Drink Has Proved His Ruin: How Charles Snyder went from teenage catcher to attempted murder
The plan was to drink until the pain’s over /
But what’s worse? The pain or the hangover? /
“Dark Fantasy” — Kanye West
July 10, 1899
On this evening in Camden, New Jersey, 26 year old disgraced ballplayer Charles Snyder arrived at the house of his father, John Snyder, demanding money. The elder Snyder refused and chastised his son running off with a woman. Charles’ mother Mary pleaded on her son’s behalf, but the prodigal son was now in a blind rage and brushed his mother a side trying to get his hands on his father. The angry young man knocked his father down into a prostrate position and proceeded to jump on the prone man, kicking him twice in the throat, seemingly intent on killing him. It was only John’s cry of “murder” that brought much needed help and ended the altercation. Snyder was in a state of despair and panic fled the scene.
It wasn’t always like this.
September 19, 1890
In Louisville, Kentucky, 17 year old Charles Snyder made his major league debut for Bill Sharsig’s Philadelphia Athletics. Playing rightfield for the first part of the game, Snyder was moved to his customary position behind the plate, thanks to a disastrous performance by starting backstop Joe Daly. The teenage backstop acquitted himself well, making no errors in the field, and getting two hits in three at bats, while scoring two of the Athletics’ four runs that day, as the team fell to the league leading Colonels 9 to 4.
Snyder’s debut was a bright spot in the midst of the calamity that had befallen the Athletics that month. Due to financial difficulties, the A’s released virtually their entire team in mid-September, and would play out the final month of the season with a motley crew plucked from local amateur, semi-pro and minor league teams. Snyder joined the team amidst this influx of “talent” having played semi-pro ball in Camden in 1888, before joining the Reading Actives in 1889. Snyder had played for Easton and Lebanon before joining Sharsig’s club in mid-September.
Despite the dreadful quality of his teammates, Snyder showed some potential, particularly for a 17 year old, batting a steady .273 in nine games of action, with four RBI’s. When he appeared in the Athletics’ pathetic 17 to 1 loss to Rochester on October 8, few could have known that he had played his last major league game. Snyder was reserved by the club later that month, but for unknown reasons does not appear to have played professionally in either 1891 or 1892.
Snyder re-emerged in 1893 as the starting catcher with the York White Roses of the Pennsylvania State League. The 20 year old catcher showed great potential again, where he was alternately described as “phenomenal” and “invincible” behind the plate, while also earning positive notice for his hitting. Rumors circulated in August and September that the National League’s Washington Senators were interested in him, but despite the club’s dismal play (they would finish in last place with a record of 40–89), the catcher was not signed.
1894 held great promise for the young catcher, as he re-united with his former manager Sharsig to join the Western League’s Indianapolis Hoosiers. The Indianapolis News reported that Snyder “handles himself like a first-class backstop.” This praise was to be short-lived, as Snyder was released by the club in early May, amidst reports that the catcher “had an undesirable influence over other players, and some of the lost games are traceable to his conduct.” This is coded language of the the time for drinking too much, apparently to the point that it was affecting his play on the field. This belief was further explained by the Indianapolis News on May 10:
Could Snyder’s debauchery have exacerbated an existing medical condition? Or is this just old-timey sportswriter slang for alcoholism? Regardless, the belief seems to be that Snyder’s extracurricular activities were getting in the way of his baseball career. Snyder left Indianapolis for Philadelphia upon his release.
The troubled backstop was not out of work long, as he signed on to join the newly re-constituted Easton club of the Pennsylvania State League in mid-June. Snyder secured a $44 dollar advance and then failed to report to the club. The club relocated to Philadelphia on July 4, and brought Snyder back into the fold despite his prior transgression. Snyder appeared in just two games for the club and jumped the team after receiving more advance money. On July 16, the Philadelphia Inquirer noted that “Catcher Snyder will probably go on the black list….[he] is a good catcher when he wants to play, but he has shown no disposition to exert himself lately.”
While the Inquirer was delicate in describing Snyder’s situation, on July 18, the Scranton Republican bluntly stated that “drink has proved his ruin” with the implication that the catcher had blown his advance money on alcohol.
As the season ended, the once “invincible” catcher and teenage prodigy, was back in his native New Jersey, his professional prospects dashed by his addiction. Things couldn’t possibly get worse, yet if there is one rule to live by in life, it is this:
It can always get worse.
On October 1, 1894, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the following:
This beaning drastically altered Snyder’s life. For the remainder of his years, he would be affected by epileptic seizures, that were reportedly brought on by the injury. Snyder tried to cope by drinking even more and his fits would be exacerbated by his drinking.
As his drinking spiraled out of control, Snyder began to have trouble with the law. On October 29, Less a month after the near fatal beaning, Snyder, was arrested and held on $600 bail for charges of assault and battery and disorderly conduct.
In a last ditch effort to restore his baseball career, the desperate young man attended a meeting of the Pennsylvania State League magnates on January 7, 1895. His former manager Sharsig was in attendance, but Snyder’s presence seems to have not had an impact, as he would not appear in the state league that year. His last stint in professional baseball would occur in August of that year with the Salem club in the independent South New Jersey League.
On March 9, 1897, Snyder was arrested on robbery charges in Stockton, New Jersey after he used a ladder to climb into the second floor of saloon keeper John Trost’s house. He was caught prying open a bureau drawer in Trost’s home. The notice in the Philadelphia Inquirer, erroneously listed him as a former shortstop and catcher of the St. Louis baseball team. He made news once again in February 1898, when he was charged for larceny by his father. Snyder managed to escape from the police while they transported him to jail, but was recaptured several days later. On April 15, 1898, the “once noted baseball player,” was sentenced to one year in state prison for assault and battery as a result of his escape.
After serving his one year in prison, he was released in summer 1899. That brings us back to where we started, with Snyder assaulting his father on the evening of July 10.
Snyder had escaped the crime scene and fled the state for over a month. He returned to New Jersey on August 19 and was arrested the following day. Snyder failed in his attempt to escape capture and remained in custody until his trial on October 26, 1899 in front of the Camden Criminal Court. The Philadelphia Times reported on the “pathetic case”:
“The defendant was Charles Snyder, a one-time famous base ball player; but now broken in health and spirits; the plaintiff his white-haired father, who accuses him of aggravated assault and battery. It was entirely through the latter’s testimony that the son was finally convicted. In fact, the old man throughout bore himself with Spartan severity.”
The broken catcher was without a lawyer and his case was assigned to John J. Crandall. The elder Snyder’s severity was on display when he was questioned by Crandall his son’s health:
“Mr. Crandall then asked the witness if his son was not subject to fits. ‘No,’ answered Mr. Snyder promptly ‘not unless he is full of rum. He is like the clown in the circus. No rum, no fits.’”
The younger Snyder responded with tears in his eyes: “He knows that I am subject to sudden spells. Rum has nothing to do with it. I was hit in the head by a base ball in 1894 and have been that way ever since.” He also indicated that he was attacked by his father first and had simply pushed his father away.
When the jury convened, they found the defendant guilty with a recommendation of mercy, taking into account the tragedy of the young catcher’s injury, and the cold indifference of his father. In November, he was sentenced to one year in state prison on the strength of the jury’s recommendation. His request to be moved to the county jail was denied and he would serve the full one year before being released in late 1900.
There would be no redemption story for our subject. On March 3, 1901, Snyder was involved with an altercation with clerk John Vanderweft at the St. Alban’s Hotel in Philadelphia. He was reportedly drinking heavily and causing a disturbance. Vanderweft forcibly removed Snyder and in midst of the struggle, Snyder fell on the pavement outside the hotel. The former catcher was found lying in the street and arrested and taken to the police station, where he became violently ill. He was rushed to the Pennsylvania Hospital, where he died shortly after of a fractured skull.
It was suggested at the time that Snyder had an epileptic seizure during the altercation, which cause his fall.
The death of Snyder was mistakenly reported in newspapers across the country as that of the much better known Charley “Pop” Snyder, who was a catcher for 18 years in the majors. Reports titled “Charley Snyder May Be Dead” were soon corrected with follow-ups titled “Charley Snyder Not Dead” and “Not the Veteran Snyder.” What a eulogy.
The narrative of Snyder’s life unravelling as a result of a tragic baseball injury is complicated by the fact that he was already struggling with alcohol addiction before his fateful beaning. At 17 he was a major league catcher, at 20 an “invincible” phenom, and at 21, a drunkard, blacklisted for conning his team out of 44 bucks. Drinking was very much a problem in the baseball world, and the number of players whose careers were interrupted or ended due to “demon rum” is impossibly long.
Even in light of baseball’s drinking culture, Snyder’s freefall from prodigy to penitentiary was remarkably swift, and his tragic death at 28 could have served as a cautionary tale, if only anyone had paid attention.
