"Moose" Skowron's infield ball

I had not thought about "Moose" Skowron for a long time, until I saw his photograph in the Field of Dreams store in the Woodfield Mall yesterday.

When he played first base for the Kansas City Blues - it must have been in the 1950 or 1951 season - we had an understanding: when he'd came off the field at the end of the inning, I'd toss him the infield ball as he approached the dugout. He'd tuck in in his long glove, and put it in a very specific place on the bench near the batrack.

Then when he finished the infield warmup at the top of the next inning, he'd throw the infield ball to me, standing near the rain tarp behind first base.

Each time we did this, he'd say, "Thanks, kid." So all the ballplayers, most of whom hardly noticed this third-string batboy, called me "the kid" all the time. I can still remember how big and fast Skowron looked...he had huge hands and forearms...but now I see on the statistics website(URL below) that we was only 5'11"...an inch shorter than I am now! And he played 1st base at that puny height!

The KC Blues was a Yankee farm club, and it seemed everytime a player got really good in those years, the Yankees would call them up. Of course, that was the dream of all the players (and the batboys), but it really irritated the local KC fans, who did not care what a farm team existed for in the first place.

At the start of the 1954 season the Yankees called Skowron up to play his 5'11" first base in New York. His promotion to the big leagues probably had nothing to do with how well I took care of his infield ball, because in New York he played in seven World Series without much help from me.

But one time, when my Dad and I were in New York for a couple of games, I got to shag flies during batting practice. On the way down the tunnel before BP, Skowron came up behind me, messed up my hair, and said, "Hi kid - hang out in right and I'll hit a few to you..." So I did, and that day Skowron dropped all of his BP hits into right field. Being as fleet as a beer truck, I did not get to any of them, but Skowron did his best. I could see them leave his bat about half a second before I heard the crack, and the baseballs would shrink to just a white pinpoint before they began their downward arc. I can remember thinking how neat it would be to actually get under one and catch it. I still think about that, never having actually caught one.

Yankee Stadium was a majestic sight, as seen by kid standing in the deep outfield. It was hard to imagine how even those strong men could throw a baseball all the way to the plate from way out there! I have never since been in a structure that equalled for me that sense of grandness. Maybe if I had spend less time in awe of the stadium (and just a little bit faster) I'd have caught at least one of Skoron's long fly balls.

Skowron's career BA was a respectable .282, but he hit .293 with 8 HRs in World Series play.

He was from Chicago, and the websight I just checked says he's still living (born in 1930, so if the site is correct he's 75. He finished his MLB career with the White Sox.) I think I'll look him up, just to see if he still needs me to take care of that infield ball for him.


Here is a place to check out his statistics:
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/S/Skowron_Bill.stm