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Robert Ralph Skinner
Pittsburgh Pirates
Outfield
Born: October 3, 1931, La Jolla, CA
Signed: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent before 1951 season
Major League Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates 1954, 1956-1963; Cincinnati Reds 1963-1964; St. Louis Cardinals 1964-1966
As a Manager: Philadelphia Phillies 1968-1969; San Diego Padres 1977
Bob Skinner spent over 50 years in baseball as a player, manager, coach and scout. Most of his playing career was spent with the Pirates where he was an All-Star in 1958 and for both games in 1960. As the regular left fielder for the Pirates, Skinner had his best season in 1958 when he batted .321 with 13 home runs and 70 RBIs, finishing in the top ten in the National League in most major offensive categories and earning MVP votes. In 1960, Skinner was second on the club with 86 RBIs, behind only Roberto Clemente (#33) for the team lead, helping the Pirates clinch the pennant and eventually win the World Series in seven games over the Yankees. After a few seasons with the Reds, Skinner ended his playing career as a pinch-hitter and back-up outfielder for the Cardinals. He had four pinch-hitting appearances in the 1964 World Series, going 2 for 3 as St. Louis prevailed over the Yankees. In 1,381 career games, Skinner batted .277 with 103 home runs and 531 RBIs.
Skinner began his managerial career in 1967 with the San Diego Padres, then the top minor league affiliate for the Phillies. He won Minor League Manager of the Year honors after leading the Padres to an 85-63 record and winning the 1967 Pacific Coast League Championship. On June 16, 1968, Skinner was named as the new manager of the Phillies after Gene Mauch was fired. Skinner's time as manager of the Phillies would last a little over a year before he'd resign from the position. Skinner would coach in the majors with the Padres (1970-1973, 1977), Pirates (1974-1976, 1979-1985), Angels (1978) and Braves (1986-1988), and he earned his third World Series ring as the hitting coach for the Pirates in 1979. He'd work in the Astros organization as a special assignment scout until 2009. Skinner's son Joel played nine seasons in the majors with the White Sox, Yankees and Indians. Joel Skinner briefly managed the Indians in the second half of the 2002 season.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
December 25, 2003 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards) - Card #250
My Dad/Santa brought me nine cards for our set for Christmas in 2003, with all but one of the cards coming from his dealer of choice, Kit Young Cards in San Diego. The Brooklyn Dodgers team card (#166) was the lone non-Kit Young Cards addition, as that card came from TemDee in Turnersville, New Jersey. It was a strange mix of commons from Kit Young Cards, with no semi-star or star card to balance out the lot. We were admittedly in a lull collecting the set, with only 18 cards added during all of 2003 and only six cards added, as Christmas presents, in 2004.
Pictures from the Christmas of 2003 show us opening gifts at my Mom's house on December 26th, which has since become a tradition for us. So while the official set records indicate these nine cards were added on December 25th, it was most likely a day later I opened the cards while in Millville.
The Card / Pirates Team Set
Skinner's rookie card can be found in the 1955 Topps set, and this card reuses the main head shot photo from that card. The action shot features an excellent play at the plate, and it would look as if Skinner is out. But thanks to the magic of the internet, I found the source photo showing the home plate umpire signaling Skinner as safe. In a play that happened in the first inning of the Pirates-Giants game on April 20, 1954, Skinner slid under the tag of Giants' catcher Ray Katt as the on-deck batter, Jack Shepard, wearing #10, looks on. It looks as if Topps decided to move Skinner's head in the photo used for the card.
On the back, Topps imagines playing in New Orleans as a non-stop Mardi Gras celebration, complete with a parade and marching band.
1956 Season
Still a few years away from his break-out season of 1958, Skinner spent all of 1955 in the minor leagues and made the Pirates' opening day roster in 1956. He spent the season learning to play the outfield, and served as a utility player for the club, making starts in left field (21), first base (19) and right field (9). In 113 games overall, Skinner batted .202 with five home runs and 29 RBIs.
1956 Season
Skinner's managerial career with the Phillies did not go well, which was somewhat surprising at the time given his success with the Triple-A Padres. In 1968, Skinner inherited a team from Mauch in fifth place, but only 5 1/2 games out of first place. The 1968 Phillies finished the season with 86 losses overall and 21 games out of first place. In 1969, Skinner continued to clash with star Dick Allen. When Allen skipped a double header in New York on June 24th, he was suspended and missed the next 26 games. With the Phillies front office seemingly negotiating with Allen behind Skinner's back, the manager abruptly resigned in early August. The story from the Phillies was that Skinner resigned because the team wouldn't extend his contract beyond the 1969 season, but Skinner maintained the reason for his departure was the constant clashing with Allen. Third base coach George Myatt managed the team for the remainder of the season. Skinner was 92-123 overall for the Phillies, in a managerial tenure that lasted a little over one year.
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First Mainstream Card: 1955 Topps #88
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16): 1955-1966, 1969, 1973-1974, 1985
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1992 Fleer ProCards #503
98 - Skinner non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/1/24.
Sources:
1965 Topps Blog
Previous Card / Next Card
Set Order: #296 Andy Seminick - Philadelphia Phillies / #298 Johnny Schmitz - Boston Red Sox
Order Collected: #282 Warren Hacker - Chicago Cubs / #333 Rube Walker - Brooklyn Dodgers
It's surprising that, given Frank Lucchesi's long history as the Phillies' AAA manager, he was bumped down to double-A for 1967 & 1968 to make room or Bob Skinner, who was just coming off his MLB career and had no previous managing experience.
ReplyDeleteSkinner's "success" as a manager in 1967 is somewhat hollow, given that the '67 Padres were stacked with ex-major-leaguers, and probably over-matched their competition based on experience and not talent. I haven't checked other AAA teams' rosters, but I would assume that most teams were developing prospects in AAA (particularly the Dodgers, who had several consecutive strings of NL ROY's). Off the top of my head, I can't think of one rookie (from the '67 Padres) that made the 1968 Phillies team. (Larry Hisle lasted a few weeks.)
Once in Philly, Skinner proved to be ineffective, and never did get another managing gig.