Unlike previous One Game Wonder subjects who also played for other teams, Roe Skidmore truly only played one Major League game.
Originally drafted by the Braves in the 1966 amateur draft, Skidmore was then sent to the San Francisco Giants in what, according to Baseball-Reference.com, is an "unkown transaction" in 1967. The Cubs then selected him away from the Giants in 1968 minor league draft. After spending time in just Single-A with the Braves and Giants, Skidmore made the jump to Triple-A within the Cubs organization in 1969.
Skidmore made his one and only Major League appearance the following year on September 17, 1970 against the St. Louis Cardinals. Already down 8-1, he pinch hit for pitcher Joe Decker in the 7th inning.
You know how I makes jokes about Jerry Reuss usually being the oldest looking guy in my repacks on his 1980s cards? Well, Reuss happened to be the starting pitcher that day for the Cardinals in his sophomore season. Funny tie-in. To me anyway.
So with two outs (Ernie Banks flew out, Randy Hundley grounded out), Skidmore singled to left field. The next batter, Don Kessinger, grounded to second baseman, Julian Javier, who stepped on second base to force out Skidmore and end the inning. Jim Dunegan came on to pitch in the 8th, ending Skidmore's 1/3 of an inning consecutive innings streak.
Following the season, the Cubs traded Skidmore across town to the White Sox. After that he bounced around the minor leagues in the Reds, Cardinals, Astros and Red Sox organizations but never made it back to the Major League level.
Roe Skidmore shares a Rookie Card with Jim Dunegan on a 1971 Topps Rookies Stars card, the only Skidmore card that I have and know of.
I've done two posts on Roe Skidmore:
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http://canthavetoomanycards.blogspot.com/2012/02/skidmore.html
Awesome. Those personal anecdotes were much better than the stuff I extrapolated from the boxscore. Thanks for the links.
ReplyDeleteI grew up around Roe Skidmore. He worked with my dad in the later 1970s. I was freinds with is son (also named Roe, and a player in his own right). Not sure why I never looked up stuff about him. I knew he played. Thanks for the stuff.
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