My Favorite All-Time Dodger

                  Many of us have a favorite player for the Dodgers. Those of us who watched them when they first moved to Los Angeles, usually pick one of the players who really became stars after the move. Big D, Sandy, Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, and some of the stars over the last several years, Kersh, Mookie, Freddie, JT. But my favorite has never changed. Since the day I first saw them on TV during the 55 World Series when I was 7, my favorite Dodger has always been Duke Snider. 

                  More than 60 years after he retired from the game, Duke still is the All-Time Dodger leader in several stats.  Offensive WAR, 68.1, homers, 389, RBI’s, 1271, Adj batting runs, 408, Adj. batting wins, 39.4, extra base hits, 814, intentional base on balls, 141, base-out-runs-added, 534.84, win-probability-added, 48.7, situation-wins-added, 52.1, championship WPA, 131.6 and base-out-wins-added, 50.5. He also has 11 World Series homers, the most in Dodger history. Second place? Joc Pederson with 5. Duke also hit 4 homers in 2 World Series. Freddie Freeman last year is the only other Dodger to do that. He has the most RBI’s in series play, 26, followed by Hodges, 21 and Reese, 16. The most any LA Dodger has, 13 by Ron Cey. Freddie knocked in 12 in the 24 series, so if LA gets back to the series multiple times, he has a huge chance to pass the Duke. 

                Not many players hold team records that long. The most homers by an LA Dodger is the 270 recorded by Eric Karros. Still 91 behind the #2 player, Hodges, with 361. Ohtani hit 54 last season. He would need to average at least 38 homers over the next 8 seasons which would give him a total of 396 homers as a Dodger. Can Ohtani do that? Not many players hit that many homers after they reach the age of 35 or 36. Aaron did it only twice after age 36. Bonds did it five times, but we all know what was going on with him. Ruth did it three times from 35-37. Mays did not do it at all, and Pujols, arguably one of the best HR hitters of his era, did it once.

Snider-59-Topps

              Duke was nowhere near the player in LA that he was in Brooklyn. The most HR’s he hit in LA was 23 in 1959. He never hit 20 or more again, and he finished his career with the hated Giants in 1964. One of his 4 homers that year came off of Joe Moeller at Dodger Stadium. But from 1953-57, Duke hit 40 or more every year. He also led the majors in homers during the 50’s, surpassing players like Mantle, Williams, Mathews, Musial. In fact, he and Hodges, 310 to Duke’s 326, were the only players with more than 300.  Eddie Mathews hit 299. Williams lost parts of three seasons to the Korean War. 

              When I first started playing the game, usually stuff like over-the-line and three-flies-up, I found I hit lefty like Snider. When I finally started playing little league ball at age 11, I patterned my stance after Snider. It was comfortable to me, and it helped me keep my swing level. He had his left elbow almost level with his shoulder.  It worked pretty well for me. We only played 10 total games, but we went 8-1-1. Our only loss came in a playoff game. I was 15-21. A .714 average in my only LL season. Except for high school, I never played organized ball again. I hit one homer, it came against one of my school buddies. Since we had no fences, I had to run like hell to get it. He paid me back by hitting me with a pitch in my next at bat. 

             Even though he was a shadow of what he once was, Duke was a leader on the field and in the clubhouse. He was playing right field the first time I went to see the Dodgers play in the coliseum. Demeter was in center that game. Duke moved to right when Furillo was injured and stayed there for about half of his appearances the last couple of years in LA. With players like Demeter and then Willie Davis, Duke was a little long in the tooth to be playing such a demanding position. 

             But occasionally, he would hit a critical long ball or make a good play in the outfield to help the Dodgers win. He also had the seniority and credentials to stand up and say something to his manager, Walter Alston, during the three game playoffs with the Giants in 1962.  With LA leading in game 3, Alston had Stan Williams warming up when Roebuck went back out to pitch the 9th inning with a 4-2 lead. Both Snider and Drysdale told Alston that Big D could pitch, and he should be used in relief.  Alston replied that he was saving Drysdale to open the World Series against the Yankees, totally forgetting you have to get there first. 

             Remember, this was the season that Sandy Koufax had a crushed artery in his palm that caused numbness in his hand and almost cost him a finger to amputation. When he did return in September, he was rusty and ineffective, and the Giants caught the Dodgers and forced the playoff. He pitched game one, but was knocked out in the second inning of the Giants win. Williams came in to relieve Roebuck and the game totally got away from the Dodgers. SF scored 4 runs to take a 6-4 lead, the Dodgers went meekly in the 9th inning and the Giants went to the World Series. 

           That winter, Duke was sold to the New York Mets. He probably would not have been a starter on the 63 World Series champs. Their outfield consisted of 24-year-old Tommy Davis in left, 23-year-old Willie Davis in center, with 26-year-old, Frank Howard in right. Wally Moon and Ron Fairly also played some time in the outfield. Duke slugged 14 homers for the Mets, he drove in 45 runs. After the 63 season, despite a promise from the Mets GM that if traded or sold, he would be sent back to the Dodgers, Snider was sold to the Giants. After the 1964 season, Duke retired. 

            He was a local boy; he was born in September of 1926 in Los Angeles. He went to Compton High School. He was signed by the Dodgers out of high school in 1943 by the Dodgers. He played briefly in 43 and 44. Then spent 45 and part of 46 in the armed forces. He was sent to Fort Worth in the Texas League when he got out of the Navy. In 1947, he was sent to St. Paul. He made his MLB debut on April 17th in 1947 and got his first MLB hit that same game. He played in 39 more games before he was sent back to St. Paul. He became a friend of Jackie Robinson during his time with the Dodgers. 

            In 1947, Duke hit .316 at St. Paul with 12 homers and 46 driven in. He played 40 games with the Dodgers. He had no homers, 5 driven in and he hit .241.  Duke went to spring training with the Dodgers in 48, but he was sent to Montreal to start the year. In 77 games, he hit .327 with 17 homers and 77 RBIs. Promoted to Brooklyn, Duke played in 53 games hitting .244 with 5 homers and 21 driven in. It would be the last time he would play in the minors. Duke became the Dodgers starting CF in 1949. He played 145 games, and showed some of the promise the Dodgers had seen in him. He hit .292 with 23 homers and 92 driven in. He did not do well in his first World Series getting just 3 hits in 21 at bats, striking out 8 times. If Duke had a weakness, it was his knowledge of the strike zone. 

            In the spring of 1950, Duke was forced to stand in the batter’s box during batting practice and call each pitch. He was not allowed to swing the bat. It worked as his Ks dropped from 92 to 79. He hit .321, with 31 homers and he drove in 107 runs. He also set a career high with 199 hits. The Dodgers lost the pennant on the last day of the season. There would be no World Series appearances until 1952. Duke regressed a little in 51. He struck out 97 times, batting .277 with 29 homers and 101 driven in. He played 150 games, all of them in center field. Duke was an excellent fielder with a very good arm. This was pre-gold glove era, so Duke did not win any fielding awards.

UNITED STATES – SEPTEMBER 16: Duke Snider climbs left-center field wall as he tries for leaping catch on Redleg’s Gus Bell’s first-inning double.

           Duke went 5-11 in the three-game loss to the Giants after they finished the season tied. 1952 saw the Dodgers win the pennant by 4.5 games over the Giants. Duke hit .303 with 21 homers and 92 RBIs. He hit .345 with 4 homers and 8 driven in during the seven-game series loss to the Yankees. In 1953, Duke began his string of 40 homer seasons that would last until 1957. He would play in his 4th All-Star game, and finish 3rd in the MVP race to teammate Roy Campanella and Eddie Mathews.  The Dodgers won 105 games that year, a record that would stand until the 2019 Dodgers won 106 games. He hit .320 in the World Series loss to the Yankees, hitting 1 homer and driving in 5. 

          Duke was one of the Boys of Summer, written about by Roger Kahn.  Kahn covered the Dodgers for the New York Herald Tribune in 52-53. Kahn wrote about 13 members of that team, but three others, Newcombe, Podres and Cal Abrams were also considered core members of that team. Kahn would go on and become the sports editor for Newsweek in 1956, and then the editor-at-large for the Saturday Evening Post in 1963. 

            Duke would have his best ever BA in 54, hitting .341 with 40 homers and 140 driven in. The Dodgers finished second to the World Series Champion Giants by 5 games. Duke and the Dodgers bounced back in 1955, getting off to one of the team’s best starts ever. Duke hit .309, pummeled 42 homers and drove in 136 runs. There would be some controversy in the MVP voting. A writer from Philadelphia who was sick, sent in a ballot listing Campanella first and fifth. Unable to get clarification from the ill writer, the BBWAA decided to allow the ballot instead of throwing it out. It was assumed the writer meant to put Snider in one of the slots. Anyway, Campy had 226 points to Duke’s 221. Had the ballot been disallowed, Snider would have won, 221-212. Duke blasted 4 homers in the series again and drove in 7 runs as the Dodgers won their first and only World Series title in Brooklyn. 

         He won the Sporting News Player of the Year Award, and the Sid Mercer Award as the best player in the NL in 1955. 1956 would be another pennant winning year in Brooklyn. But it would be by the slimmest of margines. They won 93 games, besting the Giants by one game. Duke hit a career high 43 homers, leading the league for the first and only time in his career. He drove in 101 runs and was an All-Star for the 7th time. He finished 10th in the MVP voting. The MVP that year was teammate Don Newcombe, who was also the Cy Young award winner that year. It was the first year the award was given, and there was only one award for the entire MLB. He got all 10 of the first-place votes. He finished with a 27-7 record. 

           They faced the Yankees for the 4th time in 4 series appearances. Unlike 55, they won the first two series games, 6-3 and 13-8, with Sal Maglie getting the win in game 1 and Don Bessent the win in relief in game 2. Bessent pitched 7 innings in his relief role, Newcombe lasted just 1.2 innings giving up 6 runs. Duke was 2-4 with a 3-run homer. The Yankees did the same thing the Dodgers had done in 55, winning games 3-4-5 at home in Yankee Stadium. Game 5 was Don Larsen’s perfect game.  Back at Ebbets Field for game six, the Dodgers started Clem Labine against Bob Turley. Labine pitched 10 scoreless innings, giving up 7 hits, 2 walks and striking out 5. 

          Turley gave up just 4 hits, he walked 8 and struck out 11. But his luck ran out in the bottom of the 10th inning. Gilliam walked and was sacrificed to second by Reese. Turley intentionally walked Snider. That brought up 3rd baseman, Jackie Robinson. Robinson singled to left scoring Gilliam and winning the game for the Dodgers. It would end up being the last hit of his career. With the series tied at 3 apiece, the Yankees started Johnny Kucks, 18-9 during the season, and the Dodgers went with Don Newcombe, the Cy Young winner. 

          The Dodgers were never in the game. The Yankees scored 5 runs off of Newcombe in 3 innings of work. Kucks held the Dodgers to three hits and three walks. Snider had 2 of the hits. Jackie Robinson struck out in his last MLB at bat to end the series. He would retire shortly after the season. Duke hit .304 for the series.  He now had 10 World Series homers to his credit. 1957 would turn out to be the Dodgers last season in Brooklyn. Duke would hit 40 homers, giving him five straight seasons with 40 or more. His BA dropped to .274 and he was not named an All-Star.  The Dodgers finished in third place, 11 games back of the pennant winning Milwaukee Braves.

          That winter, the move to Los Angeles was announced. Duke was going home to play in front of family and friends. It should have been a great reunion. It turned into something of a nightmare for the left-handed slugger. When first shown the dimensions of the new place they would play, Snider had to think that the fates were conspiring against him. It was 250 down the left field line, 320 where the left field screen ended, 425 to dead center, 440 to right center, 390 to the arc of right center and 301 right down the line. Those dimensions would change over the next couple of years, but in 58, that is what he faced. 

       Then there was the incident where he tried to throw a ball out of the coliseum. In doing so, he injured his elbow. It would bother him the rest of the year. He ended up hitting .312, with 15 homers and 58 driven in, but he only played in 106 games. His lowest total since 1949. LA finished 7th in their first year in LA. Changes were coming as the stars from Brooklyn days were getting older. Campanella had been injured in a car accident and paralyzed. Robinson retired after the 56 season. Newcombe would be traded to the Reds early in 1959. Duke would be moved from center field to make way for younger and quicker players. He moved to right in 59 with Furillo injured much of the year. Don Demeter got most of the playing time in center in 59, along with Duke. Newcomer Wally Moon was the everyday left fielder. 

     Duke rebounded some, playing in 136 games, hitting .308 with 23 homers and 88 driven in. Gil Hodges led the team with 25 homers. The team led by its aging veterans, Moon, and the infusion of some younger new guys, Maury Wills for one, went on to tie Milwaukee for the pennant. A three-game playoff was scheduled.  The first game in Milwaukee ended up with the Dodgers winning 3-2. Danny McDevitt facing Carlton Willey. McDevitt lasted 1.1 innings giving up 2 runs. Larry Sherry came in to relieve him. Sherry would pitch 7.2 innings of scoreless relief and get the win. Willey would pitch 6 innings and give up all three Dodger runs. A solo homer by Johnny Roseboro in the 6th was the deciding blow. Duke did not play in the game. 

      Game two was at the coliseum. Duke started in CF that game. He ended up 1-4. The Braves jumped out to a 5-2 lead by the top of the 8th inning. The Dodgers scored 3 in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game. Bob Lillis, pinch running for Snider, scored on of the runs. Stan Williams came in to relieve in Snider’s spot. He would pitch 3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing just 3 walks. The Dodgers would win the game in the bottom of the 12th inning. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 12th, Bob Rush walked Hodges. Hodges went to second on a single by Joe Pignatano. Carl Furillo then came to bat. Furillo hit a hard grounder up the middle, it was fielded by Felix Mantilla, but Mantilla misplayed the ball for an error, Hodges scored all the way from second and the Dodgers won the pennant. 

       They faced the Go-go White Sox in the World Series. Led by SS Luis Aparicio and second baseman, Nellie Fox, the Sox were built on speed and not much power. They hit just 97 homers all year. They stole 113 bases led by Aparicio’s 56. The Dodgers hit 158 homers and stole 84. In the pitching department, the Sox had 22 game winner and future Hall of Famer, Early Wynn, at the top of their rotation. Bob Shaw, with 18 wins was #2 on the staff. 

       The Dodgers rotation was led by 17 game winner, Don Drysdale, with 14 game winner, Johnny Podres as the # 2. Roger Craig, who had been called up during the season and contributed 11 wins, would get the start in game one at Comiskey Park in Chicago. He would not last long. Craig went 2.1 innings, giving up 5 runs on 5 hits and a walk. One of the hits was a 2-run homer by Ted Kluszewski in the third inning. Craig was relieved by late season call-up, Chuck Churn. Churn was hurt by a couple of errors by Neal and Snider, and he gave up 6 runs, just 2 earned in his 0.2 innings of work. Kluszewski also tagged him for another 2-run shot. Chicago led 11-0 after 4 innings. Kluszewski’s shot came in the bottom of the 4th inning. 

      Labine, Koufax and Klippstein combined to give up just one hit over the next 4 innings. Wynn went 7 innings, and Gerry Staley went 2 to get the save. The Dodgers had 8 hits and a walk. Game 2 featured Podres against Bob Shaw.  Charlie Neal would hit 2 homers off of Shaw, one a solo shot with 2 outs in the 5th, the second a 2-run shot with 2 outs in the 7th. But it was a pinch-hit homer by mid-season pick-up, Chuck Essegian, off of Shaw in the 7th that would be the deciding run. There was also a great assist from left field when Wally Moon fooled Sherm Lollar into thinking he was going to catch Al Smith’s drive off of the left field wall, Lollar slowed up and was nailed at home plate, keeping the score to 4-3.

      Al Smith got a beer in the face on one of Neal’s homers.  Podres got the win, Sherry his first of 2 saves in the series. They went back to LA tied 1-1 for the middle three games of the series. Big D faced Dick Donovan in game 3. It was not what you would call a conventional pitcher’s duel. Drysdale allowed 11 hits and 4 walks in his 7 innings, but only 1 run, and it came in the 8th inning, then he was relieved by Sherry. But the Dodgers had scored 2 off of Donovan in the bottom of the 7th and one more off of Staley in the 8th. Winning the game 3-1 on just 5 hits. 

        Carl Furillo drove in the 2-runs off of Donovon, pinch hitting for Demeter in the 7th. Fairly ran for Furillo and took over in CF. The Dodgers pulled off three double plays to help the pitching staff get out of innings. Sherry had his second save of the series. Game 4 pitted Wynn against Craig again. This time the Dodgers jumped on Wynn for 4 runs in 2.2 innings of work. Craig would go 7 innings and allow 4 runs on 10 hits and 4 walks. The game was tied 4-4 after 7 innings. Sherry came in to relieve Craig, and Staley came in for the Sox in the bottom of the 8th. He was greeted by Hodges solo homer, giving LA a 5-4 lead. Sherry shut the Sox down in the 9th for the win. Sherry got his first win in the series.

          Game five had Sandy Koufax facing Bob Shaw.  Shaw, who gave up 9 hits in his 7.1 innings, was a little luckier than Koufax. Koufax allowed just 5 hits and walked one, but one of those hits drove in Nellie Fox. Gilliam had a 4-5 day, Hodges was 3-4 with a triple, the only extra base hit either side had, but they could not score. So they headed back to Chicago for game six, LA up 3 games to 2. 

          The Sox went to their ace, Wynn on just two days rest. It proved to be too much for the 39-year-old Wynn. He lasted just 3.1 innings, giving up 5 runs. 2 of them on s 2-run shot by Duke in the third inning. It would turn out to be his 11th, and last World Series homer. Podres went 3.1 innings also and gave up 3 runs. Sherry came in to relieve Podres in the 4th inning and went the rest of the way for the win allowing 4 hits and a walk. 

          The Dodgers scored 3 more runs off of Donovon who could not get an out in the 4th, two coming on a Wally Moon homer. Chuck Essegian hit his second PH homer in the 9th off of Ray Moore to end the scoring. LA won 9-3. The three runs Podres gave up came on Kluszewski’s third series homer. A young Norm Cash PH in the 9th. He would be traded over the off-season to Detroit in a seven-player swap. He would play 15 years in Detroit, walloping 373 homers. 

          For the Dodgers, winning their first title in Los Angeles after finishing 7th the year before had to be amazing. A mix of young players and grizzled vets from Brooklyn had done something it took the Boys of Summer, six years to accomplish. But it was the last hurrah for Furillo, Erskine, who was injured most of 59 and pitched in only 10 games. Furillo would be released during the 1960 season, file a grievance about being released while injured. He would win a 30,000 dollar settlement but never have any involvement in the game afterwards. 

         Hodges would be taken by the Mets in the expansion draft after the 1961 season, along with Roger Craig and Charlie Neal. Larker would go to the Astros. Duke stayed with the Dodgers, but was now more of a fourth outfielder and it showed in his stats. 1960 was the last time he played in 100 or more games as a Dodger. He hit .243 with 14 homers. In 61 playing just 85 games. He hit .296 with 16 homers. He played about the same role during the 1962 season. Playing 80 games, but he hit just 5 homers. It would turn out to be his last year in the Dodger uni. 

         Sold to the Mets for the 63 season, he rejoined old friend and Brooklyn teammate, Gil Hodges. He played in 129 games, slugging 14 homers. Putting him at 403 for his career. He made his 8th All-Star team. He pinch hit for Tommy Davis and played left-field. After the season, he was sold again, this time to the Giants. He would play 91 games for the Giants, hitting .210 with 4 homers and 17 driven in. After the season, he retired from baseball. His final line. .295/407/1333. His last few seasons obviously kept him from being a career .300 hitter. And may have kept him from being elected to the Hall sooner.

LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 04: Former Los Angeles Dodgers great Duke Snider throws out the first pitch before the Dodgers take on the Chicago Cubs in Game Three of the NLDS during the 2008 MLB playoffs on October 4, 2008 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles

        He was finally elected on his 11th try. Duke had 2,116 hits in his long career. Injuries and age slowed him down quite a bit in Los Angeles. After retirement, Duke went to work for the expansion Padres as an TV/radio analyst in 1969. He worked for them until 1971. He then went to work for the Expos in the same capacity from 73-86. He occasionally worked in TV and movies. In 1995, Duke and Giants legend, Willie McCovey, both pleaded guilty to tax fraud for failure to report income from card shows and memorabilia sales. Snider did not report 100,000. dollars of income between 84 and 93. He said he needed the money for failed investments that depleted his savings. He had to pay 30,000 in back taxes and a 5,000 dollar fine. Duke also managed in the minors and did some coaching. 

  Hid # 4 was retired by the Dodgers in 1980. He passed away on the 27th of February in 2011. He was the last living member of the 1955 Dodgers who was on the field for the last out of the 1955 World Series.