GLENDALE, Ariz. - Tommy Lasorda remembers Duke Snider as a winner, a clutch player, who was also tolerant and generous with young players.
"When I was a rookie on the team, who always seemed to make me feel good," Lasorda said Sunday after learning of the death of Snider in a spring training game in the Dodgers' camp at Camelback Ranch. "It made me feel wanted. It made me feel like I was part of the team.
"You know, when we travel on the bus, he would call me back to where he sat and would have a beer with me," Lasorda said. "When you're as young as Duke Snider returned the call, you're in good shape. One feels very good about that."
Lasorda had not spoken with Snider far from the Hall of Fame was hospitalized. Before health Snider refused, Lasorda said he spoke with him often.
"We would like to talk about Dodgers baseball," Lasorda said. "That was his love and my love."
Above all, Lasorda recalls Snider of his home runs.
"Hitting the ball out of Ebbets Field and trotting around the bases," said Lasorda, who later became manager of the Dodgers. "That was Duke Snider. He could throw. I could land. This was one of the great players, great of our time. Check your world the achievements of the series.
"He was a winner," said Lasorda. "It's a tremendous loss for the Dodgers, for his family. I'm proud to say that was a companion and friend."
In the Dodgers' clubhouse after a 5-0 victory over the Angels in Los Angeles, a sticker reminding Snider had been placed on a bulletin board next to the daily work schedule. T Snider included No. 4, with a red bar across it that said "Duke."
None of the current could remember Snider Dodgers as a player, of course, but 28-year-old Andre Ethier Snider had met and knew how important it was the history of the franchise.
"He was very complimentary of what is doping," said Ethier. "He also had plenty of informantion and things to give. I was anxious and wanted to be with the kids.
"I had seen before in the camp and at Dodger Stadium," said Ethier. "It's hard to see a legend, someone who has done so much for this team will. He was one of the founding fathers of what this franchise is about."
secretary of the Dodgers for a long time traveling, Billy DeLury, Snider recalled the meeting as a teenager worked as a cadet of the franchise.
"It was 1952 or 1953," said DeLury, who still works as a travel consultant for the Dodgers. "I remember a gentleman. It was just an outstanding individual. In Brooklyn, the fans just loved him. He played every day and the fans knew it was going to be there. "
DeLury remembered best two home runs in 1955 World Series, but also for being a friend of a child of the office that might otherwise have been intimidated by a player of renown.
"He never thrust on you," said DeLury. "He always had time for everyone on the road and at home."
First year Dodgers manager Don Mattingly Snider said he met three or four years ago.
"It was during the development of the winter," said Mattingly. "I just remember a very nice man. Obviously, he is a big part of the history of the Dodgers."
Then Mattingly remember an old line of an era Snider - a letter of "Baseball Talkin '" Terry Cashman - who included Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle
"Willie, Mickey and the Duke, right?" Mattingly said.
