Duke Snider (1926–2011)

Reading this to celebrate a great Dodger win last night!

This is physically a gorgeous book! Fancy paper and beautiful photos! The content is pretty basic - Duke Snider picks his 5 greatest Dodgers at every position, Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Most picks are solid, even though I'd question the order of some. But
Eddie Murray at 1st base? For an all-time Dodger team? Gimme a break Duke! If I chose these lists, I would make some minimum number of years be required that a player actually played for a Dodgers team for them to even be considered an "all-time Dodger great "!
Still, if you're blood bleeds Dodger Blue, as mine does, this is a good book to read!… (mehr)

This book brought back memories of my childhood in New York and the rivalry between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees, not to mention the rivalry between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. Duke Snider was my brother's hero. Mine was Mickey Mantle.
By reading this book, I got to know Duke Snider. I also got to read a first-hand account of some of the greatest moments in baseball. The last few paragraphs in the book sum up what baseball was and still is all about:

"Over my more than 40 years as a player, scout, hitting instructor, manager, broadcaster, the sport to which I owe so much has undergone profound changes. Baseball isn't played in the sunshine much any more. Most of its games are at night. It's not an all-white sport any more. Every team has black players. There never used to be a team west of St. Louis. Now there are ten. We used to travel by train. Now it's jet airplanes. The fans used to follow the games on the radio. Now it's television––they can sit right their in their own homes and watch the game, free and in living color, and even make their own video tapes. The new scoreboards are full of colored lights and magic messages and fireworks that explode when the home team hits a home run. The uniforms have the player's numbers on the front as well as on the back, and the back has his name on it too. They play baseball indoors now, and on grass that isn't even real.

"But it's still baseball. Kids still imitate their heroes on playgrounds. Fans still ruin expensive suits going after foul balls that cost five dollars. Hitting streaks still make the network news. And the hot dogs still taste better at the ballpark than at home.

"It says something about the Dodgers, especially the Brooklyn Dodgers, that to so many people we remain a symbol of baseball, and of America itself, in the 1940s and 1950s. Those of us lucky enough to be young in that special time can still see that special team––

Johnny Podres is still asking for only one run...Bobby Thompson is still leaping his way toward first base...Don Larsen is still perfect...Jackie is still stealing home while Yogi screams...Campy is still chirping, 'Same team that won yesterday is gonna win today'...Skoonj is still throwing out runners at third base...I'm still floating down the first-base line past Allie Reynolds...The fans still holler out to 'Oisk'...Leo is still getting kicked out for arguing with the umpire...Newk still has sweat dropping from the beak of his cap and rolling off his nose...Pee Wee is still throwing to Gil for the last out...And the advertisement on the outfield fence still says, 'Hit Sign, Win Suit.'

"Ebbets Field still stands.

"The Brooklyn Dodgers still live."… (mehr)