Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider was my first-ever baseball hero when I was a little kid in Brooklyn. His retired uniform number is "4", and a Hall of Famer. He was from Los Angeles and went to Compton High School. He had an incredible arm. As a high school quarterback they said he could throw the football 70 yards on a fly.

He played center field for the Dodgers (both Brooklyn and L.A.), played on the Mets and was picked up by the Giants and then retired. He has some fine statistics: Among them are a .295 career batting average, 407 lifetime homeruns, and 1,333 RBI's. He was elected to the NL All-Star team eight times, (seven of those years were consecutive). Certainly not the greatest player who ever lived, but up there. He is consistently rated among the top 100 MLB best players of all time.

I always thought that "Duke" was a nickname conferred by Brooklyn fans. Apparently, it was a nickname given him when just a little kid, by his dad.

RIP Duke Snider

FYI: I just noticed a really great Duke Snider thread started by Zoneboy with a good link. Zoneboy's thread will go into greater detail about this phenomenal player. An important part of the dynamic is that as a center-fielder, Duke Snider was a contemporary of Mantle and Mays.

Beautiful tribute, Gene! :rip: to Mr. Snider.

:rip: Duke Snider