HOFer Duke Snider Dies

[EdStroud]

Baseball Hall of Famer Duke Snider died Sunday morning at the Valle Vista Convalescent Hospital in Escondido, Calif.. He was 84.

Snider died of natural causes, his family said.

He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 1980 after an 18-year major league career in which he hit 407 home runs,

Snider made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and became the team’s everyday center fielder in 1949. He hit 20 home runs in nine straight seasons, through the 1957 campaign, including a league-best 43 in 1956. He was runner-up as National League Most Valuable Player in 1955, when he helped the Brooklyn to its only World Series victory.

He was born Edwin Donald Snider on Sept. 19, 1926, in Los Angeles. His father nicknamed him Duke at age 5. Snider was a three-sport standout -- football, baseball and basketball -- at Compton (Calif.) High School before he signed with the Dodgers at 17 in 1943. After a brief appearance in the low minor leagues, he entered the Navy.

Snider was a seven-time All-Star in center field. He ranks as the franchise's all-time leader in homers (389) and RBI (1,271). In the 1950s, he led all big league players with 326 home runs and 1,032 RBI. He hit four homes in each of the 1952 and 1955 World Series.

[CALSGR8]

RIP DUKE.  Before the Nats the Dodgers were my favorite NL team.  All the great ones are dying.  I know its only natural but the stories and experiences are mow gone forever. 

[Tyler Durden]

http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2011/02/duke.html

If I had one superpower, it would be to write like this man.

But on the subject of Duke Snider - I read the Boys of Summer as a kid.  I don't remember much from the book and i'll now have to reread it.  But I remember becoming a fan of all the Brooklyn Dodgers, even though they had long since moved to LA. 

RIP Duke - from a 10 year old who never knew what you looked like but spent countless nights thinking about you and the rest of dem bums taking on the hated Yankees. 

[EdStroud]

http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2011/02/duke.html

If I had one superpower, it would be to write like this man.

But on the subject of Duke Snider - I read the Boys of Summer as a kid.  I don't remember much from the book and i'll now have to reread it.  But I remember becoming a fan of all the Brooklyn Dodgers, even though they had long since moved to LA. 

RIP Duke - from a 10 year old who never knew what you looked like but spent countless nights thinking about you and the rest of dem bums taking on the hated Yankees. 

Decent DVD out there called "Ghosts of Flatbush"

[PANatsFan]

http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2011/02/duke.html

If I had one superpower, it would be to write like this man.

But on the subject of Duke Snider - I read the Boys of Summer as a kid.  I don't remember much from the book and i'll now have to reread it.  But I remember becoming a fan of all the Brooklyn Dodgers, even though they had long since moved to LA. 

RIP Duke - from a 10 year old who never knew what you looked like but spent countless nights thinking about you and the rest of dem bums taking on the hated Yankees. 

It's on my bookshelf not five feet away, it's back in my Bookflix queue