Remembering Duke Snider

AP photo

A fond farewell to the "Duke of Flatbush." The beloved Duke Snider was a key member (center fielder) of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers — the one and only Brooklyn team to bring home the World Series championship to Brooklyn.

So sacred a figure is he to the borough that Borough President Marty Markowitz has ordered the flag atop Borough hall flown at half-mast.

Snider also has the distinction of hitting the very last home run ever hit at Ebbets Field.

He is pictured above in 1954 with Willie Mays, center fielder for the Giants (then, like the Dodgers, still a New York team). Baseball fans loved to compare and contrast the merits of New York's triumvirate of great centers - Snider, Mays and Mickey Mantle, who played for the Yankees. Snider was usually estimated at third-best, but he's always been the favorite among Dodgers fans.

Dodger Duke Snider Remembered [Brooklyn Eagle]

When Players Like Duke Snider Were Also Neighbors [New York Times]


Dodger Duke Snider Was a Star Among Stars in the Golden Age of New York Baseball [Daily News]

Dike Snider — Farewell, My Hero [Huffington Post]