duke snider is in my hall of famer collection

edwin donald snider, the silver fox, the duke of flatbush. just plain "duke".  whatever you want to call him, he's in my hall of famer collection with this being his entry:

that's a 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famer autograph, numbered 144/250.  here's the back:

duke has two cards in the set - one is this 'hall of famers' subset card, and the other is in the 'dodgers stars' subset. and then there are some parallels.  i actually have two of these base hall of famer autos of duke - one for the dodger collection and one for my hall of famer collection.

as a young dodger fan learning about the history of the game during the 1970s and '80s, i desperately wanted duke to measure up to willie mays and mickey mantle, his new york centerfielder contemporaries. my next door neighbors were giants fans, and the kid across the street collected yankees, but i was smart enough to realize that duke was not the equal of mays or mantle.  he was a very good player though, and he did hit more home runs than any other player in the 1950s, so the other kids were still respectful.  while he lost out on any mvp awards (he probably should have won in 1955 over teammate roy campanellea), duke is still the dodger franchise leader in home runs, rbi, and extra base hits, to go along with a bunch of other fantastic statistical achievements.

i don't recall if i saw duke play in the old-timers game that i attended at dodger stadium, but i do remember the news about his election in to the hall of fame in 1980. that was the first year that i paid attention to the voting, and was disappointed that duke's teammate don drysdale did not make it.  fast forward 29 years, and snider was the first player i sent a ttm request to after i started my first blog and decided to give through-the-mail autographs a try (i had sent requests to shawn green and corey koskie a few years prior). he was kind enough to fulfill my request in short order, and for that i was and still am thankful.

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

bob feller - 2001 topps archives

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relics

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints autograph

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.

*not currently a member of the hall of fame