Customer Reviews

Few and Chosen Dodgers: Defining Dodgers Greatness Across the Eras

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The Duke has written a wonderful book here that really brings the reader down baseball's memory lane in fine style. It's printed on very high quality glossy paper & the photos therefore are shown with great clarity. Duke was the best of the three great Centerfielders when they all played together as starters in New York City from 1954-1957 (the other two being Willie Mays & Mickey Mantle). Unfortunately, The Duke's career ended sooner than those two (due to injuries), so today he is not as well remembered & not as often spoken or written about. Some of my favorite parts of this book are Johnny Podres' description of the greatest catch he ever saw (in 1953, by The Duke), & Don Zimmer's explanation for why The Duke didn't receive all of the credit as a great fielder that he deserved. In this book, Duke lists the Top 5 Dodgers of all-time at each position. I agree with just about all of his choices; he surprised me by remembering how good Preacher Roe was & ranking him as #2 Lefty Pitcher behind Sandy Koufax, which I believe is accurate. The one ranking I don't agree with is his listing of Centerfielders, because his own modesty prevented him from ranking himself in the Top 5. C'mon Duke, we all know that you're Number 1! A very high class book in all respects.

Three points about "Few and Chosen" by Duke Snider: (1) All of Duke's choices are highly defensible, except, of course, his unwillingness, out of modestly, to list himself as the greatest centerfielder in Dodger history. (2) Most of his choices are players the Duke played with: Roy Campenella as catcher, Gil Hodges at first, Jackie Robinson at second, Pee Wee Reese at short, Carl Furillo in right. Sandy Koufax as the best Dodger lefthander ever, of course, could be the best lefthander ever on any team. The Duke's choices are wise and interesting. (3) Perhaps most interesting is that a recent, excellent book about writing uses Duke Snider's reputation to make an interesting point. The book is "Honesty in the Use of Words" by Martin Naparsteck, and it's about using ethical choices, rather than mechancics like spelling and organization of an essay, to determine what is well written. If we had more honesty in writing, like Naparsteck wants us to, we would have fewr Enrons. Naparsteck refers to "The Duke Snider Syndrome." It is a reference to the fact that Snider, in the 50's, was as good as, maybe better, than the other two centerfielders playing in New York at the same time, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle. He hit more home runs and had mroe RBIs in the years they all played in New York. But many people today don't know who the Duke was, while they remember Mickey and Willie. The Duke Snider Syndrome, therefore, according to Naparsteck, is the tendency we have to narrow everything down to two choices, when, in effect, there is always a third, and maybe a fourth and fifth and sometimes dozens of other choices. The Duke Snider Syndrome: a fine reference to great, almost forgotten, baseball player. (Hey, read both books, Snider's and Naparsteck's, ya know).

Perhaps there sould have been two books: The Few & Chosen Brooklyn Dodgers and The Few & Chosen Los Angeles Dodgers. The Duke of Flatbush has basically wrote about the former. Did he forget the Dodgers moved to L.A. back in '57? Which is funny because he went with them and he is from SoCal. There are some glaring ommisions to Duke's top five lists for each position from not selecting more deserving LA Dodgers. How Steve Sax (2nd base), Eric Karros (first base), Mike Scioscia (catcher), Jim Brewer and Mike Marshall (relief pitcher) and especially Orel Hershiser and Don Sutton (right handed pitcher) are not included in Edwin Donald's rankings is beyond me. His Brooklyn memories are wonderful, but he needs some guidance evaluating LA Dodgers as the Dodgers have now been in Los Angeles (50 years) almost as long as they were in Brooklyn (67).