Duke Snider

Baseball Player

• Born: September 19, 1926
• Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
• Died: February 27, 2011
• Place of death: Escondido, California

Sport: Baseball

Early Life

Edwin Donald “Duke” Snider, later dubbed “the Silver Fox,” was born September 19, 1926, in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles, California. He grew up in nearby Compton. His father, Ward, worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber and his mother, Florence, was a homemaker. Very early, Ward Snider made two lasting contributions to his son’s baseball career. First, he called his son Duke. Second, he taught Duke to bat left-handed so that he would have an advantage against right-handed pitchers and also be a step closer to first base. Both of Duke’s parents strongly encouraged his athletic ambitions, allowing him to do chores around the house rather than take a part-time job when he came of age so that he would have the time to play organized sports.

The Road to Excellence

The encouragement that Duke received from his parents paid off. Duke starred in baseball, basketball, and football while at Enterprise Junior High School and Compton Junior College. Among the highlights of his school sports career were a touchdown pass thrown 63 yards in the air and a no-hit game as a baseball pitcher.

Thanks in part to the publicity efforts of fellow student Pete Rozelle, who later became commissioner of the National Football League, Duke was named to a number of area all-star teams. This recognition led to interest of baseball scouts. With Duke’s father overseas because of World War II, his mother helped him come to terms with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944.

Duke played outfield in the minor leagues for Newport News that summer. Jake Pitler, the manager at Newport News, saw a lot of potential in Duke. In 1945, Duke came of draft age and went into the Navy for the end of the war. In 1946, Duke had a good year at Fort Worth, a class AA team. In 1947 and 1948, he split his time between the Dodgers and the team’s AAA affiliates in St. Paul, Minnesota and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. At spring training, Branch Rickey, the Dodgers’ general manager and principal owner, worked with Duke on his knowledge of the strike zone and ability to hit breaking and off-speed pitches. Duke made adjustments, learning to “wait on the ball.” By 1949, he was heralded as the Dodgers’ starting center fielder and a future star.

The Emerging Champion

Getting to the major leagues had been relatively easy for Duke. He still faced the challenges of establishing himself as a regular and fulfilling the high hopes of the Dodgers’ management and fans. One obstacle in the way of these goals was Duke himself: He had a tendency to put too much pressure on himself. He was particularly sensitive about striking out. Furthermore, Duke also had a tendency to let up at times rather than hustling all out.

Consequently, Duke needed encouragement as well as an occasional push. Help came from a variety of sources. Pee Wee Reese, Dodger shortstop and team captain, helped Duke to maintain his confidence and concentration. Carl Erskine, Duke’s roommate on the road, inspired Duke’s admiration by pitching through constant pain. Duke also gave credit to his Dodgers managers, most especially Charlie Dressen, and front-office figure Buzzie Bavasi. The result was Duke’s emergence as an exceptional ballplayer with enough resilience to overcome low points such as his slump in the 1949 World Series.

The Dodgers gave Duke plenty of opportunities to play in other World Series, winning pennants in five of the first eight years as a regular. Duke played a key role in the team’s success. Between 1949 and 1957, the Dodgers’ last year in Brooklyn, Duke averaged 35 home runs and 109 runs battled in per season. His batting average for the period was a solid .305. He also played excellent defense and had a strong throwing arm.

Duke’s most notable achievement during this period was his streak of five straight seasons with 40 or more home runs between 1953 and 1957. In World Series play, Duke bounced back from a disappointing 1949 series to hit a record-tying 4 home runs in the 1952 series. He then set a record by repeating the feat in 1955, when the Dodgers won the franchise’s first world championship over the Yankees. Duke hit a total of eleven World Series home runs. He had gone from a series goat to a perennial series hero.

Continuing the Story

Duke’s career declined after the 1957 season. A series of knee injuries finally took their toll as Duke passed the age of thirty, an important boundary line for a major-league ballplayer. In addition, the Dodger team was moved to Los Angeles by new owner Walter O’Malley. Although he was from the Los Angeles area originally, the move from Brooklyn was a sad one for Duke and his family.

Sentiment aside, the move created difficulties on the field for Duke. Whereas Ebbets Field had been a good hitters’ park, particularly for left-handers, the Los Angeles Coliseum was a converted football field with extremely long dimensions in right field.

In combination, these factors reduced Duke to a part-time player, but he did have a last hurrah. The Dodgers had been miserable in 1958, finishing seventh in the league. In 1959, the team surprised everyone by winning the pennant and the World Series. Duke hit 23 home runs, drove in 88 runs, and hit .308 as a part-timer. He also hit his last World Series home run, a shot which led the Dodgers to a series-clinching win in the sixth game.

In 1963, Duke was traded to the New York Mets, an expansion team. Despite a warm welcome by New York fans, the 1963 season was disappointing. The Mets lost 111 games and Duke was no longer able to play like an all-star, although he did hit his 400th home run during the season. Duke asked to be traded after the season, playing one year for the Giants before calling it quits. Despite his injuries, Duke had managed to hit 407 career homers. He also had passed the 2,000-hit mark.

After his playing career, Duke managed in the minor leagues for the Dodgers and, later on, for the San Diego Padres. He then moved on to a lengthy career as a broadcaster for the Montreal Expos.

Duke became eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970 but was not elected immediately. The delay disappointed Duke, who later admitted that the hall of fame became as much of an obsession for him as his strikeouts had been. He was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980.

Summary

Duke Snider was one of the most feared left-handed sluggers in National League history as well as a top-notch defensive center fielder. A major contributor to the great Dodger teams of the 1940’s and 1950’s, Duke made his mark despite playing in the same town as Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Joe DiMaggio. Duke’s delayed election to the Hall of Fame indicates that he was somewhat overshadowed by these figures. He also was seen by some as an underachiever, an athlete with splendid ability who never quite reached his potential. Be that as it may, Duke did as much as anybody to immortalize Ebbets Field. Along with the men listed above, his name is synonymous with a golden era of Major League Baseball.

Bibliography

Gelman, Steve. The Greatest Dodgers of Them All. New York: Putnam, 1968.

McGee, Bob. The Greatest Ballpark Ever: Ebbets Field and the Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2005.

Snider, Duke, and Bill Gilbert. The Duke of Flatbush. 2d ed. New York: Citadel Press/Kensington, 2002.

Snider, Duke, and Phil Pepe. Few and Chosen: Defining Dodger Greatness Across the Eras. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2006.

Winehouse, Irwin. The Duke Snider Story. New York: J. Messner, 1964.