Snider passes away

Hall-of-Famer Duke Snider died today. Snider was a great outfielder during the 1950s and a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was probably the epitome of the famous Dodgers-Giants rivalry, hating the Giants with a passion. And his playing was nothing to be sneezed at. In fact, most serious Dodger fans compared him to Willie Mays of the Giants, which of course the Giants disagreed with. However, Snider did hit more homers and knock in more runs during the '50s than any other player, including Mays.

And while the Duke could not match Willie's 20 straight All-Star games, he put up some pretty impressive numbers for his Dodgers. He did put up seven straight All-Star appearances, finishing in the top 10 in MVP voting 6 out of those 7 years. In fact, during those years his homers did not drop below 21 and his average could not dip below .277. He even only missed out on 100 ribbies once during that span.

No doubt, Duke Snider was a great player. He played with the Dodgers in California, but was traded to the Mets, then unspeakably to the Giants. However, he remained a "blue through and through" for the rest of his life. In fact, for most of his life he severely disliked Halloween for one simple reason. The reason was the colors of Halloween. No friendly Brooklyn blue and white on the 31st. Rather, the streets were all covered in black and orange, the hue of his rival Giants. Indeed, Snider was a Dodger with a passion for hating the Giants.

Trivia

Snider, a slugger who smashed 407 bombs during his career, managed to steal 99 bases in 17 years.