegean world are intertwined with the mythology of the bee.

Dacians were known to use cannabis in their religious and important life ceremonies, proven by discoveries of large clay pots with burnt cannabis seeds in ancient tombs and religious shrines. Also, local oral folklore and myths tell of ancient priests that dreamed with gods and walked in the smoke. Their names, as transmitted by Herodotus, were "kap-no-batai" which in Dacian was supposed to mean "the ones that walk in the clouds".

The growth of Roman Christianity also saw the end of the two-thousand-year-old tradition of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the initiation ceremony for the cult of Demeter and Persephone involving the use of a drug known as kykeon. The term 'ambrosia' is used in Greek mythology in a way that is remarkably similar to the Soma of the Hindus as well.

A theory that naturally-occurring gases like ethylene used by inhalation may have played a role in divinatory ceremonies at Delphi in Classical Greece received popular press attention in the early 2000s, yet has not been conclusively proven.

Mushroom consumption is part of the culture of Europeans in general, with particular importance to Slavic and Baltic peoples. Some academics argue that the use of psilocybin- and/or muscimol-containing mushrooms was an integral part of the ancient culture of the Rus' people.

Middle East
It has been suggested that the ritual use of small amounts of Syrian rue is an artifact of its ancient use in higher doses as an entheogen (possibly in conjunction with DMT-containing acacia).

John Marco Allegro argued that early Jewish and Christian cultic practice was based on the use of Amanita muscaria, which was later forgotten by its adherents, but this view has been widely disputed.

Oceania
In general, indigenous Australians are thought not to have used entheogens, although there is a strong barrier of secrecy surrounding Aboriginal shamanism, which has likely limited what has been told to outsiders.

Kava or kava kava (Piper Methysticum) has been cultivated for at least 3,000 years by a number of Pacific island-dwelling peoples. Historically, most Polynesian, many Melanesian, and some Micronesian cultures have ingested the psychoactive pulverized root, typically taking it mixed with water. In these traditions, taking kava is believed to facilitate contact with the spirits of the dead, especially relatives and ancestors.

There are no known uses of entheogens by the Māori of New Zealand aside from a variant species of kava, although some modern scholars have claimed that there may be evidence of psilocybin mushroom use. Natives of Papua New Guinea are known to use several species of entheogenic mushrooms (Psilocybe spp, Boletus manicus).

Pituri, also known as mingkulpa, is a mixture of leaves and wood ash traditionally chewed as a stimulant (or, after extended use, a depressant) by Aboriginal Australians widely across the continent. Leaves are gathered from any of several species of native tobacco (Nicotiana) or from at least one distinct population of the species Duboisia hopwoodii. Various species of Acacia, Grevillea and Eucalyptus are burned to produce the ash. The term "pituri" may also refer to the plants from which the leaves are gathered or from which the ash is made. Some authors use the term to refer only to the plant Duboisia hopwoodii and its leaves and any chewing mixture containing its leaves.

In religion

Shamans all over the world and in different cultures have traditionally used drugs, especially psychedelics, for their religious experiences. In these communities the absorption of drugs leads to dreams (visions) through sensory distortion. The psychedelic experience is often compared to non-ordinary forms of consciousness such as those experienced in meditation, and mystical experiences. Ego dissolution is often described as a key feature of the psychedelic experience.

Entheogens used in the contemporary world include biota like peyote (Native American Church ), extracts like ayahuasca (Santo Daime, União do Vegetal ), and synthetic drugs like 2C-B (Sangoma. )

Entheogens also play an important role in contemporary religious movements such as the Rastafari movement.

Hinduism
Bhang is an edible preparation of cannabis native to the Indian subcontinent. It has been used in food and drink as early as 1000 BCE by Hindus in ancient India. The earliest known reports regarding the sacred status of cannabis in the Indian subcontinent come from the Atharva Veda estimated to have been written sometime around 2000–1400 BCE, which mentions cannabis as one of the "five sacred plants... which release us from anxiety" and that a guardian angel resides in its leaves. The Vedas also refer to it as a "source of happiness," "joy-giver" and "liberator," and in the Raja Valabba, the gods send hemp to the human race.

Buddhism
It has been suggested that the Amanita muscaria mushroom was used by the Tantric Buddhist mahasiddha tradition of the 8th to 12th century.

In the West, some modern Buddhist teachers have written on the usefulness of psychedelics. The Buddhist magazine Tricycle devoted their entire fall 1996 edition to this issue. Some teachers such as Jack Kornfield have suggested the possibility that psychedelics could complement Buddhist practice, bring healing and help people understand their connection with everything which could lead to compassion. Kornfield warns however that addiction can still be a hindrance. Other teachers such as Michelle McDonald-Smith expressed views which saw entheogens as not conducive to Buddhist practice ("I don't see them developing anything").

Judaism

The primary advocate of the religious use of cannabis in early Judaism was Polish anthropologist Sula Benet, who claimed that the plant kaneh bosem קְנֵה-בֹשֶׂם mentioned five times in the Hebrew Bible, and used in the holy anointing oil of the Book of Exodus, was cannabis. According to theories that hold that cannabis was present in Ancient Israelite society, a variant of hashish is held to have been present. In 2020, it was announced that cannabis residue had been found on the Israelite sanctuary altar at Tel Arad dating to the 8th century BCE of the Kingdom of Judah, suggesting that cannabis was a part of some Israelite rituals at the time.

While Benet's conclusion regarding the psychoactive use of cannabis is not universally accepted among Jewish scholars, there is general agreement that cannabis is used in talmudic sources to refer to hemp fibers, not hashish, as hemp was a vital commodity before linen replaced it. Lexicons of Hebrew and dictionaries of plants of the Bible such as by Michael Zohary (1985), Hans Arne Jensen (2004) and James A. Duke (2010) and others identify the plant in question as either Acorus calamus or Cymbopogon citratus, not cannabis.

Christianity
Scholars such as David Hillman suggest that a variety of drug use, recreational and otherwise, is to be found in the early history of the Church.

The historical picture portrayed by the Entheos journal is of fairly widespread use of visionary plants in early Christianity and the surrounding culture, with a gradual reduction of use of entheogens in Christianity. R. Gordon Wasson's book Soma prints a letter from art historian Erwin Panofsky asserting that art scholars are aware of many "mushroom trees" in Christian art.

The question of the extent of visionary plant use throughout the history of Christian practice has barely been considered yet by academic or independent scholars. The question of whether visionary plants were used in pre-Theodosian Christianity is distinct from evidence that indicates the extent to which visionary plants were utilized or forgotten in later Christianity, including heretical or quasi-Christian groups, and the question of other groups such as elites or laity within orthodox Catholic practice.

Peyotism

The Native American Church (NAC) is also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion. Peyotism is a Native American religion characterized by mixed traditional as well as Protestant beliefs and by sacramental use of the entheogen peyote.

The Peyote Way Church of God believe that "Peyote is a holy sacrament, when taken according to our sacramental procedure and combined with a holistic lifestyle".

Santo Daime
Santo Daime is a syncretic religion founded in the 1930s in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Acre by Raimundo Irineu Serra, known as Mestre Irineu. Santo Daime incorporates elements of several religious or spiritual traditions including Folk Catholicism, Kardecist Spiritism, African animism and indigenous South American shamanism, including vegetalismo.

Ceremonies – trabalhos (Brazilian Portuguese for "works") – are typically several hours long and are undertaken sitting in silent "concentration", or sung collectively, dancing according to simple steps in geometrical formation. Ayahuasca, referred to as Daime within the practice, which contains several psychoactive compounds, is drunk as part of the ceremony. The drinking of Daime can induce a strong emetic effect which is embraced as both emotional and physical purging.

União do Vegetal
União do Vegetal (UDV) is a religious society founded on July 22, 1961, by José Gabriel da Costa, known as Mestre Gabriel. The translation of União do Vegetal is Union of the Plants referring to the sacrament of the UDV, Hoasca tea (also known as ayahuasca). This beverage is made by boiling two plants, Mariri (Banisteriopsis caapi) and Chacrona (Psychotria viridis), both of which are native to the Amazon rainforest.

In its sessions, UDV members drink Hoasca Tea for the effect of mental concentration. In Brazil, the use of Hoasca in religious rituals was regulated by the Brazilian Federal Government's National Drug Policy Council on January 25, 2010. The policy established legal norms for the religious institutions that responsibly use this tea. The Supreme Court of the United States unanimously affirmed the UDV's right to use Hoasca tea in its religious sessions in the United States, in a decision published on February 21, 2006.

Thelema
The Thelema ceremony calls for five officers: a Priest, a Priestess, a Deacon, and two adult acolytes, called "the Children". The end of the ritual culminates in the consummation of the eucharist, consisting of a goblet of wine and a Cake of Light, after which the congregant proclaims "There is no part of me that is not of the gods!"

Research

Notable early testing of the entheogenic experience includes the Marsh Chapel Experiment, conducted by physician and theology doctoral candidate Walter Pahnke under the supervision of psychologist Timothy Leary and the Harvard Psilocybin Project. In this double-blind experiment, volunteer graduate school divinity students from the Boston area almost all claimed to have had profound religious experiences subsequent to the ingestion of pure psilocybin.

Beginning in 2006, experiments have been conducted at Johns Hopkins University, showing that under controlled conditions psilocybin causes mystical experiences in most participants and that they rank the personal and spiritual meaningfulness of the experiences very highly.

Except in Mexico, research with psychedelics is limited due to ongoing widespread drug prohibition. The amount of peer-reviewed research on psychedelics has accordingly been limited due to the difficulty of getting approval from institutional review boards. Furthermore, scientific studies on entheogens present some significant challenges to researchers, including philosophical questions relating to ontology, epistemology and objectivity.

By entheogen

 * Psychoactive Amanita mushrooms: Legal status of psychoactive Amanita mushrooms
 * Ayuahuasca: Legal status of ayahuasca by country
 * Psychoactive cactus: Legal status of psychoactive cactus by country
 * Cannabis: Legality of cannabis (Global cannabis legalization table)
 * Ibogaine: Legal status of ibogaine by country
 * Psilocybin mushrooms: Legal status of psilocybin mushrooms
 * Salvia divinorum: Legal status of Salvia divinorum

By country or territory
Some countries have legislation that allows for traditional entheogen use.

Australia
Between 2011 and 2012, the Australian Federal Government was considering changes to the Australian Criminal Code that would classify any plants containing any amount of DMT as "controlled plants". DMT itself was already controlled under current laws. The proposed changes included other similar blanket bans for other substances, such as a ban on any and all plants containing mescaline or ephedrine. The proposal was not pursued after political embarrassment on realisation that this would make the official Floral Emblem of Australia, Acacia pycnantha (golden wattle), illegal. The Therapeutic Goods Administration and federal authority had considered a motion to ban the same, but this was withdrawn in May 2012 (as DMT may still hold potential entheogenic value to native or religious peoples).

United States
In 1963 in Sherbert v. Verner the Supreme Court established the Sherbert Test, which consists of four criteria that are used to determine if an individual's right to religious free exercise has been violated by the government. The test is as follows:

For the individual, the court must determine
 * whether the person has a claim involving a sincere religious belief, and
 * whether the government action is a substantial burden on the person's ability to act on that belief.

If these two elements are established, then the government must prove
 * that it is acting in furtherance of a "compelling state interest", and
 * that it has pursued that interest in the manner least restrictive, or least burdensome, to religion.

This test was eventually all-but-eliminated in Employment Division v. Smith 494 U.S. 872 (1990) which held that a "neutral law of general applicability" was not subject to the test. Congress resurrected it for the purposes of federal law in the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993.

In City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997) RFRA was held to trespass on state sovereignty, and application of the RFRA was essentially limited to federal law enforcement. In Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 418 (2006), a case involving only federal law, RFRA was held to permit a church's use of a DMT-containing tea for religious ceremonies.

Some states have enacted State Religious Freedom Restoration Acts intended to mirror the federal RFRA's protections.

Peyote is listed by the United States DEA as a Schedule I controlled substance. However, practitioners of the Peyote Way Church of God, a Native American religion, perceive the regulations regarding the use of peyote as discriminating, leading to religious discrimination issues regarding about the U.S. policy towards drugs. As the result of Peyote Way Church of God, Inc. v. Thornburgh the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 was passed. This federal statute allow the "Traditional Indian religious use of the peyote sacrament", exempting only use by Native American persons.

In literature
Many works of literature have described entheogen use; some of those are:
 * The drug melange (spice) in Frank Herbert's Dune universe acts as both an entheogen (in large enough quantities) and an addictive geriatric medicine. Control of the supply of melange was crucial to the Empire, as it was necessary for, among other things, faster-than-light (folding space) navigation.
 * Consumption of the imaginary mushroom anochi [enoki] as the entheogen underlying the creation of Christianity is the premise of Philip K. Dick's last novel, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, a theme that seems to be inspired by John Allegro's book.
 * Aldous Huxley's final novel, Island (1962), depicted a fictional psychoactive mushroom – termed "moksha medicine" – used by the people of Pala in rites of passage, such as the transition to adulthood and at the end of life.
 * Bruce Sterling's Holy Fire novel refers to the religion in the future as a result of entheogens, used freely by the population.
 * In Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, Book 1 of The Dark Tower series, the main character receives guidance after taking mescaline.
 * The Alastair Reynolds novel Absolution Gap features a moon under the control of a religious government that uses neurological viruses to induce religious faith.
 * A critical examination of the ethical and societal implications and relevance of "entheogenic" experiences can be found in Daniel Waterman and Casey William Hardison's book Entheogens, Society & Law: Towards a Politics of Consciousness, Autonomy and Responsibility (Melrose, Oxford 2013). This book includes a controversial analysis of the term entheogen arguing that Wasson et al. were mystifying the effects of the plants and traditions to which it refers.

title: Entheogen


text:
The Book of Lies

The Book of Lies may refer to:

 * The Book of Lies (Crowley), a 1913 title by Aleister Crowley
 * The Book of Lies (Picano novel), a 1999 title by Felice Picano
 * The Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult, a 2003 compilation edited by Richard Metzger
 * The Book of Lies (Moloney novel), a 2004 title by James Moloney
 * The Book of Lies (Meltzer novel), a 2008 title by Brad Meltzer
 * Book of Lies (album), a 2008 recording by Australian band End of Fashion
 * The Book of Lies (Horlock novel), a 2011 title by Mary Horlock

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: The Book of Lies


text:
Paul Winchell

Paul Winchell (né Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, humanitarian, and inventor whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted The Paul Winchell Show, which also used two other titles during its prime time run on NBC: The Speidel Show, and What's My Name? From 1965 to 1968, Winchell hosted the children's television series Winchell-Mahoney Time.

He made guest appearances on Emmy Award-winning television series from the late 1950s to the mid 1970s, such as Perry Mason, The Dick Van Dyke Show, McMillan & Wife, The Brady Bunch, The Donna Reed Show, and appearances as Homer Winch on The Beverly Hillbillies. In animation, Winchell was the original voice of Tigger, Dick Dastardly, Gargamel, Scrubbing Bubbles, and other characters.

He also had medical training and became the first person to build and patent a mechanical artificial heart, implantable in the chest cavity (US Patent #3097366 of 1963). Winchell has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in television.

Early life, family and education
Born Paul Wilchinsky in New York City on December 21, 1922, he was the son of Solomon Wilchinsky and Clara Fuchs. His father was a tailor. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Congress Poland and Austria-Hungary.

At age 6, his legs atrophied after contracting polio. When he was 12 or 13, he came across a magazine advertisement offering a ventriloquism kit for ten cents. Back at school, he asked his art teacher, Jero Magon, if he could receive class credit for creating a ventriloquist's dummy. Magon was agreeable, and Winchell thanked him by naming his creation Jerry Mahoney. Winchell went back to reading magazines, gathering jokes from them and putting together a comedy routine, which he then took to the Major Bowes Amateur Hour in 1938, winning first prize. A touring offer, playing various theaters with the Major Bowes Review, was part of the prize. Bandleader Ted Weems saw the young Winchell while on tour; he visited Winchell and made him an offer of employment. Winchell accepted and became a professional at age 14.

Winchell's initial ambition was to become a physician. The Great Depression reduced his family's ability to afford medical school tuition. Winchell was a pre-med student at Columbia University. Many years after his career had blossomed, he graduated from The Acupuncture Research College of Los Angeles in 1974 and became an acupuncturist.

Ventriloquist work
Winchell's best-known ventriloquist dummies were Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. Mahoney was carved by Chicago-based figure maker Frank Marshall. Sometime later Winchell had basswood copies of Jerry's head made by a commercial duplicating service. One became the upgraded Jerry Mahoney that is seen primarily throughout Winchell's television career. The television versions of Jerry and Knucklehead also featured Winchell's innovation of actors slipping their hands into the sleeves of the dummies, giving the visual effect of gesturing with their hands while "conversing" with each other. He modified two other copies to create Knucklehead Smiff. The original Marshall Jerry Mahoney and one copy of Knucklehead Smiff are in storage at the Smithsonian Institution. The other two figures are in the collection of illusionist David Copperfield.

Winchell's first show as a ventriloquist was on radio with Jerry Mahoney in 1943. The program was short-lived, however, as he was overshadowed by Edgar Bergen. Winchell also created Ozwald, a character that resembled Humpty Dumpty. The effect was accomplished by painting eyes and a nose on his chin, then adding a "body" covering the rest of his face, and finally electronically turning the camera image upside down. In 1961, Berwin Novelties introduced a home version of the character that included an Ozwald body, creative pencils to draw the eyes and nose, and a "magic mirror" that automatically turned a reflection upside down.

In 1948, Winchell and Joseph Dunninger were featured on Floor Show on NBC. Recorded via kinescope and replayed on WNBQ-TV in Chicago, the 8:30–9 p.m. Central Time show on Thursdays was the station's first midweekly program.

During the 1950s, Winchell hosted children's (The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show) and adult programs with his figures for NBC Television, and later for syndication. The NBC Saturday morning program, sponsored by Tootsie Roll, featured a clubhouse motif and a theme song co-written by Winchell and his longtime bandleader and on-air sidekick, Milton Delugg. The theme song was titled "HOORAY, HOORAH" and featured the secret password "SCOTTY WOTTY DOO DOO". An ending song titled "Friends, Friends, Friends" was sung by the children in the audience. In October 1956, Winchell moved to ABC, hosting Circus Time on Thursday evening for one season before returning to Winchell-Mahoney on Sunday afternoons. On one episode in late 1959, The Three Stooges appeared on the show to promote their joint feature film venture, Stop, Look and Laugh. Winchell made an appearance on Nanny and the Professor (Season 2, Episode 13) as a "mean old man" (a puppeteer who had retired into seclusion after losing his wife in an accident). In 1996, Winchell contracted with figure maker Tim Selberg to construct a more contemporary version of Jerry Mahoney, which Winchell described as "Disney-esque". Winchell used the new figure version to pitch a new TV series idea to Michael Eisner. In 2009, Winchell was featured in the comedy documentary I'm No Dummy, directed by Bryan W. Simon.

Voice acting
Winchell's career after 1968 included various voice roles for animated television series. For Hanna-Barbera, he played the character Dick Dastardly in multiple series (including Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines); Clyde and Softy on Wacky Races and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop; Fleegle on The Banana Splits Adventure Hour; and Gargamel on The Smurfs.

He also provided the voice of Bubi Bear in Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! in 1971, Revs on Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, Moe on The Robonic Stooges, and Shake on The CB Bears. In 1973, he did the voice of Goober the Dog on the H-B show Goober and the Ghost Chasers and also guest starred as the rain-making villain on an episode of Hong Kong Phooey. For Disney, Winchell voiced Tigger in Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes, and won a Grammy Award for his performance in Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.

Beginning with the television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, he alternated in the role with Jim Cummings, the current voice of Pooh. Winchell's final performances as Tigger were in 1999 for Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction at Walt Disney World. After that, Jim Cummings permanently took over the role of Tigger, starting with Sing a Song with Pooh Bear in 1999 (though some of Winchell's vocals from previous Pooh animations were included). Other Disney roles included parts in The Aristocats as a Siamese cat named Shun Gon, and The Fox and the Hound as Boomer the woodpecker. He was also the original voice of Zummi Gummi on the TV series Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears for seasons 1–5; Jim Cummings took over for the final season in 1990.

Winchell provided the voices of Sam-I-Am and the unnamed character Sam pesters in Green Eggs and Ham from the animated television special Dr. Seuss on the Loose in 1973. He played Fleabag on The Oddball Couple, Fearless Freddy the Shark Hunter on the Pink Panther spinoff Misterjaw in 1976, as well as a number of one-shot characters in The Blue Racer series. In commercials, he voiced the character of Burger Chef for the fast food chain of the same name, the Scrubbing Bubbles for Dow Chemicals, and Mr. Owl for Tootsie Roll Pops.

From 1981 to 1989, Winchell voiced Gargamel on The Smurfs as well as on several Smurfs television movies. During the 1980s, he was called upon by Hanna-Barbera to reprise his role of Dick Dastardly on Yogi's Treasure Hunt (which was a tour de force, featuring all of the H-B characters) and later on Wake, Rattle and Roll (which was a Wacky Races spinoff). Also on the animated movie Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose, he did the voice of the Dread Baron, who was previously voiced by John Stephenson on the Laff-a-Lympics.

Live-action work
Winchell (often with Jerry Mahoney) was a frequent guest panelist on What's My Line? in 1956. (On the April 29 episode, in which Winchell was a panelist, the mystery guest was Edgar Bergen; after his identity was revealed, Jerry Mahoney and Mortimer Snerd carried on a conversation.) Other work included on-camera guest appearances on such series as The Polly Bergen Show; The Virginian; The Lucy Show; Perry Mason; The Donna Reed Show; Dan Raven; The Brady Bunch; as Homer Winch on The Beverly Hillbillies; and as Claude Wilbur on The Dick Van Dyke Show. He appeared in a 1960 motion picture that included a compilation of Three Stooges shorts (Stop!, Look and Laugh), and also in the Jerry Lewis movie Which Way to the Front?.

Winchell appeared as himself in 1963 in the NBC game show Your First Impression. He appeared in the late 1960s in a sketch on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in as a French ventriloquist named Lucky Pierre, who has the misfortune of having his elderly dummy die of a heart attack in the middle of his act. On Love, American Style, he appeared with fellow ventriloquist Shari Lewis in a sketch about two shy people in a waiting room who choose to introduce themselves to each other through their dummies.

Winchell-Mahoney Time
Winchell's most successful TV show was Winchell-Mahoney Time (1965–1968), a children's show written by his wife, actress Nina Russel. Winchell played several onscreen characters, including Knucklehead Smiff's father, Bonehead Smiff. He also played himself as friend and adult adviser to Mahoney and Smiff. He also created "Mr. Goody-good," a surreal character, by painting eyes and a nose on his chin, covering his face with a small costume, then having the camera image inverted. The resulting pinheaded character seemed to have an immensely wide mouth and a highly mobile head. Winchell created this illusion by moving his chin back and forth. The show was produced at KTTV in Los Angeles, which was owned by Metromedia.

Winchell started "negotiating with Metromedia in 1970 to syndicate the 305 color segments of the show", but nothing came of it. Finally, "Winchell offered to purchase the tapes outright for $100,000. Metromedia responded with an ultimatum...: Agree on a syndication plan or the tapes will be destroyed." When Winchell did not agree, Metromedia carried out with its threat and the tapes were erased and destroyed. Winchell sued Metromedia and in 1986 a jury awarded him "$3.8 million for the value of the tapes and $14 million in punitive damages against Metromedia." Metromedia appealed the award all the way to the Supreme Court but was unsuccessful.

Winchell's last regular on-camera TV appearances working with his puppets were Storybook Squares, a children's version of the adult celebrity game show Hollywood Squares, which was seen Saturday mornings on NBC during the 1969 TV season, and Runaround, another children's TV game show seen Saturday mornings on NBC from September 1972 to September 1973.

Medical and patents
Winchell was a pre-med student at Columbia University. He graduated from The Acupuncture Research College of Los Angeles in 1974 and became an acupuncturist. He also worked as a medical hypnotist at the Gibbs Institute in Hollywood. He owned more than 30 patents in his lifetime. He invented an artificial heart with the assistance of Dr. Henry Heimlich (inventor of the Heimlich maneuver) and held an early US patent for such a device. The University of Utah School of Medicine developed a similar apparatus around the same time, but when they tried to patent it, Winchell's patents were cited as prior art. Eventually, Winchell donated his heart patents to the university.

There is some debate as to how much of Winchell's design Robert Jarvik used in creating the Jarvik-7. Dr. Heimlich stated, "I saw the heart, I saw the patent, and I saw the letters. The basic principle used in Winchell's heart and Jarvik's heart is exactly the same." Jarvik denied that any of Winchell's design elements were incorporated into his device, which was first successfully implanted in Barney Clark in 1982.

Winchell established more medical patents while working on projects for the Leukemia Society (now known as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) and the American Red Cross. Other devices that he invented and patented included a disposable razor, a blood plasma defroster, a flameless cigarette lighter, a garter belt with no outwardly visible lines, a fountain pen with a retractable tip, and battery-heated gloves.

As a philanthropist
In the 1980s, Winchell's concern about starvation in Africa led him to develop a method to cultivate tilapia in tribal villages and small communities. The fish thrives in brackish waters, which made it particularly well suited for sub-Saharan Africa. Winchell appeared before a Congressional committee with several other celebrities, including actors Richard Dreyfuss and Ed Asner, and Dr. Heimlich. The committee declined to finance a pilot program for the tilapia aquaculture project in Africa because it required digging wells into non-potable water.

Personal life
Winchell had three children: a son, Stacy Paul Winchell; a daughter, Stephanie, from his first marriage to Dorothy "Dottie" Movitz; and a daughter, April Winchell (the current voice of Clarabelle Cow), who is a comedian and voice actress, from his second marriage to actress Nina Russel. His third wife was the former Jean Freeman.

Winchell's autobiography, Winch (2004), exposed many details of Winchell's life that had previously been kept private, including early stories of an abusive childhood, a long history of depression, and at least one mental breakdown which resulted in a short stint in an institution. The book revealed the bad treatment Winchell had received from his mother for a considerable period, and the mental impact that continued to negatively affect him for decades after his mother's death (Clara Wilchinski died in 1953 when she was only 58 years old, and Paul was 30). The autobiography caused a major estrangement between Winchell and his children, prompting daughter April to publicly defend her mother, who was negatively portrayed in the book.

After writing in God 2000: Religion Without the Bible (1982) that religion brought more chaos to humanity than any "other invention of man", Winchell expressed deist opinions within his 2004 book Protect God.

Death
Winchell died on June 24, 2005, at the age of 82, from natural causes in his sleep at his home in Moorpark, California.

Winchell was survived by his wife, his children, and three grandchildren. His remains were cremated, and his ashes scattered over his home property.

Winchell was estranged from his children, and they were not immediately informed of his death. Upon learning of it, April posted an entry on her website: "I got a phone call a few minutes ago, telling me that my father passed away yesterday. A source close to my dad, or at least, closer than I was, decided to tell me himself, instead of letting me find out on the news, which I appreciate. Apparently a decision had been made not to tell me, or my father's other children. My father was a very troubled and unhappy man. If there is another place after this one, it is my hope that he now has the peace that eluded him on earth."

Jim Cummings took on the role of Tigger full-time starting with The Tigger Movie (2000) after Winchell was rejected by the studio as they thought at that time that his voice and energy sounded and felt too old for the role of the character (at the time of the production of this movie Winchell was 75 years old). Tom Kenny and Peter Woodward took on the role of Dick Dastardly and Hank Azaria, Rainn Wilson, and Mark Irons took on the role of Gargamel.

title: Paul Winchell


text:
User:Vanieter

I've contributed to a few articles about Linux and music, and am fascinated by politics, history, computer science, and everything else. I'm currently studying in political science at the University of Montreal. I principally study political regimes, political parties and the role of social movements.

I'm also a geek. I use Fedora 16 on an Intel Core 2 Duo box.

title: User:Vanieter


text:
Middle Atlantic Conferences

The Middle Atlantic Conferences (MAC) is an umbrella organization of three intercollegiate athletic conferences that competes in the NCAA's Division III. The 16 member colleges are in the Mid-Atlantic United States.

The organization is divided into two main conferences: the MAC Commonwealth and the MAC Freedom. A third conference, named the Middle Atlantic Conference (singular), draws members from both the Commonwealth and Freedom conferences and sponsors sports that only a certain set of members participate in, such as track & field and cross country.

History
In 1912, the Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletics Association (MASCAA) was founded primarily as a track association and had its first event, a track meet, at Lafayette College in May 1913. In 1922, it was reorganized as the Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC or MAC). The original 13 members present at the formation meeting in 1922 were: Bucknell University, Drexel University, Franklin & Marshall College, Gettysburg College, Haverford College, Muhlenberg College, New York University, Princeton University, Rutgers University, Stevens Institute of Technology, Susquehanna University, Swarthmore College, and the University of Delaware. In addition, another five members who were not present at the initial meeting but formally approved of the plan were: Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Lehigh University, Ursinus College, and Widener University.

Throughout its history, the organization has had at least 50 different members associated with it. The conference had as many as 37 members at one time in the late 1950s. A major reduction in the league occurred in 1974 after the NCAA created Divisions I, II, and III. At that time, 11 members left to form the Division I East Coast Conference and by 1976, the MAC became fully associated with Division III. An additional 11 members left in 1992 to form the Centennial Conference; the football programs for eight of those schools had already left in 1981. In 1999, the current corporation formed with its three conferences: MAC Commonwealth, MAC Freedom, and Middle Atlantic.

Arcadia University and Manhattanville College joined MAC Freedom for 2007–08. They replaced Juniata College, Drew University, Moravian College, Susquehanna University, and the University of Scranton, who left to join the new Landmark Conference. To offset the change in numbers, it was also decided to switch Lycoming College from the MAC Freedom to the MAC Commonwealth.

Alvernia University, Misericordia University, and Eastern University, all from the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference, accepted membership in the MAC Freedom and started participation in the 2008–09 school year. Starting in the 2009–10 school year, Alvernia switched from the MAC Freedom to the MAC Commonwealth, thereby giving the Commonwealth and Freedom leagues the same number of members.

Stevenson University and Hood College accepted invitations to join the MAC and MAC Commonwealth starting with the 2012–13, expanding the conference to 18 members. Elizabethtown College moved to the Landmark Conference for 2014–15. In May 2018, Manhattanville College announced that they would leave the MAC Freedom Conference and return to the Skyline Conference for the 2019–20 academic year. Manhattanville was a charter member of the Skyline before leaving to join the MAC in 2007. Three months later, the MAC announced that Stevens Institute of Technology, which had left the conference in 1978, would return in 2019–20 and replace Manhattanville in the MAC Freedom. In April 2019, the MAC announced that York College of Pennsylvania would join the MAC Commonwealth in 2020–21.

In May 2019, the MAC announced it would realign the Commonwealth and Freedom conferences into two equally-sized leagues effective with York's arrival in 2020. At that time, Arcadia and Lycoming moved from the MAC Commonwealth to the MAC Freedom, while Eastern made the opposite move.

In February 2022, the Landmark Conference announced that Wilkes University and Lycoming College accepted invitations to the conference starting in the 2023-24 season.

MAC football
In 1958, the MAC began sponsoring football. The football conference essentially operated as three separate conferences with the larger schools (Bucknell, Delaware, Gettysburg, Lafayette, Lehigh, Muhlenberg, Rutgers, and Temple) playing a round-robin schedule in the "University Division," and the smaller schools being split into the "College Division - North" (Albright, Dickinson, Juniata, Lebanon Valley, Lycoming, Moravian, Susquehanna, Wagner, and Wilkes) and the "College Division - South" (Drexel, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Pennsylvania Military, Swarthmore, Ursinus, and Western Maryland) each playing a separate round-robin schedule. Although the upper division of the conference (which later included Drexel, La Salle, and Saint Joseph's) competed at the Division I (then known as the University Division) level in other sports, only Rutgers was considered a University Division football school. Following the 1969 season, the upper level of MAC football was disbanded as Temple dropped out to upgrade their football schedule. Rutgers had previously dropped out of the MAC for all sports and a five-team football league was not desirable. The lower division continued as MAC football, but Bucknell, Delaware, Gettysburg, Lafayette, and Lehigh operated as football independents for the rest of their tenure with the league. Numerous other MAC schools competed in other football leagues throughout most of the league's history.

In 1983, the Centennial Football League was formed by eight MAC members. Eventually, those eight schools and two others broke apart from the MAC for all sports, founding the Centennial Conference in 1991. Since then, all league members that sponsor football have competed in the MAC Football Conference.

MAC Commonwealth

 * Notes:

MAC Freedom

 * Notes:

Sports
Member teams currently compete in 27 sports, 14 men's and 13 women's. The most recently added sports are men's and women's ice hockey and men's volleyball, all added for 2017–18. The MAC now sponsors all NCAA Division III sports except women's rowing.

Middle Atlantic Conference
The Middle Atlantic Conference combines schools from both the MAC Commonwealth and MAC Freedom and is currently used for cross country, football, women's golf, ice hockey, track & field (indoor / outdoor), swimming, men's volleyball, and wrestling. The MAC officially sponsored men's and women's ice hockey for many year but it wasn't until the addition of Neumann and Wilkes as affiliate members that the conference received an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. As a result the first MAC ice hockey tournaments will take place in 2025. Previously, the MAC used the regular-season results of UCHC games involving all MAC members to extrapolate a MAC champion (the same model used by the Ivy League, which has a similar relationship with ECAC Hockey).

title: Middle Atlantic Conferences


text:
Wikipedia talk:Main Page/Temp4

For an August 2004 deletion debate over this page see Votes for deletion/Main Page/Temp4

Newer talk: Talk:Main Page/Temp5

Old Talk
I felt like faffing around aimlessly... Main Page/Temp4 is the way I'd like it - the dynamic content thang. Motivation: Martin 01:23 6 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * welcome/intro should be short, but at the top somewhere, and it should feature the key links for newcomers - the welcome page, and the about page
 * Browse with the style from Main Page/Temp3, which is nice
 * Browse links that make sense - eg list of biology topics (piped), not biology
 * Teasers for featured articles - that's more enticing than a simple lis.
 * Lots of space for featured articles, which are the most bookmarkable bit of the front page.
 * rm stuff I don't care for, but which is probably passionately desired by someone else, scuppering the entire thing from the start.

 * This looks very interesting! Please do continue to work on it, you have my full support. I would suggest to put just a little more info into the Wikipedia box. I also still think the colors are a bit too soft, maybe you can play around with the scheme a little. --Eloquence 01:59 6 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * It took a lot to restrain my urge to run screaming from the room because of the colour scheme, but I managed to force myself to look at the page, briefly. The layout is quite nice, except that I think the bit headed "Wikipedia" - which says what the site actually is - should definitely go first. So maybe if you just swapped the sides round...? I certainly wouldn't miss the long lists of subjects and pages in the Wikipedia namespace, because I never used the Main Page to access them anyway. -- Oliver P. 03:14 6 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Agreed; the colour scheme is still too over-the top, but the structual formatiing is much better and cleaner. I like it. Perhaps if the back of the boxes was white, and the titles slightly paler? -- James F. 12:45 6 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Definitely interesting (color scheme aside, as this is irrelevant). Might be a little smoother to do once categories are implemented. --Brion

 * I like the look of it, but (as I said below) I don't understand how it's going to work when the "Browse" section is expanded (as I suppose it's meant to be) - won't it then extend well below the rest of the page? --Camembert

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something about how this works, but won't a fully written "Browse" section extend well below the "Featured articles" section and make things look rubbish? The division could be shifted to the left, I guess, but how far left would it have to go? Maybe the vertical division could be got rid of altogether, and just do things in one column - that would also be better for people who browse in a smaller window, I should think (though that would need a complete rethink of the layout - I've not given this much thought, I admit). Layout aside, I like the content here - it would make the Main Page something interesting even to regular users (as it is, I only look at it every couple of days to see who's died...). --Camembert

 * I wonder whether it's actually worth having a browse section, given that Wikipedia doesn't have proper categories and such yet. Martin 23:50 7 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * These will come real soon now, so it would be worth planning for. --Eloquence

I don't think "Featured articles" should link to Brilliant prose, because not all of the featured articles are brilliant prose... -- Oliver P. 18:55 8 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Good point. :) Martin

If we implement this scheme, perhaps we also need to develop Main Page as a community entry point. --Eloquence 06:52 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Perhaps we should move Utilities there? Martin

Ok, take two. Changes in this version:
 * Browse section on the bottom, so there's more space for it. I've not bothered sorting out funkier links - that's a seperate thing.
 * Featured articles in white, rather than pink.
 * yellow box now bordered in yellow, rather than washed in yellow.
 * yellow "Wikipedia" section (now "About the project") done as a floating image thing, rather than a table
 * use interlanguage links (I was thinking about how to write the "in other languages" section when I realised that non-English speakers wouldn't understand me anyway...
 * less html, more wiki-markup

Some questions/responses for various folks:
 * Oliver - if I put the yellow box on the left, it wraps awkwardly, and I think it looks odd having the main content shifted over to the right half of the page.
 * Eloquence - what in particular does the yellow box need, do you think?
 * Kosebamse - I moved the introductory text to the yellow box... you didn't see it? Grr - you realise that proves Oliver's point, don't you?

Feedback welcome :) Martin 00:21 8 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Sorry. I really don't like it; it gives way too much space to "Featured Articles (links alone suffice here very well) which pushes the very important main categories down further. All the text is also a major turn off; we already went through a month of revisions to chop down the intro text on the Main Page to its essence. --mav

 * Well, the intro text on the current Main Page could be pared down further by dropping the sentence on the number of articles we're working on (irrelevant statistics) and the date we started (irrelevant history). It was cute a year ago... Martin

 * The number of articles we have created since we were created is very relevant and is something that nearly every news story on the project mentions. Therefore this info is vital to have in the most prominent of places. --mav 20:52 8 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Do you see Britannica saying "We started in February 1805, and are currently working on 89,863 articles"? No. Sure, the statistic is vaguelly relevant for folks writing news reports. Fortunately, they can acquire the statistic easily enough by going to About (linked from every page), Statistics, or reading the press release we sent to them (in the case of the 100,000 milestone and similars).

 * Nor is it any kind of disaster when reviews don't mention our article count. In June, we got covered by "the Advertiser", "The Screen Savers", and "PC Magazine" - only the last one gave the article count. Despite the very prominent placement of this statistic, many of the folks who it's supposedly aimed at are ignoring it as not interesting enough for their readers/viewers. It's time to drop it. Martin 21:47 8 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * The comparison to Britannica is just silly; Everybody is already aware of the longevity and wide range of topics they cover. Until Wikipedia is a household word and at least a decade old people will instantly want to know where our progress is. The Britannica ref is a pure straw man. --mav 23:42 8 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * No, it's not a straw man - it's just me, looking at our competitors, and drawing comparisons. You don't think britannica is a fair comparison, because it's an older encyclopedia, and already well-respected. That's a perfectly reasonable objection - there's no need to accuse me of setting up a straw man.

 * Btw, Everything2 and h2g2 and the Urban Dicationary don't include the number of articles (or start date) on their front pages, and they're not significantly older than us. I think we'll have to agree to disagree. Martin

 * Sorry Martin, I didn't follow the discussion too closely. I like the current design better, don't know why, it just looks cleaner. Also I don't agree that it's soo cluttered, but of course I don't know what a newbie would think. (perhaps a poll among newbies or totally unaffiliated people would help?) Kosebamse 10:29 10 Jul 2003 (UTC)

The headlines are all numbered. I think, it would be better without numbers, as it is in the current homepage. What do you think? Fantasy 13:02 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * They don't look numbered to me. They're probably only numbered because you selected "Auto-number headings" in your preferences. Martin 15:12 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Yes, that is right, but it does not look good, that was the point I was making. Why does it in the current main page work and in this version not (the not-numbering)? Fantasy 15:32 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * I think that there's something in the Wikipedia software that tells it not to number headings for the page named "Main Page"; however, this page is not named "Main Page" but "Main Page/Temp4". If we were to move this design to the Main Page, the numbering would go away. --bdesham 16:39 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * It could be that, but I think it's just because the headings on the current main page don't use the ==heading wikimarkup==, they're just in bold . --Camembert

 * (it uses <large> too) --mrd

 * That's not a bug, it's a feature. You've selected to view headings with numbers. I've correctly used heading markup to indicate the locations of headings, marking up content, not appearance. Therefore, the headings are auto-numbered when you view them.

 * If it doesn't look good, that's really an issue for the CSS files, the Wikipedia software, and/or the browser, which are jointly in charge of display issues. Perhaps you should raise a bug report about it? Martin

I very much like this. Pros: Cons: --Ellmist Thursday, July 17th, 02003
 * It does not try to duplicate Utilities, like the current main page.
 * It puts the links to articles in sentences, rather than lists, like on the current main page.
 * It can change over time, making this main page useful to returning users. We could even send out a periodic email with this. (opt-in, of course)
 * It does not try to duplicate Multilingual coordination in at least three places like the current main page.
 * Has a featured picture.
 * Should link to Brilliant prose somewhere, like the Featured articles section.
 * The category layout (though not content) on Main Page/Temp3 looks better.
 * Needs an introduction paragraph not in the sidebar. Move the words below About the Project to above Featured articles and realign the Featured articles image. I like the introduction on the current main page more.
 * The picture needs alt text.

I marked up the "browse" section with HTML tables. It makes for ugly code, but I think the categories are easier to read now. -- Merphant 08:16 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * In my browser the right hand box edge no longer appears in blue (IE6, Win2K). Could you try to fix this? Martin 08:33 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Is this better? I replaced the enclosing table with a div and a h2. On Mozilla 1.3/Linux, and this looks about the same as before, or maybe even a little better. I don't have a computer running Windows, so it's hard to know how it will look for you. -- Merphant 03:14 19 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * yep, that's fixed it. Martin

I got rid of the "about" sidebar and turned it into an introductory paragraph at the top of the page. I really think it looks better that way, and it catches people's attention more. Revert if you don't like it.

But that made the dynamic content bits look funny, since they're short; I put in a div to make them wrap sooner; this should look fine even on small windows. The problem is inserting images; they float to the right of the div, not the window. The alternative is to wrap each section in a div Ugly code, but it should work. -- Merphant 03:06 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Interesting. What you could do is put the browse section to the right of the dynamic content bits - that'd make the dynamic content wrap earlier - and also keep mav happy by making the browse section more easily available.

 * Personally, I think we could do with a short introductory paragraph (as Ellmist notes), and a small yellow box. I think the seperate box with "New?" as a header is a nice way of helping newcomers without inconveniencing regulars. So many different needs - that's the problem. Martin

 * I agree. I liked the side bar too, but I sacrificed it because the intro paragraph needed some text. What I've done now as add it back and use the intro paragraph from the current main page. I think it looks pretty good; I've tried to incorparate most of the suggestions on this page. I don't see how the "browse" section would fit into a small sidebar space like that, so I left it at the bottom. What do you think? -- Merphant

 * Yes, that is better. Query - why do you prefer a blue sidebar to yellow? Some folks like it in yellow because it matches the colour on talk pages, etc. I like the blue, but I wondered if you had any deep reason for this... :)

 * I faffed a bit, but I'm not dramatically attached to the results, so revert at will. I have what I think is a really neat idea, though, so I'll try to implement it in about ten hours time, if I remember... Martin

 * I like the blue because it does less violence to my eyes :) The yellow background on the talk pages is ok, but it hurts to look at a yellow table border on a white background. I'm looking forward to seeing your neat idea. -- Merphant 23:29 23 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Oops. I forgot! :) Martin 23:44 23 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * While I'm at it, here are your comments from the bottom of the article:

 * Stuff I dislike about this page:

 * The article count seems irrelevant to me.

 * It's kind of traditional, and harmless. Why not just leave it in?

 * You're right: I'll bow to tradition on this one - people do seem to like it, after all, and that's always a benefit. --mrd

 * The browse section needs a whole bunch of work.

 * I made it look prettier. we could change some of the links, but IMHO it's ok now. BTW, what are these new "categories" people keep talking about?

 * I think categories are the new name for lists ;-) There's going to be some software support, or something... --mrd

 * I want more graphics and such - but not at the expense of folks with small screens - how to balance this?

 * I like the Mars image; maybe one or two other small images would be nice, spread out across the page, but personally I'd prefer to keep it simple.

 * Perhaps just one is ideal. That tells people - look! We're not plain text! :) --mrd

 * -- Merphant 08:27 23 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I think the browse bit needs to be visible without having to scroll down. Could it be side by side with the recent news stuff? Angela 19:06, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * You're right, it should be easier to get to, but having it side by side would clutter up the page. I think one of the goals of this temp page is to clean up the main page. I've modified the intro paragraph to link to the browse section; what do you think? Funny, I've been here quite a while and only just now figured out how to do that! -- Merphant 22:17, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC)

My "genius" idea was to have initially three columns on the page:

 * Featured articles (Mars, in the news) | Picture of Mars | "New" (etc)

Then, when the "New" box stops, move to:

 * Featured articles (Recent deaths, etc) | Browse Wikipedia

And the width of the browse section would be the width of the "New" section PLUS the width of the picture (100 pixels).

However, I don't have a clue how to implement this, or if it would be any good. So I'll leave it to y'all! :) Martin 22:52, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * See Main Page/Temp5. Is this what you meant? Angela 23:22, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Yep. :) Martin

title: Wikipedia talk:Main Page/Temp4


text:
Gil Hodges

Gilbert Raymond Hodges (born Hodge; April 4, 1924 – April 2, 1972) was an American first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played most of his 18-year career for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers. An eight-time All-Star, he anchored the infield for the Dodgers through six pennant winners and two World Series titles before leading the New York Mets to their first World Series title in. One of the most beloved and admired players in major league history, Hodges was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022, fifty years after his sudden death.

Born in Princeton, Indiana, Hodges was the son of a coal miner. He grew up in Petersburg, Indiana where he was a four-sport athlete in high school, before attending Saint Joseph's College where he played baseball and basketball. He dropped out to sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers, making his debut at age 19 before being joining the United States Marine Corps during World War II, receiving the Bronze Star Medal after serving in combat as an anti-aircraft gunner during in the battles of Tinian and Okinawa in the Pacific theatre. After being discharged, Hodges returned to the Dodgers' organization, making his way back to the majors in.

During his time with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Hodges was a core member of the "Boys of Summer", along with Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, and Pee Wee Reese. He was widely regarded as the major leagues' outstanding first baseman in the 1950s, with Snider being the only player to have more home runs or runs batted in during the decade. Hodges held the National League (NL) record for career home runs by a right-handed hitter from 1960 to 1963, with his final total of 370 briefly ranking tenth in major league history; he held the NL record for career grand slams from 1957 to 1974. A sterling defensive player, Hodges won the first three Gold Glove Awards for his position and led the NL in double plays four times and in putouts, assists and fielding percentage three times each. He ranked second in NL history with 1,281 assists and 1,614 double plays when his career ended, and was among the league's career leaders in games (6th, 1,908) and total chances (10th, 16,751) at first base.

After retiring as a player during the 1963 season, Hodges became the manager of the expansion Washington Senators. He did not have a winning season there, although the team did improve upon their win total each year during Hodges' 5-year tenure. Before the 1968 season, the New York Mets hired Hodges as manager. The following season, in what is considered one of the greatest championship runs in sports history, he led the team to their first winning season and World Series title. A heavy smoker, Hodges died suddenly from a heart attack at age 47, during spring training in 1972. The Mets retired his number 14 the following season; 49 years later, during the 2022 season, the Dodgers, Hodges' long-time team, followed suit after his election to the Hall of Fame.

Early years
Hodges was born Gilbert Raymond Hodge on April 4, 1924, in Princeton, Indiana, the son of Charles P. Hodge, a coal miner, and his wife Irene (née Horstmeyer). He had an older brother, Robert, and a younger sister, Marjorie. At some point, prior to 1930, the family name was changed from 'Hodge' to 'Hodges'.

When Hodges was seven, the family moved to nearby Petersburg. He was a star four-sport athlete at Petersburg High School, earning a combined seven varsity letters in football, baseball, basketball and track. Hodges declined a 1941 contract offer from the Detroit Tigers, instead attending Saint Joseph's College with the hope of eventually becoming a collegiate coach. Hodges spent two years at St Joseph's, competing in baseball and basketball. He dropped out after his sophomore year, accepting a contract from Stanley Feezle, a sporting goods storeowner and part-time scout, to sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Aged 19, Hodges was called up by the Dodgers and made his debut on October 3, 1943, against the Cincinnati Reds, the last game of the 1943 season. Playing third base, he went 0-2 with two strikeouts and made two errors. A few days later, he entered the United States Marine Corps to serve in World War II.

Military service
Hodges entered the United States Marine Corps during World War II after having participated in its Reserve Officers' Training Corps program at Saint Joseph's. He served in combat as an anti-aircraft gunner in the 16th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, participating in the battles of Tinian and Okinawa, and received a Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" for heroism under fire.

Following the war, Hodges also spent time completing course work at Oakland City University, near his hometown, playing basketball for the Mighty Oaks, joining the 1947–48 team after four games (1–3 record); they finished at 9–10. One of his teammates, Bob Lochmueller, would go on to star at the University of Louisville and play in the NBA.

After being discharged from the Marine Corps in 1946, Hodges returned to the Dodgers organization as a catcher with the Newport News Dodgers of the Piedmont League, batting .278 in 129 games as they won the league championship; his teammates included first baseman and future film and television star Chuck Connors.

The Boys of Summer
Hodges was called up to Brooklyn in 1947, the same year that Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. He played as a catcher, joining the team's nucleus of Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and Carl Furillo. With the emergence of Roy Campanella behind the plate, manager Leo Durocher shifted Hodges to first base. Hodges' only appearance in the 1947 World Series against the New York Yankees was as a pinch hitter for pitcher Rex Barney in Game Seven, but he struck out. As a rookie in 1948, he batted .249 with 11 home runs and 70 runs batted in.

On June 25, 1949, Hodges hit for the cycle on his way to his first of seven consecutive All-Star teams. For the season, his 115 runs batted in ranked fourth in the NL, and he tied Hack Wilson's 1932 club record for right-handed hitters with 23 home runs. Defensively, he led the NL in putouts (1,336), double plays (142) and fielding average (.995). Facing the Yankees again in the 1949 World Series, he batted only .235 but drove in the sole run in Brooklyn's only victory, a 1–0 triumph in Game 2. In Game 5, he hit a two-out, three-run homer in the seventh to pull the Dodgers within 10–6, but struck out to end the game and the Series.

On August 31, 1950, against the Boston Braves, Hodges joined Lou Gehrig as only the second player since 1900 to hit four home runs in a game without the benefit of extra innings; he hit them against four different pitchers, with the first coming off Warren Spahn. He also had seventeen total bases in the game, tied for third-most in Major League history. That year he also led the league in fielding (.994) and set an NL record with 159 double plays, breaking Frank McCormick's mark of 153 with the 1939 Cincinnati Reds He finished 1950 third in the league in both homers (32) and runs batted in (113), and came in eighth in the Most Valuable Player voting.

In 1951, he became the first member of the Dodgers to hit 40 home runs, breaking Babe Herman's 1930 mark of 35; Campanella hit 41 in 1953, but Hodges recaptured the record with 42 in 1954 before Snider eclipsed him again with 43 in 1956. His last home run of 1951 came on October 2 against the New York Giants, as the Dodgers tied the three-game NL playoff series at a game each with a 10–0 win; New York won the pennant the next day on Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World". That year, Hodges broke his own record for most double plays with 171, a record which stood until Donn Clendenon had 182 for the 1966 Pittsburgh Pirates; he also led the NL with 126 assists, and was second in home runs, third in runs (118) and total bases (307), fifth in slugging percentage (.527), and sixth in runs batted in (103).

In 1952, with is last home run of the season, Hodges tied Dolph Camilli's Dodger team record of 139 home runs, surpassing him in 1953; Snider moved ahead of Hodges in 1956. That season, he again led the NL with 116 assists in the 1952 campaign and was third in the league in home runs (32) and fourth in runs batted in (102) and slugging (.500).

Near the end of the 1952 season, Hodges suffered through one of the most famous slumps in baseball history: after going hitless in his last four regular-season games of 1952, he also went hitless in all seven games of the 1952 World Series against the Yankees (finishing the Series 0-for-21 at the plate), with Brooklyn losing to the Yankees in the seven games. Hodges was also involved in a blown call in Game 5. Johnny Sain was batting for the Yankees in the 10th inning of Game 5 and grounded out, as ruled by first base umpire Art Passarella. The photograph of the play, however, shows Sain stepping on first base while Hodges, also with a foot on the bag, is reaching for the ball that is about a foot shy of entering his glove. Baseball commissioner Ford Frick, an ex-newspaperman himself, refused to defend Passarella.

When Hodges' slump continued into the 1953 season, fans reacted with countless letters and good-luck gifts. One Brooklyn priest, Father Herbert Redmond of St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, told his flock: "It's too hot for a sermon today. Go home, keep the commandments, and say a prayer for Gil Hodges." Hodges began hitting again soon afterward, and rarely struggled again in the World Series. Teammate Carl Erskine, who described himself as a good Baptist, kidded him by saying, "Gil, you just about made a believer out of me."

Hodges ended 1953 with a .302 batting average, finishing fifth in the NL in runs batted in (122) and sixth in home runs (31). Against the Yankees in the 1953 Series, Hodges hit .364; he had three hits, including a homer in the 9–5 Game 1 loss. However, the Dodgers again lost in six games. In 1954, under their new manager Walter Alston, Hodges set the team home run record with 42, hitting a career-high .304 and again leading the NL in putouts (1,381) and assists (132). He also set a still-standing record with 19 sacrifice flies. He was second in the league to Ted Kluszewski in home runs and runs batted in (130), fifth in total bases (335), and sixth in slugging (.579) and runs (106), and placed tenth in the Most Valuable Player vote.

In the 1955 season, Hodges' regular-season production declined to a .289 average, 27 home runs and 102 runs batted in. Facing the Yankees in the World Series for the fifth time, he was 1-for-12 in the first three games before coming around. In Game 4, Hodges hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning to put Brooklyn ahead, 4–3, and later had a single that drove in a run as they held off the Yankees, 8–5; he also scored the first run in the Dodgers' 5–3 win in Game 5. In Game 7, he drove in Campanella with two out in the fourth inning for a 1–0 lead and added a sacrifice fly to score Reese with one out in the sixth inning. Johnny Podres scattered eight New York hits, and when Reese threw Elston Howard's grounder to Hodges for the final out, Brooklyn had a 2–0 win and their first World Series title in franchise history and their only championship in Brooklyn.

In 1956, Hodges recorded 32 home runs and 87 runs batted in. Brooklyn won the pennant again, and once more met the Yankees in the World Series but ended up losing in seven games. In the third inning of Game 1, he hit a three-run homer to put Brooklyn ahead, 5–2, as they went on to a 6–3 win; he had three hits and four runs batted in during the 13–8 slugfest in Game 2, scoring to give the Dodgers a 7–6 lead in the third and doubling in two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings for an 11–7 lead. In Don Larsen's perfect game Hodges struck out, flied to center, and lined to third base, as Brooklyn went on to lose in seven games.

In 1957 Hodges set the NL record for career grand slams, breaking the mark of 12 shared by Rogers Hornsby and Ralph Kiner; his final total of 14 was tied by Hank Aaron and Willie McCovey in 1972, and broken by Aaron in 1974. He finished seventh in the NL with a .299 batting average and fifth with 98 runs batted in, and leading the league with 1,317 putouts. He was also among the NL's top ten players in home runs (27), hits (173), runs (94), triples (7), slugging (.511) and total bases (296); in late September, he drove in the last Dodgers run at Ebbets Field, and the last run in Brooklyn history. Hodges was named to his last All-Star team and placed seventh in the Most Valuable Player balloting, the highest position in his career.

Move to Los Angeles

Prior to the 1958 season, the Dodgers and their cross-town rivals the Giants relocated to Los Angeles and San Francisco respectively. On April 23, 1958, Hodges became the seventh player to hit 300 home runs in the NL, connecting off Dick Drott of the Chicago Cubs. That year he also tied a post-1900 record by leading the league in double plays (134) for the fourth time, equaling Frank McCormick and Ted Kluszewski; Donn Clendenon eventually broke the record in 1968. Hodges' totals were 22 home runs and 64 runs batted in as the Dodgers finished in seventh place in their first season in California. He also broke Dolph Camilli's NL record of 923 career strikeouts in 1958.

In 1959, the Dodgers captured their first pennant in Los Angeles, with Hodges contributing 25 home runs, 80 runs batted in, and a batting average of .276, coming in seventh in the league with a .513 slugging mark; he also led the NL with a .992 fielding average. He batted .391 in the 1959 World Series against the Chicago White Sox (his first against a team other than the Yankees), with his solo home run in the eighth inning of Game 4 giving the Dodgers a 5–4 win, as they triumphed in six games for another Series championship.

In 1960, Hodges broke Ralph Kiner's NL record for right-handed hitters of 351 career home runs, and appeared on the TV program Home Run Derby. In his last season with the Dodgers in 1961, he became the team's career runs batted in leader with 1,254, passing Zack Wheat; Snider moved ahead of him the following year. Hodges received the first three Rawlings Gold Glove Awards, from 1957 to 1959.

During spring training 1961, Hodges gave what was one of his biggest contributions to the Dodgers. He had been appointed acting manager for a B-squad game, against the Minnesota Twins in Orlando, Florida, by Walter Alston. Upon discovering that one of their pitchers, Ed Palmquist, had missed the flight, Hodges told that day's starter, Sandy Koufax that he would have to pitch seven innings instead of the previously planned five. The game ended up becoming a turning point in Koufax's career; after struggling with his control to start the game, he ended up pitching seven no-hit innings; Koufax went on to have a strong spring training and a breakthrough season in. Hodges himself was unable to manage the game, however, since he had been beaned during batting practice.

Return to New York
After being chosen in the 1961 MLB Expansion Draft, Hodges was one of the original 1962 Mets and despite knee problems was persuaded to continue his playing career in New York, hitting the first home run in franchise history. By the end of the year, in which he played only 54 games, he ranked tenth in MLB history with 370 home runs – second to only Jimmie Foxx among right-handed hitters. He also held the National League (NL) record for career home runs by a right-handed hitter from 1960 to 1963, and held the NL record for career grand slams from 1957 to 1974.

After 11 games with the Mets in 1963, during which he batted .227 with no homers and was plagued by injuries, he was traded to the Washington Senators in late May so that he could replace Mickey Vernon as Washington's manager. Hodges immediately announced his retirement from playing in order to focus on his new position. His last game had been on May 5 in a doubleheader hosting the San Francisco Giants.

Career overall
An eight-time All-Star, Hodges batted .273 in his career with a .487 slugging percentage, 1,921 hits, 1,274 runs batted in, 1,105 runs, 370 home runs, 295 doubles and 63 stolen bases in 2,071 games. His 361 home runs with the Dodgers remain second in team history to Snider's 389. His 1,614 career double plays placed him behind only Charlie Grimm (1733) in NL history, and were a major league record for a right-handed fielding first baseman until Chris Chambliss surpassed him in 1984. His 1,281 career assists ranked second in league history to Fred Tenney's 1,363, and trailed only Ed Konetchy's 1,292 among all right-handed first basemen.

At the start of the 1963 season, prior to his retirement, Hodges had hit the most home runs (370) by a right-handed batter up to that point in time (surpassed by Willie Mays just before Hodges retired, on April 19) and the most career grand slams (14) by a National League player (surpassed by Willie McCovey's 18 grand slams). He shares the major league record of having hit four home runs in a single game (only 18 players have done so in Major League history).

Washington Senators
Hodges began the 1963 season as an active player, but decided to retire when the expansion Washington Senators asked him to be their manager. After clearing waivers, the Mets traded Hodges to the Senators for outfielder Jimmy Piersall on May 23, retiring from his playing career.

Hodges managed the Senators through 1967, and while they never achieved a winning record during his time as manager, the Senators improved on their record from the previous seasons, peaking with a 76-85 record in 1967.

In December 1964, the Senators arranged a seven-player trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hodges received outfielder Frank Howard, his former teammate, catcher Doug Camilli, pitchers Nick Willhite, Phil Ortega, and Pete Richert, first baseman Dick Nen, and third baseman Ken McMullen. These players, Howard in particular, would become the core of the Senators franchise for the next few years and helped the team to a sixth-place finish in the 1967 season and their only winning season in 1969.

During the 1965 season, Hodges saved the life of pitcher Ryne Duren who was in his final season and had signed with the Senators after being released by the Philadelphia Phillies. On August 18, after a bad outing against the Chicago White Sox, the last of his career, Duren attempted to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, later recalling: "I put Gil through hell." The police went and got Hodges from the hotel the team was staying at. Hodges managed to talk Duren down from the bridge, telling him, "You are too good to do this to yourself."

When New York Mets manager Wes Westrum resigned as manager in September 1967, the Mets sought out Hodges as his replacement. Although he had one year left on his contract with the Senators, Hodges decided to take up the Mets' offer as he considered it more convenient; he still had financial interests in Brooklyn and his family and home was there. Hodges was also popular in New York and, hence, a natural fit for the Mets. Senators GM George Selkirk obliged after the Mets paid them $100,000 and sent pitcher Bill Denehy over as compensation. Hodges then signed a three-year, $150,000 contract with the New York Mets.

New York Mets
When Hodges took over as manager of the Mets, the team had yet to finish with a winning season. At the 1968 All-Star break, the Mets were just four games below .500. However, they could not maintain the pace and subsequently lost 46 of their remaining 80 games. While the team only posted a 73–89 record, finishing 9th in the National League, it was nonetheless the best mark in their seven years of existence up to that point.

On September 24, 1968, Hodges, a chain smoker since he picked up the habit during his service in World War II, suffered from what was described as a "mild heart attack" during a game against the Atlanta Braves.

1969: The "Miracle Mets"
In 1969, Hodges led the New York Mets to their first winning season and the National League East title. They swept the Atlanta Braves in the inaugural, best-of-five National League Championship Series. They then went on to beat the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in the World Series in five games.

After losing Game 1, the team came back for four straight victories, including two by 2–1 scores. Finishing higher than ninth place for the first time, the Mets became not only the first expansion team to win a World Series, but also the first team to win the Fall Classic after finishing at least 15 games under .500 the previous year. Hodges was named The Sporting News Manager of the Year for 1969.

During Game 5, in the bottom of the sixth, Orioles pitcher Dave McNally bounced a pitch that appeared to have hit Mets left fielder Cleon Jones on the foot, then bounced into the Mets' dugout. McNally and the Orioles argued that the ball hit the dirt and not Jones, but Hodges showed the ball to home plate umpire Lou DiMuro, who found a spot of shoe polish on the ball and awarded Jones first base. McNally subsequently gave up a two-run home run to Mets first baseman Donn Clendenon to cut the Orioles lead to 3–2. The Mets eventually won the game and the series, 5-3.

The controversial decision has gone down in baseball lore as the "shoe polish" incident and it highlighted Hodges' reputation for fair play as he had never been thrown out a game for arguing, a fact which likely led to DiMuro ruling in favor of the Mets.

Final seasons
In Hodges last two years as the manager of the Mets, the team had a winning record each time, finishing third in the National League East with an 83–79 record in both 1971 and 1972. However, his team never made the playoffs again.

In 1971, the Mets finished behind the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. In 1971, they finished tied at third with the Cubs in the NL East rankings, behind Pirates (eventual World Series champions) and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Personal life
In 1948, Hodges married Joan Lombardi (September 27, 1926 – September 17, 2022), a native of Brooklyn. The couple had four children together: Gilbert Jr., Irene, Cynthia, and Barbara. The family resided in Midwood, Brooklyn where Hodges had several business investments, including a bowling alley.

Joan Hodges outlived her husband by 50 years. She died in September 2022, a month after her husband's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Death and impact
On the afternoon of April 2, 1972, Easter Sunday, Hodges was playing golf in West Palm Beach, Florida because the exhibition game between the Mets and the Montreal Expos was cancelled due to the first players' strike. He completed 27 holes of golf with Mets coaches Joe Pignatano, Rube Walker, and Eddie Yost, when he collapsed en route to his motel room at the Ramada Inn across the street from Municipal Stadium, then the spring training facility of the Atlanta Braves and Expos. Hodges had suffered a heart attack and was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital where he died within 20 minutes of arrival. Pignatano later recalled Hodges falling backwards and hitting his head on the sidewalk with a "sickening knock", bleeding profusely and turning blue. Pignatano said "I put my hand under Gil's head, but before you knew it, the blood stopped. I knew he was dead. He died in my arms."

Jackie Robinson, himself ill with heart disease and diabetes, told the Associated Press, "He was the core of the Brooklyn Dodgers. With this, and what's happened to Campy and lot of other guys we played with, it scares you. I've been somewhat shocked by it all. I have tremendous feelings for Gil's family and kids." Robinson died of a heart attack six months later on October 24 at age 53.

Duke Snider said "Gil was a great player, but an even greater man." "I'm sick," said Johnny Podres, "I've never known a finer man." A crushed Carl Erskine said "Gil's death is like a bolt out of the blue." Don Drysdale, who himself died in Montreal of a heart attack in 1993 at age 56, wrote in his autobiography that Hodges' death "absolutely shattered me. I just flew apart. I didn't leave my apartment in Texas for three days. I didn't want to see anybody. I couldn't get myself to go to the funeral. It was like I'd lost a part of my family." According to Gil Hodges Jr., Howard Cosell, one of the many attendees at the wake, brought him into the back seat of a car, where Jackie Robinson had been crying hysterically. Robinson then held Hodges Jr. and said, "Next to my son's death, this is the worst day of my life."

The wake was held at Torregrossa Funeral Home, on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. The funeral was held at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Midwood, Brooklyn, on April 6. Approximately 600 people attended the church service inside, while thousands of mourners attended outside. Afterwards, he was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, about a mile and half from where Ebbets Field used to be.

Yogi Berra, the Mets' first base coach, succeeded him as manager on the day of the funeral. The American flag flew at half-staff on Opening Day at Shea Stadium, while the Mets wore black armbands on their left arms during the entire 1972 season in honor of Hodges.

Honors
In 1969, Hodges received the Bronze Medallion, New York City's highest civilian honor from Mayor John Lindsay.

On June 9, 1973, one year after his death, the Mets retired Hodges' uniform number 14. After his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022, the Los Angeles Dodgers, his longtime team, honored Hodges by retiring his uniform number 14 on June 4, 2022 with the visiting New York Mets present for ceremony.

On April 4, 1978, what would have been Hodges' 54th birthday, the Marine Parkway Bridge, which connected Marine Park, Brooklyn to Rockaway, Queens, was renamed the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge in his memory. Other Brooklyn locations named for him are a park on Carroll Street, a Little League field on Shell Road in Brooklyn, a section of Avenue L and P.S. 193. In addition, part of Bedford Avenue in Midwood, Brooklyn, is named Gil Hodges Way. A bowling alley in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, was formerly named Gil Hodges Lanes in his honor.

In Indiana, the high school baseball stadium in his birthplace of Princeton, Indiana is named after Hodges. A bridge spanning the East Fork of the White River in northern Pike County on State Road 57 was renamed the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge. In addition, a Little League baseball team in his hometown of Petersburg was named the Hodges Dodgers, in his honor.

In 2009, a 52 x mural was dedicated in Petersburg featuring pictures of Hodges as a Brooklyn Dodger, as manager of the New York Mets, and batting at Ebbets Field.

Hodges became an inaugural member of the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979. He was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1982. In 2007, Hodges was inducted into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2000, Hodges was featured in the documentary Gil Hodges: The Quiet Man, based on the book of the same name by author Marino Amoruso. In November 2021, a 30-minute documentary, titled The Gil Hodges Story: Soul Of A Champion, was released. The film featured interviews with Vin Scully, Tommy Lasorda, Carl Erskine, Gil Hodges Jr., and members of the 1969 New York Mets.

Hall of Fame candidacy and election
For decades, there was controversy over Hodges not being selected for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was considered to be one of the finest players of the 1950s, and graduated to managerial success with the Mets. However, critics of his candidacy pointed out that despite his offensive prowess, he never led the National League in any offensive category such as home runs, runs batted in, or slugging percentage, and never came close to winning a Most Valuable Player award. Additionally, until the election of Tony Pérez in 2000, every first baseman in the Hall had either 500 career home runs or a batting average over .295; at the time of Hodges' death, the BBWAA had only elected two position players (Rabbit Maranville and Roy Campanella) with batting averages below .285. Hodges' not having been voted an MVP may have resulted in part from his having had some of his best seasons (1950, 1954 and 1957) in years when the Dodgers did not win the pennant.

BBWAA candidate
After last playing in the major leagues during the 1963 season, Hodges first appeared on the 1969 ballot, receiving 24.1% of ballots cast by BBWAA electors, with 75% the threshold for election. He was considered annually through the 1983 ballot, his 15th and final ballot appearance under BBWAA rules at the time. He appeared on 63.4% of ballots in 1983 voting, the highest percentage of his candidacy. Hodges collected 3,010 votes cast by the BBWAA from 1969 to 1983, the most votes for an unselected player until surpassed by Jim Rice in 2008, prior to Rice's election the following year.

Veterans Committee candidate
Hodges was considered for selection by the Hall of Fame's Veterans Committee starting in 1987. Voting by the committee was held in closed sessions for many years, but results are known for Hodges in voting (61%),  (65%),  (61%), and  (43.8%). Each time, Hodges fell short of the 75% minimum required for election.

Golden Era/Golden Days candidate
In 2011, Hodges became a Golden Era candidate (1947–1972 era) for consideration to be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Golden Era Committee, which replaced the Veterans Committee in 2010. In December 2011, voting by the committee took place during the Hall of Fame's two-day winter meeting in Dallas, Texas. Induction to the Hall requires at least 12 votes (75%) from the 16-member committee. Of 10 candidates, Ron Santo was the only one elected, having received 15 votes; Jim Kaat had 10 votes, and Hodges and Minnie Miñoso were tied with nine votes.

Hodges' next opportunity under the Golden Era Committee was in December 2014, when the committee voted at the MLB winter meeting. Hodges received only three votes, and none of the other eight player candidates on the ballot were elected to the Hall of Fame, including Dick Allen and Tony Oliva, who each fell one vote shy of the 12-vote threshold. In July 2016, the Golden Era Committee was succeeded by a new system of four committees, including the Golden Days committee (1950–1969 era).

Hodges was one of 10 nominees named on November 5, 2021 to the Golden Days Era ballot for Hall of Fame consideration. On December 5, the Hall of Fame announced Hodges' election, having received 12 of 16 votes to meet the 75% threshold. Hodges was formally inducted on July 24, 2022, with his daughter Irene delivering a speech on his behalf.

title: Gil Hodges