Duke Snider Dead at Age 84

One of the greatest of all time.

Hall of Fame outfielder Duke Snider has died. He was 84.

The former Brooklyn Dodgers star died early Sunday of what the family called natural causes at the Valle Vista Convalescent Hospital in Escondido, Calif.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced his death on behalf of the family.

Snider was part of the charmed "Boys of Summer" with the Dodgers in the late 1940s and 1950s. He helped lead Brooklyn to its only World Series championship in 1955. Snider also won a crown with the Dodgers in Los Angeles in 1959.

Snider hit 407 career home runs.

The Boys of Summer are now together on heaven's diamond:

C-Roy Campanella
1B-Gil Hodges
2B-Jim Gilliam
SS-Pee Wee Reese
3B-Jackie Robinson
LF-Sandy Amoros
CF-Duke Snider
RF-Carl Furillo

SP-Clem Labine
SP-Johnny Podres
RP=Joe Black

Let's hope the Lord isn't in a hurry to make a pitching change for Don Newcombe, Carl Erskine, or Sandy Koufax.

Our baseball greats from the 1950s and early 1960s are leaving us. These guys were not only great ballplayers, but they were great Americans. Many of them served in the armed forces during the war and others also helped pave the way towards making the game better.

God speed to them all.