Baseball Hall of Famer Duke Snider Dies

Duke Snider, a Hall of Fame outfielder who helped the Brooklyn Dodgers capture their only World Series title, has died. He was 84.

He passed away at the Valle Vista Convalescent Hospital in Escondido, Calif. and his death was announced by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on behalf of the family. The former slugger had been ill for months and died of natural causes.

Though Snider, who was also known as "The Duke of Flatbush" and "The Silver Fox," played for three teams across his major league career, he's most identified for his time with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers.

A .295 career hitter with 407 home runs and eight All-Star game appearances in 17 seasons, Snider roamed the outfield at Ebbets Field at the same time Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were also headlining in New York for the Giants and Yankees respectively, giving the city an almost unparalleled trio of star center fielders.

"Duke was a fine man, a terrific hitter and a great friend, even though he was a Dodger," Mays said in a statement. "It was great playing centerfield in New York in the 1950s, along with Mickey and Duke."

Snider's former teammate, Don Zimmer, also praised his friend's abilities.

"Willie, Duke and Mickey. They were great players in one city, one town. Duke never got the credit of being the outfielder that Mays and Mantle were," Zimmer said. "But Duke was a great outfielder. He was a great player."

Commissioner Bud Selig called Snider an "integral part of Dodger history" and part of an "unparalleled triumvirate of center fielders" in New York.

"Then the Los Angeles native went home and helped usher in a new part of baseball history with great class," Selig said in a statement.

Said Giants manager Bruce Bochy: "There was even a song with Duke in it."

"I remember the first time I met him. It's almost like you're meeting a god, a baseball hero for all of us," he said.

Snider hit at least 40 homers in five straight seasons and led the NL in total bases three times. He never won an MVP award, although a voting error may have cost him the prize in 1955. He lost to Campanella by a very narrow margin — it later turned out an ill voter left Snider off the ballot, supposedly by mistake.

Snider is the Dodgers' franchise leader in home runs (389) and RBIs (1,271). He led all major leaguers in the 1950s with 326 homers and 1,031 RBIs.

Carl Erskine was Snider's roommate for 10 years and the two shared a house at spring training in Vero Beach, Fla., with their families.

"Duke played so great when I pitched," he recalled. "He just made so many plays in the World Series for me, and he seemed to play his best when I pitched."

Snider hit .309 with 42 homers and a career-high 136 RBIs in 1955. That October, he hit four homers, drove in seven runs and hit .320 as the Dodgers beat the Yankees in a seven-game Series.

For a team that kept preaching "Wait till next year" after World Series losses to the Yankees in 1953, '52, '49, '47 and '41, it was indeed next year. A generation later, long after they'd all grown old, those Dodgers were lauded as the "Boys of Summer" in Roger Kahn's book.

"He was the true Dodger and represented the Dodgers to the highest degree of class, dignity and character," Hall of Fame Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda said.

Orlando Cepeda, a Hall of Famer with the Giants, said Snider provided one of his biggest thrills when he broke into the majors in 1958.

"When I came to first base, the opening game, he said to me, 'Orlando, good luck, good luck,'" Cepeda said. "He was one of my idols. I almost fainted."

Born Edwin Donald Snider, he got his nickname at an early age. Noticing his son return home from a game with somewhat of a strut, Snider's dad said, "Here comes the Duke."

Even though his mom preferred Ed, the name stuck. So did Snider, once he played his first game in the majors in 1947, two days after Jackie Robinson's historic debut.

A durable slugger with a strong arm, good instincts on the bases and a regal style, Snider hit the last home run at Ebbets Field in 1957.

Snider's swing gave the Dodgers a lefty presence on a team of mostly righties. He often launched shots over the short right-field wall at the Brooklyn bandbox, rewarding a waiting throng that gathered on Bedford Avenue. "The Duke's up," fans in the upper deck would shout to those on the street.

Snider had a wild swing that was harnessed by Branch Rickey, who made him practice standing at home plate with a bat on his shoulder calling balls and strikes but forbidden to swing.

Snider stayed with the Dodgers when they moved to Los Angeles in 1958 and won another World Series ring the next year. Prematurely gray, "The Silver Fox" returned to New York with the bumbling Mets in 1963 and finished his career in 1964 with the Giants, where he and Mays were teammates.

"Above it all, he was a fan favorite for his style of play, personality, accessibility, and fondness for playing stickball with kids in the streets of Brooklyn," Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson said.

Snider was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980 on his 11th try. He was a broadcaster for the Montreal Expos for several seasons — he played in the city as a minor leaguer in the Brooklyn farm system — and later was an announcer with the Dodgers.

"He had the grace and the abilities of DiMaggio and Mays and, of course, he was a World Series hero that will forever be remembered in the borough of Brooklyn," Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully said. "Although it's ironic to say it, we have lost a giant."

In 1995, Snider pleaded guilty to federal tax charges and was sentenced to two years' probation and fined $5,000. He admitted not reporting more than $97,000 in cash from autograph signings, card shows and memorabilia sales.

Snider was sentenced at the Brooklyn federal courthouse, a few miles from where he had starred. The judge said Snider had been "publicly disgraced and humiliated ... here in Brooklyn, where you were idolized by a generation ... of which I was one."

Snider apologized. He said he began making autograph appearances because he had little in savings and had made several bad business decisions. The judge said Snider paid nearly $30,000 in back taxes and noted he had diabetes, hypertension and other illnesses.

A native Californian, Snider became part of Brooklyn's fabric during his playing days.

"I was born in Los Angeles," he once said. "Baseballwise, I was born in Brooklyn. We lived with Brooklyn. We died with Brooklyn."

The Duke, however, had some early problems with the boisterous Brooklyn fans.

Once, in the early 1950s, he was quoted as calling them the worst in the game. He came to the park after the quote was published and was greeted with a chorus of boos. But he enjoyed one of his better nights, and silenced the fans for good.

"The fans were something." Snider said. "They were so close to you. You got to know them, some of them by name."

During his playing career, Snider became an avocado farmer and lived many years in Fallbrook, Calif.

He is survived by his wife, Beverly, whom he married in 1947.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Zimmer lamented another Dodger gone.

"They're all passing away," he said. "There's not many left."

Selected Reading: ESPN, MLB.com, NY Daily News

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