Baseball legend Bob Skinner dead at 94 as tributes pour in

Baseball legend Bob Skinner, a three-time World Series champion whose career as a player and coach spanned more than four decades, has died at the age of 94.

Skinner, a 6ft 4in outfielder who was known as ‘Sleepy’ for his laid-back demeanor, spent 12 seasons in the major leagues with Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. He was a three-time All-Star.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, where Skinner began his career and helped the franchise stun the New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series, announced his death on Tuesday. 

It was confirmed that the 94-year-old passed away in San Diego but a cause of death was not given. ‘He touched a lot of people in baseball,’ his son, Joel, said.

‘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 added in a statement. 

‘Bob was a talented player, a proud Pirate and a respected member of the baseball community.’

The 6ft 4ins outfielder, pictured in 1965, was known as ‘Sleepy’ for his laid-back demeanor

A career .277 hitter, Skinner was named to the National League All-Star team in 1958 and twice in 1960, during the brief period when Major League Baseball held two All-Star games a season. 

Skinner spent eight-plus seasons with Pittsburgh from 1954-63 before being traded to Cincinnati and then the Cardinals, where he was part of the 1964 team that won the World Series.

Skinner retired at the end of the 1966 season before going into coaching and managing. He went 93-123 during a short managerial run with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1968-69 and a one-game interim stint with his hometown San Diego Padres in 1977.

A respected coach who worked with six different organizations in various capacities, Skinner returned to Pittsburgh in 1979 as the club’s hitting coach, winning a third ring as part of the ‘We Are Family’ Pirates that beat Baltimore in the 1979 World Series.

Skinner’s best season may have been 1960, when he drove in a career-high 86 runs while hitting in the middle of a Pirates lineup that reached the World Series. He started in Game 1 against the New York Yankees but injured his thumb while sliding into a base, forcing him to sit out until Game 7. 

He went 0 for 2 with a walk in Game 7, scoring on Rocky Nelson’s second-inning homer and later laying down a sacrifice bunt that advanced two runners during an eighth-inning rally that put Pittsburgh in front.

Skinner was born on October 3, 1931, in La Jolla, California. A standout at San Diego Junior College, he signed a contract with Pittsburgh in the early 1950s and eventually made his debut in 1954 after spending two years in the military during the Korean War.

Skinner is survived by Joan, sons Mark, Craig, Drew and Joel, along with eight grandchildren.