<p>My boyhood hero, Edwin Donald “Duke” Snider, the Duke of Flatbush has died. I could never figure out why he was my hero. I never met him like I had Johnny Podres and Carl Furillo. Maybe it was because my late father rooted for the Giants and Willie Mays, the “Say Hey Kid”, or that my brother was a fan of the Yankees and Mickey Mantle. Maybe it was because of the Duke’s beautiful left handed swing. I went to the last game of the 1955 World Series where the Bums won their first championship. It was something I always remember. I loved the Dodgers. </p>
<p>Baseball in the NYC area in the 1950 was a thing of beauty. I miss the “Boys of Summer”.</p>
<p>The “Boys of Summer” were before my time, but it’s amazing to think about the three best centerfielders of their day—Mays, Mantle, and Snider—all playing in New York at the same time. Actually, most people would say these were three of the very best of all time, along with such legendary figures as Cobb, DiMaggio, Tris Speaker, and a latter-day member of the club, Ken Griffey, Jr. </p>
<p>But poor Duke: despite a lifetime BA right around .300, along with 407 HR and 1333 career RBI, he was generally considered the third-best centerfielder in NYC in his day. What a glorious time for baseball in New York!</p>
<p>Tsdad–my dad was a Giants fan. Sadly, he died when I was a kid, so I didn’t get a chance to really share in his sports fanaticism, except for one memorable Knicks championship months before he died. By then, of course, the Giants, like your Dodgers, had long since decamped, so he had to change teams. Years later, in my 20s, I became a rabid baseball fan, but, alas, I am fated to root for the team my dad had to adopt, like many a broken-hearted Giant or Dodger fan: The Mets. Sigh. </p>
<p>What can a I do? its in my blood…and anything’s better than the D***** Yankees.</p>
<p>I was in second grade when the Dodgers came to LA and Duke Snider was one of the stars we all got to know. (Of course, later, my absolute hero was Sandy Koufax). My daughter’s class read the Bette Bao Lord book which I thought was quite lovely.
Now I’m married to a Cubs fan and follow the A’s; it was fun to see how much everyone around here got into the Giants and the World Series.</p>
But any team that had Sandy Koufax…how could I not like that team?</p>