Wyatt Eure Snipes, of the Marion, South Carolina Snipes (Wilson, Jr., the school teacher and coal dealer, and Minnie Timmons Snipes), got a single plate appearance with the White Sox on July 15, 1923, pinch hitting for Red Faber. Facing Philadelphia’s Eddie Rommel, he made the last out of the eighth inning via the “aerial route.” He had just arrived with the White Sox and manager Kid Gleason decided to give him a shot upon arrival. It only took a few days for the White Sox to see he’d make a better lawyer than baseball player and released him back to the minors.

Rock Snipes (or Roxy, as he was called in Chicago) spent at least a handful of years playing minor league ball in the south (Greenville, Columbia, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Richmond and Orlando). He had some fine seasons, too, batting .333 in the South Atlantic League in 1925 and .301 in the Southeastern League in 1926. However, in time putting his law degree to better use became the primary use of his days. When he came home to Marion for good he still dabbled in a few amateur games as time allowed. And the nickname “Rock,” like his thickly muscled frame, stayed with him all of his years.

Snipes went to the University of South Carolina where he was a multi-sport star athlete – in two halves. He played baseball, football, and basketball when he entered college in 1916. However, he interrupted his studies to join the United States Navy for World War I, advancing to Seaman Second Class. While with the Navy, he played on the Charleston Naval Training Center football team. And he was working, too. When he registered for the World War I draft, he was working in Delaware; he did other work in Charleston, South Carolina. Then, he returned to college and was a regular in 1922 and 1923, including a stint as the captain of the baseball nine. He also spent time coaching baseball and football after he graduated college. Known as Rock or Roxy, he got his law degree in 1924.

Finished with baseball in 1928, he started practicing law in Marion. Soon after, he became active in local and state politics. (He graduated from college with South Carolina Governor Olin Johnston.) In 1936, he ran for South Carolina house seat, losing a nomination by 12 votes. Two years later, he was elected a state senator instead.

A year after he first became a state senator, Snipes fell ill and it never seemed to go away. It turned into pneumonia and Snipes was taken to a veterans hospital in Fayetteville, North Carolina where passed to the next league on May 1, 1941. He is buried near family in Rose Hill Cemetery in Marion, South Carolina.

As an aside, Snipes was the seventh of at least eight children, having arrived on October 28, 1896. That said, a ninth child is attributed to Wilson and Minnie. Rosalynne was born in 1921 – when Minnie would have been about 59 years old (!). I used to be a rabid reader of the Guinness Book of World Records and I remember that the record age at which a woman gave birth used to be about 57 when I was a kid. The oldest woman to give birth to a naturally fertilized egg appears to be 59 – anyone older than that had help (IVF). They didn’t have IVF in the 1920s, so… Either Rosalynne was adopted or she was the daughter of one of Minnie’s other daughters and Wilson and Minnie took her in… Still – Minnie’s headstone has an upside down pentagram on it. Maybe Minnie was a witch?

Notes:

1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 US Census
Military Headstone Application
World War I Registration Forms

“Snipes to Head Gamecock Nine,” The State (Columbia, SC), May 22, 1922: 10.
“Comers Lose One in Tenth Period,” The State (Columbia, SC), June 9, 1923: 9.
Irving Vaughn, “Rommel Wins a Pitching Battle With Faber, 3-1,” Chicago Tribune, July 16, 1923: 15.
“Sox Release Snipes,” Chicago Tribune, July 20, 1923: 16.
“On the Level,” Tampa Times, August 25, 1924: 6.
“Marion County’s Political Battles to Start Soon,” Florence Morning News, April 24, 1936: 4.
“‘Rock’ Snipes in Second Primary, Greenville News, February 9, 1938: 1.
Abe Fennell, “Meet Senator Rock Snipes, Former Big League Player,” The State, (Columbia, SC), May 5, 1938: 8: 8.
“Rock Snipes Ill in Hospital Here,” Florence Morning News, February 2, 1939: 4.
“Senator Snipes Improves in Florence Hospital,” Florence Morning News, May 3, 1940: 2.
“Illness Fatal to W. E. Snipes,” Charlotte Observer, May 2, 1941: 9.