The Duke of Flatbush

One of the ``Boys of Summer,'' Snider joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in the same year as Jackie Robinson, relocated with the team to Los Angeles, then played with the Mets and the San Francisco Giants in the twilight of his career. With coauthor Gilbert, a former Washington Post sportswriter, ``The Dook,'' as he was dubbed in Flatbush, tells the story of those years excitingly and movingly. We read of Robinson's racial troubles, the inspiration that Dodgers' captain Pee Wee Reese provided for his colleagues and the camaraderie that characterized the team. But the memoir concentrates on the rivalry with the Yankees, whom the Dodgers met often through the 1950s in the World Series and whom they seldom defeated. The book also touches on Snider's post-playing period as a manager and later as a broadcaster in Montreal. Photos not seen by PW. 50,000 first printing; $100,000 ad/promo. (July)