Ben snitker learned a lot from Bobby cox on how to lead in a clubhouse.
Now he has emulated his mentor in another achievement. They are the only drivers to have won the World Series with the Braves since they moved to Atlanta.
Tuesday’s title, with a 7-0 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 6, was the reward for Snitker’s 44-year investment in the Braves.
After a long career as a player, instructor, coach and manager in the Braves organization, Snitker, 66, has earned a place in team history.
During the World Series, Snitker was moved when he said he had spoken to Billye, Aaron’s widow.
“Brian Snitker is an amazing human being,” emphasized star slugger Freddie Freeman. “And it is absolutely wonderful that we can now call him a champion, for all that he has done for this organization.”
Snitker, a former catcher and first baseman for the Braves in the minor leagues, was given the opportunity to start a new career as a coach. It was given to him by none other than Hank Aaron, who was the team’s branch manager and who passed away on January 22, aged 86.
During the World Series, Snitker was moved when he said he had spoken to Billye, Aaron’s widow.
Snitker’s patience in his long journey to take over as Atlanta manager met a harsh test in 2013. After serving as the waiting room coach from 2007 to 2013, he was sent back to the minors, to serve as the manager of the league. Triple A branch in Gwinnett.
He had already served 15 seasons as manager for virtually every Braves team in the minors, and now he was being asked to walk in his footsteps again.
It didn’t seem like a path that could lead to a pilot job in the majors.
During the 2016 season, when Atlanta fired manager Fredi Gonzalez, Snitker didn’t expect to be called.
“I thought I would hardly be at the table,” he recalled last week.
Cox, who managed the Braves from 1990 to 2010 and who won the World Series in 1995, taught Snitker some lessons that allowed him to make the most of his opportunity as interim manager in 2016.
Later, he was appointed permanently to the position. His collection of four NL East pennants, and now the World Series title, are more than he dared dream of back then.
He is the second-oldest manager to be crowned, after Jack McKeon got it with Miami in 2003, at age 72.
