Snyder received a full baseball scholarship to
Brigham Young University, where he played for the
BYU Cougars baseball team. In his first game with BYU, during his first three at-bats, he hit three home runs on three consecutive pitches. He was named 1982 Freshman of the Year. In 1983, Snyder played
collegiate summer baseball for the
Harwich Mariners of the
Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). He batted .321 for the season, belting a league-record 22 home runs, including homers in four consecutive at-bats on July 7–8. Snyder led the Mariners to the league title, and was named the league's outstanding pro prospect. He was inducted into the
Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame in 2003. Snyder played for the USA team in the
1983 Pan American Games in
Venezuela and is on the
list of Pan American Games medalists in baseball. In June 1984, Snyder was drafted by the Cleveland Indians as the 4th overall pick in the 1st round of the
1984 Major League Baseball draft. In 1985, Snyder received the
Eastern League Most Valuable Player Award. In May 1986, while playing for the
Maine Guides, Snyder was sued after an incident where he threw his bat towards the
backstop, but due to
pine tar in his hands, it flew into the stands and hit two women sitting in the front row, breaking one of their noses and cracking the
dental plate and bloodying the lip of the other. A judge dismissed the charges in the criminal case. In March 1988, Snyder settled the civil charges out of court. In June 1986, Snyder was called up to the major leagues. In 1987, along with teammate
Joe Carter, Snyder appeared on the cover of
Sports Illustrated. In 1989, he suffered a
back injury after diving for a ball. A
slump in performance followed, leading to an adverse relationship between Snyder and team officials. On December 4, 1990, the
Cleveland Indians traded Snyder to the
Chicago White Sox in exchange for pitchers
Eric King and
Shawn Hillegas. His salary was set by an arbitrator at $800,000, a $100,000 raise. There, coach
Walt Hriniak forced him to change his hitting style, which Snyder believes was for the worse. On March 28, 1992, after being released by the Blue Jays, Snyder was signed by the
San Francisco Giants. In June 1992, he received the NL
Major League Baseball Player of the Month Award. at $1.5 million per year. On February 20, 1997, Snyder unsuccessfully tried out for the
St. Louis Cardinals. ==Coaching career==