Snooks Dowd

Raymond Bernard Dowd

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 163 lb.
• School Lehigh University
• High School Springfield (MA) High School
• Debut April 27, 1919
• Final Game April 17, 1926
• Born December 20, 1897 in Springfield, MA USA
• Died April 4, 1962 in Northampton, MA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

"'SNOOKS' DOWD HOLDS MARK FOR LONG FOOTBALL RUN Started Going Wrong Way, Circled Own Goal Posts and Raced Length of Field For a Touchdown" - headline in The New Britain Herald, October 20, 1925, about something Dowd had done years earlier

Raymond "Snooks" Dowd is most famous for his long run in football, but also played 14 games with two different teams in the American League in 1919, and then came back many years later for two games with the Brooklyn Robins in 1926. In total, he pinch-hit in 6 games and played the field in 9 games, of which 5 were at second base. In perhaps his most satisfying game, after he had been sold by the Detroit Tigers to the Philadelphia Athletics after appearing in just one game earlier in the season, he played on July 17th against his old team the Tigers and got a hit off Slim Love. The Tigers that day featured future Hall of Famers Ty Cobb and Harry Heilmann.

The San Bernardino News, on March 9, 1918, stated that Dowd had refused to sign a contract with the New York Yankees because he wanted to finish his education.

He is credited with coining the phrase "banjo hit" because a hit of that sort sounded like a banjo being plucked. [1]

Dowd also played ten seasons in the minors, hitting over .300 several times, although without much power. In 1925 he had one of the highest batting averages on the Jersey City Skeeters team, an accomplishment that likely led to his return to the majors the following spring. He played for the Buffalo Bisons in 1921, but when the Louisville Colonels got into the post-season, they arranged to borrow him from the Bisons because the Colonels' second baseman, Max Bishop, had been injured. [2]

He is the only major league player who has been remembered with the first name Snooks.

His Wikipedia entry (12-20-20) indicates he was a famous college football player at Lehigh University. He also had a pro basketball career, playing professional basketball, semi-pro basketball and also joining an independent basketball team composed of pro baseball players. [3]