Moose Skowron
| Bill "Moose" Skowron | |||
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| First baseman | |||
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Born: December 18, 1930 Chicago, Illinois |
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Died: April 27, 2012 (aged 81) Arlington Heights, Illinois |
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| MLB debut | |||
| April 13, 1954, for the New York Yankees | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| October 1, 1967, for the California Angels | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .282 | ||
| Home runs | 211 | ||
| Runs batted in | 888 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
William Joseph "Moose" Skowron Jr. (December 18, 1930 – April 27, 2012) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman, primarily for the New York Yankees. Skowron was an All-Star for six of his fourteen seasons playing in the major leagues and helped win five World Series. He had been a community relations representative for the Chicago White Sox for several years when he died in 2012.
Skowron was born in Chicago, and was of Polish descent. His father was a city garbage collector. One day his grandfather gave the seven-year-old Skowron a haircut that resembled a known Italian dictator's, which resulted in his friends jokingly calling him "Mussolini", and caused his family to shorten the nickname to "Moose." The name stuck throughout his career.
Skowron attended Weber High School in Chicago, then went to Purdue University in Indiana, where he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Though Skowron went to the school on a football scholarship, he found himself better suited to baseball, hitting .500 as a sophomore in 1950, a record in the Big Ten Conference that lasted ten years.
Following his sophomore year at Purdue, Skowron was signed to play baseball for the Austin (MN) Packers in the Southern Minny League (Class AA-level town-team baseball). Skowron did so well in Austin that the Yankees made a contract offer.
He was signed by Yankees scout Lou Maguolo.
Skowron signed with the New York Yankees in September 1950 as an amateur free agent and played his first game for the Yankees on April 13, 1954. In the beginning, he was platooned at first base with Joe Collins, but from 1958 on he became the Yankees' full-time first baseman. He played in seven American League (AL) All-Star games as a Yankee: 1957, 1958, twice in 1959, twice in 1960, and 1961 (two All-Star Games were played in 1959 through 1962).
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