Francis Michael Skaff was an
infielderAn infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field.-Standard arrangement of positions:In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles...
,
coachIn baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
,
managerIn baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
and scout in
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
. Skaff's half-season as acting manager of the
Detroit TigersThe Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
is one of the most unusual, and tragic, happenstances in baseball annals.
Skaff began
1966The Detroit Tigers season was the 66th consecutive season for the Detroit franchise in the American League. The Tigers, who had finished fourth in the ten-team AL in 1965 with an 89-73 record, won one fewer game in 1966, going 88-74, but moved up to third in the league, ten full games behind the...
as a Detroit coach. After 26 games, skipper
Chuck DressenCharles Walter Dressen , known as both "Chuck" and "Charlie," was an American third baseman, manager and coach in professional baseball during a career that lasted almost fifty years, and was best known as the manager of the powerful Brooklyn Dodgers of 1951–1953...
suffered his second
heart attackMyocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in two seasons. As in 1965, third base coach
Bob SwiftRobert Virgil Swift was an American catcher, coach, manager and scout in Major League Baseball.Swift is pictured in one of the most famous photographs in American sporting history. He was the catcher for the Detroit Tigers on August 19, 1951, when St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck sent midget...
took over the Tigers on an interim basis May 16 as Dressen recovered. But Swift was not a well man, either. After 57 games, he was hospitalized for what appeared to be a stomach ailment; however, his malady proved to be
lung cancerLung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
and he was forced to give up the reins.
Skaff, who had begun the season as Detroit's bench coach, then moved to third base under Swift, became the team's second acting manager of the season on July 14 and finished the campaign. Unfortunately, both of Skaff's predecessors died later in the year. Dressen appeared to be making a recovery in early August when he was stricken by a kidney infection; he died August 10. Swift succumbed on October 17, 1966.
Meanwhile, the Tigers won only 40 of the 79 games Skaff managed, and finished third in the
American LeagueThe American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
, nine games in arrears of the eventual
world championThe 1966 World Series matched the Baltimore Orioles against the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, with the Orioles sweeping the Series in four games to capture their first championship in franchise history...
Baltimore OriolesThe Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
.
In October,
Mayo SmithEdward Mayo Smith was an American player, manager, and scout in Major League Baseball.Smith was born in New London, Missouri, but grew up in Florida. A left-handed batter who threw right-handed, Smith was a career minor league outfielder who spent many seasons in the International League with the...
was named manager for 1967, and Skaff moved into a scouting role. He never managed again in the majors (his 40-39 career record produced a winning percentage of .506), but he returned to Detroit as a coach under
Billy MartinAlfred Manuel "Billy" Martin, Jr. was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager. He is best known as the manager of the New York Yankees, a position he held five different times...
in 1971.
A native of
La Crosse, WisconsinLa Crosse is a city in and the county seat of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. The city lies alongside the Mississippi River.The 2011 Census Bureau estimates the city had a population of 52,485...
, who batted and threw right-handed, Skaff was a 1935 graduate of
Villanova UniversityVillanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
, where he received a degree in economics. He spent the most productive years of his playing career with the
International LeagueThe International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
Baltimore OriolesThe city of Baltimore, Maryland has been home to two minor league baseball teams called the Baltimore Orioles.-Name history:"Orioles" is a traditional name for baseball clubs in Baltimore . It was used by major league teams from 1882 through 1899 in the American Association/National League and by...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He appeared in six games for the 1935 Brooklyn Dodgers and in 32 contests for the 1943
Philadelphia AthleticsThe Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
,
hittingBatting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
.320 in 75 at bats. He managed in the A's farm system and was a coach for the 1954 Orioles during their first AL season as the reborn St. Louis Browns, before joining the Tiger organization as a minor league skipper.
He died in
Towson, MarylandTowson is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 at the 2010 census...
in 1988 at the age of 77 while on a scouting trip for the Tigers. (His date of birth is disputed. Baseball Reference lists his birth as occurring in 1910, while MacMillan's Baseball Encyclopedia, the
Baseball RegisterThe Baseball Register, also known as the Official Baseball Register, was an annual almanac of baseball player statistics, published by The Sporting News. It was published in May after player changes had been made, at the start of the season. It ceased publication with its 2007 edition...
and Baseball Library list his birth year as 1913.)