Four decades in the organization before winning a World Series
Brian Snitker has been the manager of the Atlanta Braves since May 2016; he helped lead the team to win the 2021 World Series. He has been managing the Braves at the majors for seven years, but that doesn't even cover 20% of his coaching career with the organization.
The Braves signed Snitker as a minor league free agent in 1977. However, they released him in 1980 at the age of 24. Since the release, he had been a manager or a coach with the Braves the entire time. In the majors, he had stints as a bullpen coach in the late 1980s and as the third-base coach from 2007 to 2013. Besides those years, he had been managing or coaching the Braves' minor league teams in some capacity. His most tremendous minor league success was winning two championships back-to-back in 1999 and 2000 with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans as their manager.
Finally, on May 17, 2016, he was named the interim manager at the age of 60. Snitker won the manager of the year award for 2018 and the World Series three years later.
Quotes
I wasn’t really OK with that one. But what are you going to do? I was at an age (57) where I wasn’t going to pack up and start somewhere else.
Brian Snitker
It is surreal. I’ve been in this thing 45 years and 40 of them, just grinding. I’ve been very blessed," Snitker said. "I should take more heed of that, quite honestly. I’m too hard on myself and beat myself up. I should realize what I’ve accomplished.
Brian Snitker
References
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For Braves manager Brian Snitker, a long, winding and unlikely journey ends with the dream of a world title
The Snitkers’ journey, though, was not a Disney movie in which the protagonist follows a steady upward trajectory, then gets his just due. Three times Snitker served on the Braves’ major-league coaching staff – in 1985, ’88 to ’90 and 2007 to ’13 – only to be sent back to the minors. “Recycled,” Snitker said.
The Athletic
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Life of Brian: After Four Decades of Climbing, Snitker Enjoying Job as Braves' Manager
Snitker, now 61 and entering his 41st year with the organization, “deserved every bit of this job,” says first baseman and unofficial team captain Freddie Freeman, who expressed the sentiment at lunch with Coppolella early in the off-season, and then reiterated it to him over the next few days. Others players lobbied the front office as well, saying Snitker was the best manager they’d ever had.
Sports Illustrated
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