ATLANTA -- If you look back at Brian Snitker’s nearly 50 seasons with the Braves, it’s easy to believe things happen for a reason.
Like, an early Saturday morning rainout decision that gave Mets hitting coach Troy Snitker a chance to book a last-minute flight to Atlanta and surprise his father before the latter was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame before Saturday night’s game against the Phillies at Truist Park.
“My family held it from me all day,” the Braves HOF inductee said. “I saw the Mets got rained out and I thought, 'Well, he’ll have a nice night off.' Then I opened that door and, oh my God. It was pretty emotional, honestly.”
Troy Snitker was already at Citi Field when he learned the Mets-Rockies game had been postponed. After checking to see if any of the hitters wanted to do any work in the cage, he asked Mets manager Carlos Mendoza if he could leave town for the day. This was a little after 10 a.m. ET.
Over the next hectic hour, he made the short trek to adjacent LaGuardia Airport, got through security without any issues and boarded his flight to Atlanta. Around 3:15 p.m. ET, he arrived at The Omni Hotel, located behind Truist Park, and knocked on his parents’ door.
“I thought it was the maid,” Brian Snitker said. “I opened the door and was blown away.”
It was fitting that both Troy and his sister Erin and their mother, Ronnie, were all present for this special day. They had also been present in Danville (Va.), Macon (Ga.), Myrtle Beach (S.C.), Richmond (Va.) and other Minor League cities where their father spent the summer months managing future Braves.
They were also there when he was Bobby Cox’s third-base coach, when he unexpectedly became Atlanta’s manager midway through the 2016 season and when the 2021 Braves won the World Series against the Astros, who employed Troy Snitker as their hitting coach at the time.
“I remember Ronnie going out to a consignment store in Macon and buying bunk beds and sharing an apartment with the trainer and pitching coach,” Snitker said. “I always got the biggest room because I had the kids. I also think about strapping a TV to milk carts in a Chevy Astro van and plugging it in so that Troy and Erin would have something to watch when they followed me throughout the southeast.”
When Snitker followed by saying that he didn’t think his family would change anything, Troy, Ronnie and Erin each shook their heads no.
“Just to be able to be here and experience this with him, what a blessing,” Troy Snitker said.
Snitker’s story is so unique. After spending a little more than two full seasons as a catcher in the Braves' system, he was released by then farm director Hank Aaron, who also immediately gave the 24-year-old a chance to coach in the system. He impressed enough to become a 26-year-old Class A manager at Anderson (S.C.) in 1982.
Countless coaching and managerial roles would follow. While not assigned to a specific team in 1993, he had time to be with family when his father passed away and while Ronnie went through breast cancer treatments.
When Snitker was demoted from being Atlanta’s third-base coach to Triple-A manager after the 2013 season, he was hurt and seriously thought about leaving the Braves organization. But he stuck around and got an opportunity to spend time with his mother at an assisted living facility near Gwinnett’s stadium.
The decision to stick around proved wise when Snitker was named Atlanta’s interim manager six weeks into the 2016 season, when the Braves were 9-28. His first day on the job, Aaron Blair allowed the Pirates to score seven runs. After the game, he wittingly said to bench coach Terry Pendleton, “I’m surprised this team has won nine games.”
Things got better because Freddie Freeman, Nick Markakis and others loved Snitker’s managerial style just as much as Jeff Francoeur and Brian McCann had as young Minor Leaguers. Still, as the 2017 season ended, former president of baseball operations John Hart and former general manager John Coppolella were ready to go in a different direction.
Snitker was also fed up with working for them. A blowup following a Sept. 28 game in Miami led the manager to instruct clubhouse workers in Atlanta to pack his stuff up because he had no desire to continue working with that regime. Three days later, MLB levied sanctions that ended Coppolella and Hart’s days in Atlanta.
The Braves won the first of six straight division titles the next year before winning the World Series in 2021. And on Saturday, they put their second-winningest manager of the Modern Era in the team’s Hall of Fame.
“Things happen for a reason,” Snitker said. “I used to think that was cliché and an excuse.”