The Pirates signed Skinner as an amateur free agent in 1950 or 1951. He had turned down offers from the
Brooklyn Dodgers,
St. Louis Cardinals,
Detroit Tigers and
Boston Red Sox to sign with the Pirates. Skinner was a
left-handed hitter who threw
right-handed, was listed as tall and . He has also been reported at 6 ft 4½ in (1.94 m). He had the nickname "Sleepy" with the Pirates. He then played 29 games for the
Class D Mayfield Clothiers, where he had a .472 batting average, six home runs, 50 hits, 40 runs scored, 29 RBIs and a 1.378 OPS (
on-base plus slugging).
Dale Coogan was to play first base for the Pirates'
Double-A affiliate in the
Southern Association, the
New Orleans Pelicans; however, Coogan refused to report. Because the Pirates could not assign Long or Ward to the Pelicans without the risk of losing them to another team, the Pirates sent Skinner to New Orleans. Skinner played in 86 games for the Pelicans, with a .346 batting average, eight home runs, 62 RBIs, 62 runs and a .976 OPS. He had the second highest batting average in the Southern Association among players with over 300 at bats. Skinner's season ended after he broke his wrist on July 3.
Major league Pittsburgh Pirates Skinner played a full season for the Pirates in 1954. He started 116 games at first base that year. He hit .249 with eight home runs, 46 RBIs and 67 runs. After spending 1955 in Double-A baseball, Skinner returned to the Pirates in 1956 as a backup outfielder and first baseman, starting 30 games in the outfield and 19 at first base. He hit only .202 in 233 at bats. Skinner was primarily considered a
pinch hitter in 1956, and tied a 43-year old team record with three pinch hit home runs that season. The Pirates moved Skinner to the outfield in 1957, where he started 83 games in left field while starting eight at first base. Skinner only began playing the outfield full time over the last two months of the season. Before that he had been hitting .296 primarily as a pinch hitter. On the season, he hit .305, raising his average over .100 points from the previous season, and was considered by many, including Pirates' manager
Danny Murtaugh, the most improved player in the National League. Skinner had 13 home runs and led the Pirates with 10
stolen bases; one of only five players in the National League to have double figures in home runs and stolen bases. Murtaugh also believed Skinner improved defensively as an outfielder because of his exceptional speed and regular opportunity to play and gain more experience. Skinner was 15th in NL Most Valuable Player voting. He was fifth among all NL players in batting average and
on-base percentage (.387), sixth in offensive WAR (
wins above replacement, 4.7) and doubles (33), seventh in OPS, triples (9) and runs, eighth in hits (170) and tenth in
total bases (260). The Pirates finished the season 84–70. In Skinner's three prior seasons with the Pirates, they had never won more than 66 games. In mid-April 1959, he was injured trying to catch a
Hank Aaron line drive, and it took him a few weeks to recover. In 1960, the Pirates won the
World Series in seven games over the
New York Yankees, and Skinner became an All-Star for the second season in his career. He started 140 games in left field, and hit .273 with 15 home runs, 83 RBIs, 83 runs and 11 stolen bases. He also started the July 13 All-Star Game, again batting second; this time between Mays and Aaron. He was 1-for-3 in the game. Skinner jammed his thumb during the game sliding into third base, however, and did not play again until Game 7; being replaced in left field by
Gino Cimoli for Games 2 through 6. He was 0-for-2 in Game 7, with a
base on balls, run scored and a
sacrifice bunt, in the Pirates 10–9 series winning victory. He started only 96 games in left field, appearing in only 119 total games. He hit .268, with three home runs and 42 RBIs in only 381 at bats; his lowest production in all of these categories since 1956. to fourth place in 1962 (93–68). He was third in the NL in on-base percentage, eighth in offensive WAR (4.7) and OPS (.899), and ninth in doubles (29). Skinner finished 22nd in NL Most Valuable Player voting. On May 23, 1963, the Pirates traded Skinner to the
Cincinnati Reds for 33-year old
Jerry Lynch, known as one of the greatest pinch hitters in baseball history. Skinner and Lynch had started as rookies together on the 1954 Pirates. By 1963, Lynch was not a regular player, and was older, slower and a weaker fielder than Skinner. Skinner had started 30 games for the Pirates at the time of the trade, and was hitting .270 in 122 at bats, with five doubles and five triples, but no home runs. Lynch had started four games in the outfield for the Reds, and was hitting .250 in 32 at bats, including two pinch hit home runs. The Pirates were weak hitting as a team and in fifth place. General manager
Joe L. Brown believed Skinner was underperforming as a hitter that season, and that Lynch might stimulate the Pirates' offensive production; while a new team might be a positive change for Skinner to become a more productive hitter again.
Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals Skinner started 46 of the 72 games he played for the Reds in 1963, hitting .253 in 194 at bats, with three home runs, 17 RBIs and 25 runs. He played behind future Hall of Famer
Frank Robinson and rookie
Tommy Harper in the outfield. Skinner's production did not live up to Reds' manager
Fred Hutchison's expectations. The following season, on June 13, 1964, after appearing in only 25 games for the Reds (with only 12 starts), Skinner was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for 25-year old minor league catcher
Jim Saul and cash. Skinner started 29 of the 55 games in which he appeared for the Cardinals in 1964, batting .271 in 118 at bats, with one home run, 16 RBIs and 10 runs. The Cardinals defeated the
New York Yankees in the 1964 World Series. Skinner appeared as a pinch hitter four times during the series (Games 1, 2, 3 and 6). He had two hits in three at bats (including a
ground rule double), with one
base on balls and one RBI. He played two more seasons for the Cardinals before being released in October 1966, ending his MLB career. In 1966, he was used solely as a pinch hitter, batting .156 in 45 at bats. Over his 12-year career, he batted .277 with 1,198
hits, including 197
doubles, 58
triples and 103 homers. == Managing and coaching career ==