Prior to World Series glory, Braves’ Snitker made history, won titles in Myrtle Beach
On his career path to becoming a World Series champion, Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker first made history and won championships in Myrtle Beach.
As part of his 44-year journey through the Braves organization, Snitker was the first manager in the history of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans franchise, coaching the Class A team for three seasons from 1999 to 2001.
The Pelicans were an immediate success, as his teams won Carolina League titles in 1999 and 2000.
“How about Snit. I’m just so happy for him,” said Steve Malliet, Myrtle Beach’s first general manager from 1998 to 2001. “He’s just a classy guy. You’re just thrilled to know he got that opportunity because he never thought he would. He’s just been a loyal soldier for the Atlanta Braves.”
Snitker, 66, is the only former Pelicans skipper to become a manager in the big leagues and joins Bobby Cox, for whom he was an assistant coach, as the only managers to lead the Braves to World Series titles.
“Brian Snitker is an amazing human being,” Braves star and former Pelican Freddie Freeman said on the field at Minute Maid Park in Houston on Tuesday after the Braves clinched the series. “And it’s absolutely amazing that we get to call him a world champion now for everything he’s done for this organization.”
The Myrtle Beach years
Snitker guided the Pelicans to a 238-179 record in his three seasons. Myrtle Beach shared the Carolina League title with Wilmington in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd forced the cancellation of the series-deciding game. The Pelicans won the Carolina League outright in 2000, and Snitker was named the league’s manager of the year in both 1999 and 2000.
Snitker and pitching coach Bruce Dal Canton were a dynamic coaching duo. Dal Canton was considered one of the Braves’ top minor-league teachers before he died after a battle with cancer in 2008 following 10 seasons with the Pelicans.
“From my perspective, that’s the best tandem I’ve ever had in minor league baseball,” said Malliet, Myrtle Beach’s first GM from 1998-2001 who has spent nearly 30 years in baseball and is now president of the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Kingfish of the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer league. “I’ve had some good ones in my time but those two were just unbelievable, not only on the field but just dealing with them too — and how the fans interacted with them and everything. They were a lot of fun to work with.”
Several of Snitker’s players in Myrtle Beach reached the major leagues, including three-quarters of his infield from the 1999 season.
His first team included the tremendous middle infield duo of shortstop Rafael Furcal and second baseman Marcus Giles, who both went on to become MLB All-Stars. Giles was the Carolina League MVP in 1999 and Furcal stole more than 100 bases that season.
Third baseman Mike Hessman became the all-time leader in minor-league home runs, reached the big leagues and also played internationally for Team USA.
Adam LaRoche, the Pelicans’ left-handed hitting first baseman in 2001, eventually played 12 seasons in MLB.
“It was great to see him teach them how to be professionals, and of course those guys made it to the big leagues very quickly, and I give Snit a lot of credit for that,” Malliet said. “He got them ready in a hurry. ... He was a great baseball guy. I loved how he handled the players. He treated them all with respect, but when he needed to he really could put them in the right direction and teach them how it’s done to be a professional.”
While Snitker has experienced World Series glory, Malliet believes he would have enjoyed many more years in Myrtle Beach as well.
“He was very happy being there and doing what he was doing,” Malliet said. “It was never one of those things that I got from him that, ‘Man, I’m trying to get out of here and go to the next step or rung.’ I never got that feeling. I got the feeling that he and Bruce could stay there forever if they wanted to keep them there. That’s how good it was.”
The long road to the top
The Decatur, Illinois native played four minor league seasons from 1977-80 as a catcher and first baseman in the Braves organization, reaching the Triple-A level.
Snitker was given the opportunity to begin a coaching career as a roving instructor by Hall of Famer and Braves legend Hank Aaron, the team’s farm director at the time, after being released as a player following the 1980 season.
He became a minor league manager for the first time at the age of 27 in 1982, piloting Low-A Anderson in the South Atlantic League.
He managed the Durham Bulls — the previous incarnation of the Single-A Pelicans — during the 1983, ’84 and ’87 seasons. All of his Durham teams had losing seasons and a few hundred Bulls fans sent a petition to Atlanta’s front office asking for Snitker to be fired immediately.
He instead went on to manage Braves farm teams in Macon, Myrtle Beach, Greenville, Mississippi and Richmond, and was Atlanta’s bullpen coach in 1985 and from 1988-1990.
He served as Atlanta’s third base coach from 2007-13 but was sent back to the minors to coach Triple-A Gwinnett in 2014 and began the 2016 season — his 20th as a minor-league manager — in Gwinnett.
Snitker became the Braves’ interim manager in May 2016 when Fredi Gonzalez was fired after the team started an MLB-worst 9-28 — he has since won four National League East Division titles.
“I couldn’t imagine how great this has been and what’s transpired since [2016], because I wasn’t looking for that,” Snitker told the Associated Press. “I wasn’t expecting it. When I got the call, that’s not what I was expecting to hear. I’ve been blessed to be able to be in this position.”
Guiding the Braves to a title
Snitker is the second-oldest manager to win his first title, after 72-year-old Jack McKeon with the Miami Marlins in 2003.
He doesn’t make a lot of speeches to the team and doesn’t spend much time in the players’ area of the clubhouse, which is a coaching strategy that was reinforced during his time under Cox, who coached the Braves from 1990-2010 and won a title in 1995.
“I’ve been like that pretty much my whole career,” Snitker said. “When I went in, it was for a purpose. ... I probably got a lot of that from Bobby, watching him, and how guys respect that. I don’t have to be their buddy. I respect each and every one of them. But I kind of feel like that’s their haven in there.”
Like Cox, Snitker also preaches positive, uplifting messages even after players don’t have their best performances.
“We’re very fortunate to have him, and the way he treats us is phenomenal,” rookie pitcher Ian Anderson said. “He’ll shake your hand after every outing, good or bad, and that goes a long way. So you always look for it.”
Snitker says he’s not sure he would have been as successful if the opportunity had come earlier in his career.
“I’ve said many times I think this happened to me at a really good time in my life,” he said. “I’m probably better versed to handle this position later in my career than I would have been earlier.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 11:11 AM.
