Duke Snider Dies

Hall of Fame Brooklyn Dodger Duke Snider has died, and with him an age of baseball that I shall always miss. Snider, the Duke of Flatbush, was 84.
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/news/story?id=6164805

 
 

  Willie, Mickey, and the Duke... 

Perfect! Thanks.

In 1950 I took my future wife to Ebbets Field to see my beloved Dodgers.
It was early, you always got there early to watch batting practice &  infield practice, you might even see a "pepper" game going on.  At the end of infield practice the outfielders would throw a few just to show off.  The big deal was Carl Furillo's throws to 3rd base from deep right field.  The ball was thrown about 6'0" high on a line---one long bounce around SS and right on the bag. 
 
We were  early enough to talk to the Duke.  He was standing right in front of us so we leaned over the rail an called to him.  He came over and
commented on my Girl Friend's beautiful auburn locks.  She had gorgeous red hair.  She never forgot that.  He would catch a few flies throw them back and then come over and talk with us some more.  He was a great looking athlete. 
 
There are few of us left Michael-------every day the ranks get thinned
out a little more.
 
May his soul rest in peace, Amen--------
 

Listen ancient one, as a certified Dodger hater and Giants fan let me say that Duke Snider was one classy ballplayer.

Duke Snider...  a Dodger when they were my Dodgers.

Your Dodgers? You're in California. They were never your Dodgers.

Mar52---if you are referring to the LA Dodgers you are talking about a completely different team.
 
The Duke of Brooklyn never left---Edwin Snider may have played in LA but the Duke stayed in NY.

Damn straight! The Duke stayed where I could hate him.

I grew up in central California and loved both the Brooklyn and the L.A Dodgers. I was 10 years old when the Dodgers moved to L.A.  Duke Snider was one of my childhood hero's.

Sad news. it is still so amazing that new york city had 3 such outstanding center fielders playing in the same city at the same time.

"I see the boys of summer in their ruin
Lay the gold tithings barren"
 
In Pace Requiescat Silver Fox

eruby----------BEAUTIFUL

My childhood hero. He didn't have the longevity, but for 5 years (53 thru 57), the Duke was at least the equal of, if not better than, Willie or Mickey.
 
Growing up in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, several of the Dodgers lived amongst us, Duke included. We'd ride our bikes past thier houses hoping to catch a glimpse or a wave, which occasionally did happen.  It was truly a different time, ballplayers were middle class (well maybe upper middle, thier blocks were a little nicer than ours, but still middle), just like us.
 
RIP Duke.

You're right about baseball players being regular people. When I was little I used to go hunting with my father and Mel Ott -- they hunted, I was the retriever and the boat pusher. Red Sox great Smokey Joe Wood once lived just a couple of blocks from us in New Haven, and his son, Joe Wood Jr., who also pitched for the Red Sox, lived across the street and four houses up when we lived in Hamden.

Baseball players then, baseball players now, 2 different planets, one recent exception, Cal Ripkin. RIP Duke!

This time you speak of - where ballplayers lived in the neighborhood in which their teams competed - is not ALL that long ago.  I recall when I was in high school, my best friend lived in Neal Heaton's neighborhood.  Admittedly, Neal Heaton was not Duke Snider, but he played a dozen seasons and was an all-star.  He was also nice, friendly, and approachable.
 
What has changed, more than anything else, is the money.  I read over the weekend where a journeyman middle reliever just signed a contract for $850,000.  The average salary is close to $3 million (if not more now).  I don't begrudge the guy his money.  No one tells me how much money I can or cannot negotiate, and I'm not going to tell him, either.  But, $850k to a guy who might or might not be worthy of a roster spot?  That, I just don't get.  It is really close to a MILLION dollars - and maybe we have all become desensitized to just what an incredible amount a million dollars really is, but it is waaaaayyyyyy more than I'm ever going to see on a contract - and I'm really good at my job!  
 
A guy making a million a year surely isn't living in my neighborhood.  It wasn't THAT long ago, when the journeyman's salary was much more in line with real people.  According to the above-posted link on Neal Heaton, after 12 major league seasons, the Yankees gave him a contract for 250,000.  It is possible that a guy making 250,000 could be living in my neighborhood.

Every Dodger, in those days, had a winter job.  Carl Furillo worked as a carpenter.  Gil Hodges was a part owner of a bowling alley ( his investment was his name).  The Duke went back to California and invested in avocados.  None could live all year on their baseball salaries.
Well, some could, Babe Ruth once made more money than President Hoover----$80,000.  Top Dollar in 1929.
 
 
 
 
 
 

But the Babe had a better season than Hoover.

He certainly did, Michael.  He certainly did '29 was a bad year.
 
I love the story Kiner tells---he went into the office of the Pirates General manager and asked for a raise based on his 40 or 50 homers and a ton of RBIs. The GM turned him down saying "you got our final offer---we finished last with you, and we can finish last without you".
 
Another Kiner story----Hank Greenberg was with Pittsburg when Kiner came up.  Hank told him he was going to go great----he pointed to his car and said guys who hit homers drive Caddys, the 300 hitters just drive Chevys.

Boy, we sure were lucky. We had some great ball players.
 
I never got to see Babe Ruth play, of course, but I did get to meet him one day when he was donating his papers, or maybe it was a manuscript for his autobiography, to Yale. It was at Yale Field near my house, and he gave the papers to the captain of the Yale baseball team on the pitcher's mound. I got to talk with him at the concession stand buying hotdogs. By the way, many years later, 1988, I believe, I learned that the Yale captain that year was a guy named George H.W. Bush.
 
I never did hear whatever happened to him.

George H W Bush is retired and looking good.  His sons weres busy
in politics, I think, for a few years.  The Bushs are all quiet and peaceful.
You might look them up in Maine or Texas or even Florida, they get
around ----cover the whole country.
 
 

As we were saying just yesterday:
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/nyregion/01flatbush.html?ref=todayspaper

ken8038


Growing up in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, several of the Dodgers lived amongst us, Duke included. We'd ride our bikes past thier houses hoping to catch a glimpse or a wave, which occasionally did happen.  It was truly a different time, ballplayers were middle class (well maybe upper middle, thier blocks were a little nicer than ours, but still middle), just like us.

 
Ken, this NY Times article is right up your alley.
 
Brad

<<Ken, this NY Times article is right up your alley. >>
 
Great minds think alike! Looks like we posted at exactly the same time. Thanks!

Great piece. Thanks for posting it.
 

Or as Carroll O'Connor played by Archie Bunker sang---
 
Boy, the way Glenn Miller played
Songs that made the Hit Parade----
 
Take a little Sunday spin
Go to watch the Dodgers win---
 
THOSE WERE THE DAYS !!!!!!!!!!!
 
THOSE WERE THE DAYS
 MY FRIEND
 THOSE WERE THE DAYS !!!!!!!!!!

Not if the Dogers won, they weren't.

He hit the last home run in Ebbets Field and had the first hit in Dodger Stadium, a single on opening day in 1962, and was part of the 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers team that beat the Chicago White Sox in the World Series.
BTW, he was born in Compton, a suburb of Los Angeles, and got the nickname "Duke" as a kid here in LA. He was Duke Snider before he ever went to NY. He was drafted out of Compton High School so he was always an Angeleno. He just had a few really good years in NY before he returned to LA!