MLB Dodgers Hall of Fame Player Duke Snider Dies At The Age Of 84…Played On The 1955 Championship Team In Brooklyn

Baseball Hall of Famer and Dodger’s legend Edwin Donald Snider,known to many generations of Dodger fans as “Duke” Snider, has passed away today at the age of 84.(LA Times)

Duke Snider...may he rest in peace

He succumbed to what his family called natural causes at the Valle Vista Convalescent Hospital in Escondido, California.(CBS)

Snider was given the nickname “Duke” by his father when he was 5, and he was born on September 19th, 1926 and grew up in Los Angeles and attended Compton High School where he played football, baseball and basketball.(Source)

Duke Snider signed with the then Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943, and made his major league debut in 1947.(ESPN)

He helped the club win a pair of World Series titles (1955, 1959) and was voted an All-Star seven times with the franchise.(Source)

Snider shared the field with team mates Jackie Robinson, and Roy Campanella, to whom he lost the 1955 Most Valuable Player Award to by just five points, 226-221, with each man receiving eight first place votes.(WIKI)

Dodgers owner and chairman Frank McCourt issued a statement:

“Duke was one of the truly legendary Dodgers who made his mark first in Brooklyn and then in his hometown of Los Angeles,”…”I had the pleasure of spending time with him on several occasions and he was a truly wonderful man.

I’m so glad that we were able to keep him as an active part of the Dodger family over the past several years. The entire Dodger organization is deeply saddened by his loss and our heartfelt thoughts are with [his wife] Beverly and his family.”(MLB.com)

He was the last living Brooklyn Dodger, the “Boys of Summer” who was on the field for the final out of the 1955 World Series.(Source)

Here is a link to Duke Snider’s induction ceremony on a clip posted on You tube:(Duke Snider Induction Speech)