newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ALAN J. STEINBERG

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Willie, Mickey, and “The Duke”.

When I heard on Sunday that Duke Snider had died, I went to my computer and played again and again the Terry Cashman song, “Talkin’ Baseball — Willie, Mickey, and ‘The Duke’ ”. Within minutes, my eyes were filled with tears.

My first year as a baseball fan was 1955. This was near the end of New York’s greatest baseball era. New York had the three best center fielders in the game, Willie Mays with the Giants in the late, lamented Polo Grounds, Mickey Mantle at Yankee Stadium, and Duke Snider at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field.

Now both Mickey and the Duke are gone. Only Willie is left.

That year 1955 was a landmark year in the history of baseball. It was the only season in which the Brooklyn Dodgers won a World Series, defeating the immortal New York Yankees. The Dodger seventh game victory was won 2-0 by a great pitching performance by Johnny Podres.

Brooklyn had the greatest, most loyal fans in the history of baseball. The all-night celebration in the Borough of Kings began immediately after Elston Howard made the last Yankee out, grounding out to Pee Wee Reese. People who were in Brooklyn on that October 4, 1955 day will tell you that it was the greatest day in the borough’s history.

Johnny Podres is gone. With the passing of the Duke, so is every other Dodger who played in that Game Seven, except for Don Zimmer and George “Shotgun” Shuba, who pinch hit for Zimmer in the sixth inning. The great Dodger relief pitcher from the 1955 World Series, Clem Labine, passed away four years ago. Of the six pitchers who started for the Dodgers in that World Series, Don Newcombe, Carl Erskine, and Roger Craig are still alive. Erskine, known as “Oisk” to the Brooklyn fans, was Duke Snider’s best friend.

The Brooklyn Dodgers were more than a baseball club. They were part of American history. For me, Jackie Robinson will always be the greatest American of the 20th Century. In integrating Major League Baseball in the face of death threats from fans and abusive treatment from opponents on the field, Robinson was a true profile in courage. The support that Jackie received from teammates like Pee Wee Reese, Carl Erskine, and Ralph Branca in his early days in Brooklyn was a true model of brotherhood for American of all races and creeds to follow.

And Duke? He and his predecessor in center field with the Dodgers, Pete Reiser, gave new meaning to the term “all-around player”. Both could perform with excellence the five skills a baseball player must have: hit, hit with power, run, field, and throw.

Fans outside of New York City usually ranked Willie and Mickey ahead of the Duke. You couldn’t tell that to the good people of Brooklyn. They might boo the Duke on occasion, but he was their boy. As far as the Flatbush faithful were concerned, you could keep Willie and Mickey — Duke was the king of center field in Ebbets Field.

The Duke was also a complete class act. You never saw him lose his temper and get into a fight with another player on the field. He played hard and clean. He performed with an unmatched grace and dignity, both in center field and at the plate.

There will never be a team like the Brooklyn Dodgers in any sport again. On two occasions over the past thirty years, I went to a ball game in Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The attendance was large, but the atmosphere was like watching a game in a library. As far as I am concerned, the Dodgers will always be at a mythical Ebbets Field, at the site of the fabled ball park at the corner of Bedford Avenue and Sullivan Place in Brooklyn.

I still have occasion to visit the site of Ebbets Field. From time to time, I will visit Crown Heights, the headquarters of the world Lubavitch Hasidic Jewish community. The location of Ebbets Field is on the outskirts of Crown Heights. The apartments on the site of the ball park bear the name Ebbets Field Apartments.

South of the Ebbets Field Apartments is the Prospect Park subway train station. As you look into the station, there is a painting of the famous Dodger “Boys of Summer”, as they were described by Roger Kahn in his epic book of that name. Duke is in that painting, and I hope they never take it down.

In my youth, professional football was my favorite sport, but baseball didn’t rank far behind. While I am more than ever an NFL enthusiast, I now barely follow baseball. Very rarely will I attend a baseball game. I am hardly reluctant to spend money for good entertainment, but you practically need a second mortgage to pay for today’s ludicrously expensive Major League Baseball tickets. The game has become a colossal bore.

What I do still have from baseball are wonderful memories. Number 4 on the Brooklyn Dodgers, Duke Snider is one of them. Goodbye, Duke — may you rest forever in peace. Willie, you are the last survivor of the immortal trio. May God give you many more happy, healthy years.

Alan J. Steinberg served as Regional Administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush. Region 2 EPA consists of the states of New York and New Jersey, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and eight federally recognized Indian nations. Under former New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman, he served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. He currently serves on the political science faculty of Monmouth University.