The Duke’s final swings in Brooklyn

Duke Snider

Duke Snider not only hits the last home run at Ebbets Field, he actually hits the final two at the Brooklyn Dodgers’ hallowed home with both coming 68 years ago today.

The homers come off the Phillies’ Robin Roberts during the Dodgers’ 7-3 victory over Philadelphia before a smallish Sunday afternoon crowd of 6,662.

Now, Roberts giving up home runs, of course, is nothing new as he finishes his time in the major leagues in 1966 having allowed a then-record 505 of them.

No surprise, either, that Snider — who eventually joins Roberts in the Hall of Fame — enjoys victimizing the Phillies’ right-hander.

The lefty-swinging Snider eventually hits 19 homers off Roberts, a career record as no other batter in the game’s history hits as many homers off one pitcher.

The two homers on this day in 1957 come in the fifth and seventh innings, each with a runner already on base.

The first homer sails high over the right-field wall and onto bordering Bedford Avenue to give the Dodgers a 5-2 lead; the second over the left-field fence to push Brooklyn’s lead to 7-2.

The Dodgers still have one more game remaining at Ebbets Field before abandoning the ballpark and their borough of rabid fans, and moving to Los Angeles in time for the 1958 season.

After once again crushing the Phillies and Roberts, Snider asks for – and receives – permission from Dodgers manager Walter Alston if he can sit out the upcoming Ebbets Field finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“After the game, I told Walt Alston I didn’t want to play the next game against Pittsburgh,” Snider later says of a finale in which no homers are hit.

“I’d hit the home run onto Bedford Avenue … and I wanted to remember that as my last Ebbets Field experience. I was being torn away from my baseball home, and I wanted to remember her that way. Walt understood.”

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