Tom Koeck announced that William (Moose) Skowron had decided to join the Austin Packers for the summer in the May 24, 1950 edition of the Austin Daily Herald .[1] Skowron was hitting an even .600 for the Purdue Boilermakers at the time. It turns out that Austin wasn’t the only team and town counting on Skowron to appear for them as The Lakes entry in the Iowa States League also announced that Skowron would be a new member of the combined Wall Lake / Lake View team.[2]
That same day the Austin Daily Herald noted that Skowron had the Western conference batting title in sight as the Boilermakers finished their season against Ohio State.[3] Skowron was originally expected to arrive by June 11th. On June 8th, however, the Austin Daily Herald announced the Bill Skowron would join the Packers on June 18th.[4]
He was needed as the Packers were mired in fifth place (in an 8 team League) with four wins against five losses.[5] By the time Skowron arrived, the Packers had fallen into sixth place after losses to Mankato, Waseca and Owatonna. The one bright spot was an extra inning win over Faribault[6] but the 1950 Austin Packers had already lost more regular season games before June 18th than the 1949 Packers team lost during the entire Southern Minny season.
Moose arrived in Austin on June 17th to be ready for the important rivally game with Albert Lea on June 18th. In fact, both he and fellow newcomer Roman Bartkowski arrived in time for the game but the weatherman had other plans as their debuts were pushed back to June 20th against Faribault.[7] Even with reinforcement in hand, the Packers dropped two more games to drop them to 7th place.
A sign of things to come for Southern Minny baseball fans occurred on June 25th. The Packer bats pounded Owatonna in to submission scoring 27 runs. Skowron contributed on defense handling eight chances at third.[8] The Packers offense followed up with 20 hits against Albert Lea the following Tuesday.[9] Jack LaVelle homered in the follow up game against Albert Lea for Austin’s third win in a row. Skowron batted sixth in a lineup filled with dangerous hitters.[10] The streak reached five games when the Packers chased Waseca ace Lefty Kraupa with Skowrun hitting third between Red Lindgren and Harry Elliot in the lineup.[11]
Skowron and Harry Elliot shared top billing as the Packers set back the Albert Lea Packers 12 to 11 in 11 innings. Skowron plated the winning run with a double to the left field wall. [12] The winning streak eventually reached nine games before Gread “Lefty” McKinnis of the Rochester Royals was able to shut down the potent Austin offense.[13] Because of the winning streak the Packers climbed out of the celler to within a ½ game of first place.
Despite the set back to the Royals, Moose was starting to warm up. He had a triple among his two hits against Owatonna.[14] He put the Packers on his back against Faribault twice tying the game with his three hits while plating four of Austin’s six runs. His hits included a three run home run in the seventh and a run scoring single in the ninth. [15]
He travelled to Chicago for a two day try out for the New York Yankees on July 28th and 29th. The tryout was arranged by Yankee scout Joe McDermott and Packer manager Emil Scheid. Arrangements were made to ensure that Moose would be back in time for the next league game with good reason. At the time Moose was hitting .324 with five doubles, two triples and two home runs.[16]
Moose and the Packer offense continued their torrid hitting pace. The Austin Daily Herald featured Skowron as a “Homerun King” in a rare action photograph for that era following a three home run game against the Rochester Royals.[17] All three home run cleared the left field fence with room to spare.[18]
As the sun set on the regular season, the Austin Packers had risen from the cellar to share the regular season title with Waseca with 21 wins a piece.[19] During the regular season Moose played in 23 games and posted a .343 average. He was one of seven Packer regulars to hit over .300 during the season[20] with the Rochester Post Bulletin referring to the team as the “Hormel Howitzers” for their hitting prowess.[21]
In the Southern Minny postseason, Moose did his part smashing two home runs in a game against Albert Lea.[22] He signed a contract to join the New York Yankees on Sunday and helped eliminate the Royals from the finals with a four hits in four attempts that included a triple.[23]
The path to a second consecutive state championship looked rosy when Roman Bartkowski no hit the St. Paul Nickel Joints to open the tournament for the Packers.[24] A 3-2 loss to Litchfield in the second round changed that picture quickly. In order to claim the title in the double elimination tournament they would need five victories without a loss and it turned out they would need five victories in two days.
The Parkers started out well beating Fairfax 5-0 and followed up with wins over Marshall and Litchfield later that same day. The Packers kept winning but they were using up their pitching staff. They beat Fergus Falls in the early game behind a tie breaking home run by Skowron but ran out of steam in their fifth game in two days to finish the season as runners-up in the state tournament.[25]
Despite running out of pitchers in a state tournament grind the featured five games in two days, the Austin Packers made an incredible turn around from their early season start that found them mired in or near the League cellar. That turn around coincided with the additions of Moose and Roman Bartkowski to the Packers’ roster which makes sense as Moose’s ability to hit for high average and power made it that much more difficult for a pitcher to face the Packers’ potent lineup of Howitzers. It certainly didn’t hurt that Moose also fielded the critical “hot corner” position well keeping the Packers defense in many games.
Skowron’s 1950 Packers team is also uniquely connected to Austin and Marcusen Memorial Park. The 1949 team was truly dominant losing only 7 games the entire season but capacity at Marcusen was limited as the field opened without the grandstand in place. The 1950 team had the benefit of having the grandstand in place for at last a part of the season allowing 3-5,000 people to attend the games and see Austin’s many adopted sons batter the competition with Austin’s “A” on their chest.
In 1957 Moose was a guest of Emil Scheid at a baseball kickoff party for the newest franchise in the Southern Minny – the Mason City Braves. When asked about his greatest thrill in baseball he understandably said “hitting a grand slam homer in last fall’s World Series against Brooklyn.”[26] If you asked many Austin baseball fans from the early 1950’s that question, their answer may well be seeing Moose Skowron playing for Austin with an “A” on his chest.
What seems unique about the relationship between Austin and Moose Skowron is that he carried the connection to Austin forward as well. He passed through many other cities playing baseball on his way to to Yankee Stadium yet he remained in contact with many people here in Austin and spent part of his offseasons in the Austin during the 1950’s.[27]
[1] Tom Koeck, “In the Press Box,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, May 24, 1950.
[2] “Lakes Team is Ready for Opener,” Odebolt (IA) Chronicle, June 1, 1950, 11.
[3] “Purdue Shortstop Eyes Bat Record; Joins Austin Soon,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 1, 1950, 10.
[4] “Bill Skowron, Big Ten Batting Champ, Joins Austin June 18,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 8, 1950, 10.
[5] “Hitters Food Pitchers in League Games,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 9, 1950.
[6] “Packers Win 7-6, in 13 Frames,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 16, 1950, 7.
[7] “Packers Club Meets Lakers Here Tuesday,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 19, 1950, 8.
[8] “Packers Throttle Owatonna, 27-4,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 26, 1950, 8.
[9] “Packers Blast 2 Pitchers for 20 Base Raps,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 28, 1950.
[10] “LaVelle’s Homer Beats Albert Lea,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 30, 1950.
[11] “Bartkowski Tames Waseca, 10-2,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, July 5, 1950, 9.
[12] “Close Call, but Packers Win, 12-11,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, July 7, 1950.
[13] “Rochester Stops Packers, 8 to 6,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, July 17, 1950.
[14] Tom Koeck, ”Stumps Owatonna Team with 3 Hits,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, July 21, 1950.
[15] “Skowron Paces 6-5 Austin Win Over Faribault,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, July 24, 1950.
[16] “Packer Star Joins Yanks for Workout,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, July 28, 1950.
[17] Austin (MN) Daily Herald, August 16, 1950.
[18] Tom Koeck, “Skowron and Elliot Pace Homer Parade,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, August 16, 1950.
[19] “Packer Clubs Fails to Hold Waseca; Tie for S-M Title,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, August 18, 1950.
[20] “Lindgren and Elliot Lead Packer Attack,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, August 23, 1950.
[21] “Rochester Defeated, 6-3, in First Playoff Tilt,” Rochester (MN) Post Bulletin, September 1, 1950, 12.
[22] “5 Homeruns Give Austin Series Edge,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, August 28, 1950.
[23] “Sweep Royal Series with 13-11 Victory,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, September 5, 1950.
[24] “No-Hit Game by Bartkowski Nothing New,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, September 11, 1950.
[25] “Red Sox Turn Back Austin in Finals, 3-0,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, September 18, 1950.
[26] “Skowron, Scheid, Jones Make Baseball Kickoff a Real Party,” Mason City (IA) Globe Gazette, January 22, 1956, 11.
[27] “Skowron, Scheid, Jones Make Baseball Kickoff a Real Party,” Mason City (IA) Globe-Gazette, January 22, 1957, 11.
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