Dodgers all-time best starting lineup based on WAR

Center field: Duke Snider, 63.4 fWAR

We finally arrive to Duke Snider, the position player with the highest fWAR in Dodgers franchise history. After playing 16 of his 18 seasons with the club, he is easily atop the conversation when it comes to the best hitter the team has ever had.

After breaking into the league as a 20-year-old in 1947, Snider didn't begin to rack up the accolades until 1950, when he made his first All-Star Game, finished ninth in NL MVP voting, and led the league in hits with 199. After this season, he wound up making six more All-Star Game appearances for the club (before making a final one in 1963 on the Mets) and earning top-10 finishes in the MVP voting five more times.

Snider was essentially the first prolific slugger the Dodgers had. He hit over 30 home runs six times for the club, including a stretch of five years that he topped the 40 mark, highlighted by a league-leading 43 bombs in 1956. He was also an RBI machine, leading the majors with 136 in 1955 and driving in a total of 1,271 for the Dodgers in over 1,900 games played.

All told, Snider hit 389 home runs for the club all while posting a .300 batting average, .936 OPS and 142 OPS+. He was no wizard on defense, but his offensive play was strong enough to carry his WAR numbers to the promised land. He made the Hall of Fame in 1980 after earning 86% of the vote in his 11th year on the ballot (back when you could remain on the ballot that long).