September 27, 1990 SPORTS OF THE TIMES SPORTS OF THE TIMES; If Hodges Managed These Mets By Dave Anderson When the Mets return to Shea Stadium tomorrow night, Bud Harrelson will sit at his desk under three photos of Gil Hodges on the walls around him. One photo shows the onetime Mets' manager with Casey Stengel and George Weiss. Another is a facial portrait. The third, above Harrelson's chair, is of Hodges, in a blue-sleeved sweatshirt, sitting thoughtfully at a desk and doing what Harrelson does now: making out a lineup card. ''That's my favorite,'' Harrelson will tell you. Gil Hodges is also Harrelson's favorite manager, if not the favorite manager of every Met fan who remembers 1969, the year the Miracle Mets won the World Series. And with Harrelson, the Mets' shortstop that year, now trying to guide the Mets to the National League East title under the inspiration of those Hodges photos, a fantasy question emerged: What if Gil Hodges were managing these Mets? ''I'm not sure a lot of stuff that happened to us in those years would apply now,'' Harrelson said. ''But I'm not saying his style wouldn't work. I've always thought his style was about 20 years ahead of his time.'' Hodges's time was too short. In 1972, two days before his 48th birthday, he died of a heart attack shortly before he would have begun his fifth season as the Mets' manager. ''Gil used a lot of psychology,'' Harrelson said. ''He would call you in for a one-on-one and get into your mind. Why you did certain things. Not to reprimand you, but to let you grow. He once told me, 'You're the strongest 147-pound ballplayer I ever saw.' He was just blowing my horn, but he made me feel like Charles Atlas.'' Husky and handsome, Hodges was really baseball's Charles Atlas, a quiet strongman whose size was silently intimidating. ''I was afraid of him; so was everybody else,'' Harrelson recalled. ''He knew who he had to coddle. He knew who he had to kick. If he were managing this team, I'm sure he would have confronted the guys who were saying things he wouldn't have liked.'' Joe Pignatano, the Mets' bullpen coach under Hodges, had a theory on how Hodges would deal with Darryl Strawberry's moods. ''Gil would just stare at Darryl; that would be enough,'' Pignatano said. ''I only heard Gil raise his voice once. The day after the Cleon Jones incident, he and Cleon were in his office with the door closed and we could hear Gil yelling, 'Look in that mirror and tell me if Cleon Jones is giving me 100 percent.' The way Cleon was yelling, I thought sure they were going to fight, but then the door opened and Cleon walked out.'' According to Tom Seaver, then the Mets' ace, several other players heard Gil Hodges raise his voice. ''I don't think there's any doubt there'd be more discipline on these Mets if Gil were the manager,'' Seaver said. ''His physical presence made you listen.'' Hodges's confrontation with Jones in 1969 occurred after the Mets' left fielder nonchalantly retrieved a two-base hit. ''Gil once told me that he was just going to the mound to take out the pitcher,'' recalled Frank Slocum, one of Hodges's best friends, then a National League executive and now the Baseball Alumni Team executive director. ''He told me he was walking with his head down and when he looked up, he realized he was almost at third base. He didn't want to turn back to the mound, so he kept walking. All he said to Cleon was, 'Are you hurt?' Cleon said, 'No.' Gil said, 'Come with me.' '' Hodges had other problems with Jones, who once left the field during batting practice without telling any of the coaches. ''I was standing at the batting cage with Gil when he said, 'One of my chicks is missing,' '' Slocum said. ''He went inside and told Cleon, 'That'll cost you $1,000.' When Cleon said, 'That doesn't bother me,' Gil said: 'Now it's $2,000. Let me know when I get to a number that impresses you.' But after Gil died, I remember Cleon saying he never realized how much Gil had done for him until Gil was gone. The softer Gil spoke, the more threatening he was.'' Had he lived and continued to manage, Hodges would be 66 now, the dean of dugout geniuses. ''I doubt Gil would still be managing,'' Slocum said. ''He might be a general manager. But if he were still managing the Mets, I don't think he would have tolerated Ron Darling's griping, especially when Darling wasn't getting anybody out. I think his approach with Strawberry would be that Straw is costing himself money with his sometimes moody behavior. But what Gil said to Straw would depend on what Straw said to him.'' Just as Hodges was Harrelson's favorite manager, Harrelson was one of Hodges's favorite players. ''Gil once told me, 'If I believed in captains, Bud Harrelson would be my captain,' '' Frank Slocum said. ''Of all the players Gil managed, I think he would have picked Harrelson as the one to be a manager.'' Photo: Gil Hodges (The New York Times)