Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

Ralph Branca’s tribute to Duke Snider – the man who forgot himself – is here printed in full. It would be a sin to edit out any part of this personal witness to a man whose eyes were always on others, rarely on himself. With the death of such men, worlds disappear. The article appeared in the New York Times An Appraisal: Forever a Boy of Summer, in Brooklyn and Beyond By RALPH BRANCA Published: March 5, 2011 I’ll never forget the winter of 1947. Because of the Dodgers’ plan to sign Jackie Robinson as the first African-American in the majors, we avoided Florida and spent training camp in Havana. This was the great postwar Brooklyn team of Pee Wee Reese, Dixie Walker, Pete Reiser and Hugh Casey. Our manager was the indomitable Leo Durocher. Jon Soohoo/Los Angeles Dodgers, via Associated Press Snider and the Dodgers won in 1955, and moved to Los Angeles for the 1958 season. Gil Hodges was back from a long stint in the Marines. He was our second-string catcher. (We were a year...