Bob Skinner, the lanky, left-handed slugger who helped the Pittsburgh Pirates stun the New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series and went on to collect three championship rings across a baseball life that stretched more than four decades, has died. He was 94.
Skinner died in San Diego, the Pirates announced after being informed by his wife, Joan, on Tuesday, May 5. No cause of death was provided.
A three-time All-Star known to teammates as “Sleepy” for his unhurried demeanor, Skinner stood 6-foot-3, hit from the left side, threw right-handed and made his living in the middle of a Pirates lineup that toppled one of the most dominant dynasties in sports. He carried that quiet professionalism into a long second act as a coach and manager, eventually earning a third ring with Pittsburgh’s “We Are Family” champions of 1979.
“Bob was an important part of one of the most beloved teams in our storied history and helped deliver a moment that will forever be woven into the fabric of our city,” Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. “Bob was a talented player, a proud Pirate and a respected member of the baseball community.”
From La Jolla To The Majors
Skinner was born Oct. 3, 1931, in La Jolla, California, and grew into a standout at San Diego Junior College before signing with the Pirates in the early 1950s. Two years of military service during the Korean War interrupted his climb, but he made his big-league debut in 1954 and quickly settled in as a fixture in Pittsburgh’s outfield.
Over 12 major league seasons with the Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals, Skinner posted a .277 career batting average. He earned his first All-Star selection in 1958 and was tapped twice in 1960, a quirk of the era when Major League Baseball briefly staged two All-Star Games each summer.
That 1960 campaign may have been his finest. Hitting in the heart of a Pirates order built around Roberto Clemente and Dick Groat, Skinner drove in a career-high 86 runs and helped push Pittsburgh into the World Series against a Yankees club fronted by Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Yogi Berra.
The Thumb, And Game 7
Skinner started in Game 1 but jammed his thumb sliding into a base, an injury that benched him until the decisive Game 7. He returned for one of the most famous afternoons in baseball history, going 0 for 2 with a walk in a game that would end on Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off home run.
His fingerprints were on it just the same. Skinner scored on Rocky Nelson’s two-run homer in the second inning. Then, with Pittsburgh trailing late, he laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced two runners during the eighth-inning rally that put the Pirates back in front. The stunning upset of the Yankees remains one of the great October shockers.
Skinner spent eight-plus seasons with the Pirates from 1954-63 before being dealt to Cincinnati and then to the Cardinals, where he picked up a second ring as part of the 1964 St. Louis club that won the World Series. He retired after the 1966 season.
A Long Life In The Dugout
The transition to the dugout came quickly. Skinner managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1968-69, compiling a 93-123 record across that short run, and later served a one-game interim stint in 1977 with the San Diego Padres, his hometown team. Neither managerial chapter defined him. The coaching did.
A respected hitting instructor who worked with six different organizations in various capacities, Skinner returned to Pittsburgh in 1979 as the club’s hitting coach. The timing was extraordinary. That summer, the “We Are Family” Pirates, led by Willie Stargell, rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, giving Skinner his third championship ring — this one earned in a uniform he had first put on a quarter-century earlier.
His tenure in Pittsburgh baseball ultimately spanned generations of Pirates fans, from the Forbes Field era to Three Rivers Stadium and beyond.
Survivors And Legacy
Skinner is survived by his wife, Joan; sons Mark, Craig, Drew and Joel; and eight grandchildren. His son Joel followed him into the major leagues, extending a family thread through the sport their patriarch loved.
Few players ever assemble a résumé like Skinner’s: three All-Star nods, three World Series titles, a quiet but pivotal role in baseball’s greatest Game 7 upset, and a coaching career that touched half a dozen franchises. Fewer still do it without raising their voices. The nickname “Sleepy” never quite captured the steadiness underneath — the kind that delivered, again and again, when October arrived.