Frank Snyder

When the New York Giants won seven National League pennants and three World Series between 1921 and 1937, Frank “Pancho” Snyder was a player or coach on each of those clubs. A strong-armed catcher, Snyder’s playing career spanned all or part of 16 major league seasons (1912-1927), beginning and ending with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Frank Elton Snyder Jr. was born in San Antonio, Texas, on May 27, 1895 – give or take a year.1 Frank Sr. and his wife, Anna Lee (Shane), had another son, Gilbert, in 1902. Some reports suggest the “Pancho” nickname Frank Jr. gained during his professional baseball career referenced his Mexican heritage, though censuses do not support that claim.2

After a hurricane destroyed Galveston in 1900, rapidly growing San Antonio was Texas’ largest city for three decades, a major national transportation hub until the age of the automobile. The elder Frank was a locomotive fireman – later brakeman and engineer – in the city’s burgeoning railroad industry.

In 1910, Frank Jr. briefly played professional baseball for the Victoria Rosebuds, champions of the Class D Southwest Texas League.3  Listed as a third baseman, he appeared in five games. “I was a 15-year-old high school kid in San Antonio, and I heard about this hot club, so I ran away from home and came to Victoria,” he recalled in 1956. “My papa found out where I was, and he came over and led me back home by the ear.”4

Through 1911, Snyder played for a semipro team based in Floresville.5 He returned to professional baseball in 1912 under former Rosebuds manager/second baseman Sunny Jack Burke, who had become the co-owner of the Class C Southern Michigan League’s Flint Vehicles. The San Antonio Light described Snyder as “a catcher, of who Manager Burke speaks very highly.”6

In 76 games with Flint, Snyder batted .253. St. Louis Cardinals scout Dick Kinsella, charged to sign talented players that summer, recalled “I bought one, Frank Snyder, for $1,200, and the club turned down an offer of $15,000 for Frank that winter.”7

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Snyder debuted on August 18, 1912, catching the last three innings of a defeat at Robison Field. He struck out against Rube Marquard but threw out two of three New York Giants who attempted steals.8 Snyder appeared in 11 games (four starts) and batted .111 in 18 at-bats. “When [Snyder] first appeared in a Cardinal uniform, he was probably the rawest looking recruit ever sent up,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported later. “He had nothing to recommend him but his size and arm.”9

Snyder began 1913 in the Class C Central League by batting .284 in 115 games for the Springfield (Ohio) Reapers. He was recalled to St. Louis and started seven of the last-place club’s final eight games.

When Miller Huggins was asked about impressive rookies in early 1914, the Cardinals manager replied, “He’s a catcher, and in less than two years he’ll rank as the greatest in the land.”10 Snyder became the primary catcher for the Redbirds club that was tied for first place as late as August 26 before finishing third.11 He batted just .230, but his fielding percentage was the best among NL backstops who caught at least half of their team’s games.. After he threw out three would-be Giants base stealers in consecutive August contests, the Post-Dispatch noted, “The big catcher was given the noisiest reception ever accorded an alien performer on the Polo Grounds.”12 The Sporting News said Snyder “ranks high in the ‘most valuable player to his team’ column.”13

The Cardinals dropped to sixth place in 1915, but Snyder became just the second catcher with at least 140 defensive games in one season and (retroactively) paced his position in Wins Above Replacement (WAR).14 Giants manager John McGraw called his throwing arm the best he’d witnessed and remarked, “He is one of the gamest men I have ever had the pleasure of seeing on the ball field. I’ve seen Buck] Ewing, Roger] Bresnahan, Jimmy] Archer, Wally] Shang (sic), Ray] Schalk, Oscar] Stanage, Ivey] Wingo and all of the rest and my choice for the greatest of them all is this big Texas German, Frank Snyder.”15

Correcting his previous tendency to swing late, Snyder also batted .298 in 1915.16 Low line drives were his specialty.17 He purchased a new automobile that summer but soon shipped it home, explaining, “Can’t lead the National League in hitting and catch good ball if I run that thing around.”18

One 1916 article observed that Snyder, “Never smiled but once, and he seldom talks.”19 Another praised his skills blocking home plate, adding “There is no catcher in the game who can equal Snyder in this feature.”20 Because of an injured arm, Snyder made 42 of his 111 starts at first base that summer.21

Struggling financially, the Cardinals entertained cash offers for players in early 1917. Despite Huggins’ threat to resign if either Rogers Hornsby or Snyder were dealt, Cardinals owner Helene Britton reportedly agreed to package them to Pittsburgh for $30,000-$35,000. But she sold the club to local investors before the deal was consummated.22

Snyder helped St. Louis post a winning record and finish third in 1917. His batting average declined for the second straight year, but he ranked eighth in NL Defensive WAR.

He missed Opening Day 1918 while recuperating from smashing his throwing hand through a glass door during spring training.23 By May, he had resumed his regular duty but the world was at war and Snyder – a physically fit bachelor with no dependents – was drafted into the U.S. Army.24  On June 21, he collected three hits to raise his average to .250, shook his teammates’ hands, and left Robison Field before the game was over to report to Camp Travis, Texas.25

Before he was deployed overseas, Snyder captained the 304th Repair Shop team from Fort Sam Houston to the Southwestern service baseball championship.26 The month after the November 11 armistice agreement was reached, Cardinals manager Jack Hendricks met with him in France, where Snyder’s motor transport corps was stationed. The catcher doubted he would be home for the beginning of the 1919 season.27

Cardinals president Branch Rickey replaced Hendricks as the manager in 1919 and traded for two more catchers: Bill Dillhoefer and Verne Clemons. With incumbent starter Mike González there, too, rumors bubbled that Snyder could be dealt to the Giants.28 McGraw had coveted him for years,29

On March 31, Rickey learned that Snyder was back in the U.S., awaiting transfer to Camp Bowie, Texas.30 One week later, Corporal Snyder was discharged from the service. After visiting family and friends, he rejoined the Cardinals.31 Meanwhile, González refused to report without a substantial salary increase – a demand Rickey refused.32 On April 23, Opening Day at Cincinnati, Snyder caught for St. Louis. Three weeks later, González went to the Giants on a waiver deal.33

Snyder managed just five hits in his first 44 at-bats of 1919. His average was just .182 through July 9, the day he was ejected from a game at the Polo Grounds when Dillhoefer and Clemons were already sidelined with injuries.34 Snyder was on deck when teammate Doc Lavan knocked in two runs by bunting a bases-loaded pitchout, only to have umpire Pete Harrison disallow the scores, ruling Lavan out for leaving the batters’ box. Snyder shouldered Harrison twice while verbally abusing him with fists clenched, earning an indefinite suspension from NL President John Heydler.35

Rickey had seen enough. On July 16, he traded Snyder to the Giants for southpaw Ferdie Schupp, who’d posted a 6.61 ERA since his 21-victory 1917. Rickey explained his decision thusly: “[Snyder] can still catch and throw, but his hitting and foot speed are a detriment to any team. Then, too, he failed to cooperate with the young pitchers of our team … they need coaxing and careful coaching in the tight situations of a game and this what was Snyder failed to supply.”36

For Snyder, the change of scenery was a blessing, even if that wasn’t apparent at first. The 1919 Giants topped the standings when he debuted with the club but fizzled to finish behind the Reds. Snyder started 30 of the last 69 games and batted .228.

New York started slowly in 1920, pulled within one game of first place on August 29, but ultimately finished behind the Brooklyn Robins. Snyder split the catching duties with lefty-hitting Earl Smith and batted .250 in 87 games (72 starts).

That fall, Snyder joined the Giants’ 17-game tour of Havana, Cuba, competing against that island’s professionals. The “Giants” (featuring the Yankees’ Babe Ruth) went 9-4-4 and Snyder batted .273 in 11 contests.

Casey Stengel recalled a 1920 or 1921 at-bat when he was with the Phillies. He had two strikes against him when Snyder returned from visiting the Giants’ pitcher. “He sticks his tough face against mine and says, ‘I ought to belt you right in the mouth here and now, you so-and-so,’” Stengel said. “I’m so surprised, I drop back a step with my mouth open. Just then, I hear a swoosh and a plop. That’s the pitcher quick-pitching me. The ball is in that big Snyder’s mitt and he’s got a big grin on his pan.” The umpire had called strike three.37

On August 4, 1921, Stengel – by then a Giant – was thrown out of the game at Sportsman’s Park for confronting a fan who taunted Snyder as the catcher was escorted off the field by police. The incident occurred after the Cardinals’ Joe Schultz was knocked unconscious by an Art Nehf pitch. Snyder was catching, and Dillhoefer raced from the Redbirds’ bench to exchange punches with him, leading to both of their ejections.38

In 1921, Snyder batted .320 in 108 games, and his 65.6 caught-stealing percentage led NL catchers. The Giants won the pennant and beat the Yankees in the World Series, five games to three. Snyder’s .364 Fall Classic average included four hits in Game Three and a tying homer off Harry Harper in Game Six, prompting the following description: “Frank ‘Pancho’ Snyder brought more fame to the Alamo when he drove the ball into the bleachers.”39 It was the first time he was called Pancho in print.

Like Snyder, Giants right fielder Ross Youngs lived in San Antonio, where the team held spring training from 1920 to 1923. In February 1922, Youngs and Snyder greeted their teammates’ arrival along with Dave Bancroft, who had been visiting Snyder for several weeks.40 Snyder and his wife, Edna Wakefield Brown, welcomed son Adrian on May 31. But they each filed for divorce in December.41

On the field, Snyder enjoyed an outstanding 1922. His .343/.387/.487 slash line in 104 games (82 starts) was his personal best. In the Giants’ second straight World Series triumph, they swept the Yankees and Snyder batted .333 (5-for-15).

Although Snyder’s average slipped to .256 in 1923, he started 103 games and collected 63 RBIs, his personal high. The Giants faced the Yankees for the third straight year but lost a six-game World Series.

Prior to the 1924 campaign, the San Antonio Express published a photo of Snyder with the new Ford truck and tractor he’d purchased for his farm.42 Years later, a reporter described the property about 15 miles from San Antonio as remote, far from any recognizable highway, with nearby roads that resembled a cow pasture during winter.43

Snyder batted .302 and started 96 of the Giants’ first 136 games in 1924, but just one after that as the club claimed its fourth consecutive pennant.  Snyder took just one at-bat – flying out as a pinch-hitter – in the seven-game World Series defeat to the Washington Senators. Afterward, McGraw said, “Snyder was of little use during the closing part of the past season and I can’t tell you what shape he’ll be in for 1925.”44

As it happened, Snyder remained the Giants’ top catcher. He hit 11 home runs – his personal best – but batted just .240. On May 28, his tie-breaking, eighth-inning shot off Larry Benton was the first to clear Braves Field’s 10-year-old left-field wall, 405 feet from home plate. “It was claimed then, and many times since, that it would never be done,” said the Boston Globe.45 But the Giants’ string of pennants ended in second place.

The 1926 campaign was a difficult one. Snyder didn’t play in the club’s April 23 victory over Burleigh Grimes but – upset over brushback pitches to New York’s Frankie Frisch – he scuffled with the Brooklyn Robins’ right-hander under Ebbets Field’s stands afterwards. It ended quickly, but the Robins’ Dick Cox landed a right to Snyder’s chin.46

When the first-place Pirates visited the Polo Grounds in mid-June, they heckled Snyder mercilessly.47 Before the Sunday series’ finale, he confronted Pittsburgh coach Jack Onslow and knocked him down three times with punches.48 But Snyder injured both of his own hands and missed the next six weeks.49

The Giants were stuck in the second division when he returned. Snyder batted .216 in 55 games before the Cardinals claimed him on waivers at the end of August. He reported to St. Louis expecting the team to relinquish his rights at the conclusion of the season, saying McGraw had promised as much. But Cardinals owner Sam Breadon said, “We paid $4,000 for Snyder and are bound by no rule in baseball to enter such an agreement … I was astounded by the request and at the instant it was made decided Snyder’s attitude toward the Cardinal club was not a winning one.”50 Snyder went home and forfeited his September salary, plus a World Series share since St. Louis defeated the Yankees in the Fall Classic.

In January 1927, Snyder married his second wife, Ethel Louise Avant. After Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis reinstated him, he reported to Cardinals’ spring training weighing 212 pounds. To find a jersey large enough for him, the team retrieved one worn the previous season by Big Ed Clough.51 In a three-way catching platoon with lefty-hitting Johnny Schulte and player/manager Bob O’Farrell, Snyder started 55 of his 63 games in his final major league season and batted .258 for the second-place Cardinals.

Over 16 seasons, Snyder appeared in 1,392 games, collected 1,122 hits and batted .265. He saw action in four World Series – hitting .273 with two homers in 17 contests – and earned two championship rings. Asked to name the best pitcher he ever caught, Snyder replied, “Douglas.”52 In 1921, Shufflin’ Phil Douglas won 15 games for the Giants plus two World Series victories.

From 1928 to 1930, Snyder managed in the Class A Texas League. In 1928, he guided the Cardinals’ Houston Buffaloes affiliate to the championship, then beat the Southern Association’s Birmingham Barons in the Dixie Series. He also hit a team-best .329 in 113 games and welcomed his second son, Charles Frank Snyder.

Unhappy with quality of players the Cardinals provided, Snyder requested his release from the Buffaloes in mid-1929 and took over the Fort Worth Panthers.53 In 1930, he led the unaffiliated Panthers to the Texas League title and a Dixie Series victory.

Snyder spent 1931 and 1932 in the Class AA American Association catching for the St. Paul (Minnesota) Saints. In 132 games over two seasons – including a championship the first year – he batted .244.

Shortly before Opening Day 1933, Snyder returned to the New York Giants as a coach under Bill Terry, who had succeeded the retired McGraw as manager the previous year.54 Snyder remained Terry’s coach for nine seasons through 1941, a period in which the club won three NL pennants and the 1933 World Series.

Frank Gabler, a Giants pitcher from 1935-1937, recalled Snyder as a taskmaster who had hurlers run a lot to build up leg strength.55 One of Snyder’s duties was running tryout camps at the Polo Grounds. The first time Harry Feldman showed up for one, he couldn’t get Snyder’s attention amid the hundreds of kids of all ages and sizes in attendance. Later, the persistent Feldman impressed Snyder, landed a contract, and won 35 games for New York.56

After the Giants had a second consecutive losing season in 1941, Mel Ott replaced Terry as the manager. The Sporting News reported, “When Mel was made manager… his first official act was to bounce Pancho Snyder, Terry’s first lieutenant.”57 Snyder took over the organization’s Class AA International League affiliate and led the Jersey City Giants to a 77-75 record in 1942.

Snyder was out of baseball in 1943 and 1944, though he did apply to manage the Mexican League’s Nuevo Laredo club in the latter year.58 He had divorced again and remarried his third wife, the former Betty Elizabeth Dempsey, who bore his third son, Frank II.

In the coda to his baseball career, Snyder managed the Southern Association’s Birmingham Barons (1945-1946) and International League’s Toledo Mud Hens (1947) to losing records. He opined that baseball should become more like other American industries by grooming ballplayers to take advantage of their contacts and experience after their playing days. “Pancho suggests that more ballplayers be given executive jobs and he predicts that they will turn in an excellent record,” reported The Sporting News.59

Post-baseball, Snyder took a public relations job in his hometown with the Pearl Brewing Company.60 On July 31, 1957, at Mission Stadium in San Antonio, he was inducted into that city’s Hall of Fame. Snyder wore his old Giants’ uniform for the ceremony.61

Snyder was diagnosed with meningioma (a form of brain tumor) in his final years and died on January 5, 1962. He is buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

When Giants secretary Eddie Brannick – a club employee since 1906 – named his all-time Giants team the summer after Snyder’s death, Snyder and Chief Meyers were the catchers.62

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Tony Oliver.

Photo credit: Frank Snyder, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted ancestry.com, baseball-reference.com, retrosheeet.org, and sabr.org/bioproject.

Notes

1 Snyder’s tombstone, and the 1900 census, record 1895 as his birth year. Baseball Reference, and Snyder’s military registration card for World War I, list 1894. The Sporting News’ contract card for Snyder says 1893, while his 1962 Texas death certificate indicates 1897.

2 Bill James, for example, wrote, “Snyder was of Mexican descent, though his named doesn’t reflect this (I think his mother was from Mexico); he was called ‘Pancho,’ because people at that time didn’t have enough sense to be offended by stuff like that.” The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (New York: Free Press, 2001), 409. However, census records indicate that Anna Lee Shane’s mother was born in Georgia, came to Texas as a child, and wed a gin smith who had emigrated from Prussia. Frank Sr. was from Philadelphia.

3 Sid Feder, “Victoria Steams Up Spirit as ‘Milwaukee of Minors,’” The Sporting News, May 14, 1958: 35.

4 Sid Feder, “Victoria Won the Pennant Last Time Out in Organized Baseball,” Victoria (Texas) Advocate, April 29, 1956: 12.

5 “Frank Snyder Called to Colors by Draft Board in San Antonio,” St. Louis Star and Times, June 17, 1981: 11.

6 “Burke Goes to Michigan,” Victoria Advocate, April 15, 1912: 2.

7 C.A. Lovett, “Minor Leagues’ Fate After War Much in Doubt,” New York Tribune, September 3, 1918: 11.

8 “Cardinals Had a Chance, Up to the Last 9 Innings of Sunday’s Game,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 19, 1912: 10.

9 “McGill Fails to Grab Cards,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 30, 1914: 12.

10 “Frank Snyder Made Good,” Corsicana (Texas) Daily Sun, November 22, 1915: 3.

11 After the Cardinals beat the Giants, 1-0 in the opener of their August 26 doubleheader, the teams were tied for first place. St. Louis lost the second contest, slipped into a seven-game losing streak a few days later, and finished 13 games behind New York.

12 W.J. O’Connor, “Snyder Flags Six,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 11, 1914: 14.

13 “One of Season’s Real Finds,” The Sporting News, September 3, 1914: 3.

14 George Gibson did it three times, from 1908-1910. Harry Grayson, “The Scoreboard,” Columbus (Indiana) Republic, March 8, 1944: 6.

15 Harry F. Pierce, “F. Snyder Is World’s Greatest Backstop,” St. Louis Star, August 6, 1915: 10.

16 Pierce, “F. Snyder Is World’s Greatest Backstop.”

17 Thomas S. Rice, “Bill Has Low Hit Habit,” The Sporting News, September 11, 1924: 1.

18 “Serious Ball Player,” Tescott (Kansas) Press, June 29, 1916: 14.

19  “Serious Ball Player.”

20 “Taming the Runners,” Waco (Texas) Morning News, June 18, 1916: 8.

21 Clarence F. Lloyd, “Hug Says Cards Will be Winners with Few Shifts,” St. Louis Star, August 14, 1916: 12.

22 Jack Veiock, “Purchase of Cardinals by Fans is One Thing That Saved Club,” El Paso Herald, May 24, 1917: 9.

23 Clarence F. Lloyd, “Cards Trade Watson for Bert Niehoff of Pat Moran’s Quakers,” St. Louis Star, April 5, 1918: 15.

24 “Frank Snyder in Draft,” San Antonio Light, May 24, 1918: 12.

25 “Frank Snyder Wires Wallace He is Back in United States,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 22, 1919: 12

26 “Frank Snyder’s Club Wins Service Title,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 21, 1918: 8.

27 “Hendricks, Back from Abroad, Believes His 2-Year Contract is Good,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 21, 1918: 10.

28 James M. Gould, “Records of Five Men Figuring in Possible Trades,” St. Louis Star, March 11, 1919: 15.

29 “Frank Snyder Called to Colors by Draft Board in San Antonio,” St. Louis Star and Times, June 17, 1981: 11.

30 “Rickey Hears from Snyder,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 1, 1919: 28.

31 “Snyder Out of Army,” St. Louis Star and Times, April 8, 1919: 13.

32 Joseph F. Holland, “Former Manager of Club Thinks It’s Above Average it its Other Divisions,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 1, 1919: 10.

33 “Mike Gonzales Ordered to Report to McGraw,” Brooklyn Eagle, May 14, 1919:18.

34 James M. Gould, “Cardinals Acquire Ferdie Schupp of Giants in Exchange for Frank Snyder,” St. Louis Star, July 16, 1919: 19.

35 “Heydler Suspends F. Snyder,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 11, 1919: 11.

36 Joseph F. Holland, “Cardinals Back Home to Take on Cubs in Series Starting This Afternoon,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 25, 1919: 8.

37 “Quotes,” The Sporting News, September 21, 1960: 9.

38 “Quigley Quells Incipient Riot,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1921: 12.

39 “Baltimore Leads,” New Britain Herald, October 12, 1921 :9.

40 “M’Graw to Arrive in City Saturday,” San Antonio Express, February 19, 1922: 24.

41 “Caught on the Fly,” The Sporting News, February 4, 1926: 8.

42 “Hind-Snatcher of Giants Believes in Ford Products,” San Antonio Express, February 17, 1924: 76.

43 Associated Press, “Houston Manager is Proud Father,” Bryan (Texas) Weekly Eagle, July 26, 1928:1.

44 “Giants Will Be Stronger Next Season,” Finger Lake Times (Geneva, New York), October 15, 1924: 5.

45 James C. O’Leary, “Smash Over Fence Gives Giants Game,” Boston Globe, May 29, 1925: 10.

46 Thomas S. Rice, “Felix O.K. in Center,” The Sporting News, April 29, 1926: 3.

47 “Jack Onslow in Scrap with Giants’ Catcher,” Mahanoy City (Pennsylvania) Record-American, June 21, 1926: 8.

48 “Frank Snyder Uses His Good Left Fist,” San Antonio Light, July 1, 1926: 10.

49 Snyder bruised his right hand and broke a bone in his left one according to “Bresnahan Asks Protection of Police While in Pittsburgh,” Yonkers (New York) Herald Statesman, July 14, 1926: 14. Another source reported that Snyder broke his right hand in the fight. Joe Vila, “Look Out for the Giants,” The Sporting News, July 22, 1926: 1.

50 “Cards Disagree with Snyder on Release Clause,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 2, 1926: 10.

51 “Shirt Too Small,” Harrisburg Telegraph, March 1, 1927: 12.

52 “Frank Snyder Rolls Back Years,” Victoria Advocate, June 13, 1958: 12.

53 “Succeeds Jake Atz as Ft. Worth Boss,” The Sporting News, July 11, 1929: 4.

54 International News Service, “Frank Snyder Named Bill Terry’s Assistant,” Buffalo Times, April 2, 1933: 19.

55 Mannie Pineda, “Series Thrills and Laughs Recalled at Pasadena Party,” The Sporting News, October 8, 1952: 25.

56 Harold C. Burr, “Writing on a Ball (Matty’s Writing), Inspired Feldman, Giants .875 Percentage Peer, to Take Up Hill Career,” The Sporting News, December 17, 1942: 3.

57 J.G. T. Spink, “Mel Makes Haste Slowly,” The Sporting News, February 26, 1942: 6.

58 Ray Gillespie, “Snyder, McManus Join Rog as Mexican Hopes,” The Sporting News, February 10, 1944: 3.

59 Jimmy Powers, “The Powerhouse,” The Sporting News, January 10, 1946: 12.

60 “Knife & Fork League,” The Sporting News, November 10, 1954: 26.

61 “Proud Pancho,” The Sporting News, August 14, 1957: 37.

62 “Mays Only Modern Selection on Brannick’s Giants Stars,” The Sporting News, June 30, 1962: 15.