As a joke, Skowron's grandfather called him Mussolini, but his family shortened the
nickname to Moose. A kicker for Purdue, he signed to play baseball in 1951, and joined
the Yankees in 1954. A powerful opposite-field hitter, he topped the .300 mark five
times with New York and was
TSN all-star first baseman in 1960. He once lamented, "I hit over .300 three straight years for the
Yankees and they wouldn't give me a raise."
Making up for the disappointment of
making the final out of the 1957 WS when Milwaukee won, he became a hero of the 1958
World Series versus the Braves. He drove in what proved to be the winning run in
Game Six, and hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning of the final game to give
New York a 6-2 victory as they came back from a 3-games-to-1 deficit. When Skowron
homered in the 14th inning on April 22, 1959, the Yankees and Senators set the AL
record for the longest game to end 1-0 on a home run. After playing in his seventh
WS with New York in 1962, Skowron was traded to the Dodgers, for whom he hit just
.203 while platooned in 1963. But, facing his former team in the 1963 WS, he went
5-for-13, including a HR, as the Dodgers swept the Yankees.
(RTM)
Bill Skowron
