By Cary Shuman
Larry Skara said he and Bobby Spinney have been friends for more than 60 years.
“Bobby was pitching to me when I was 5 years old at Voke, and I hit my first ball out of Voke Park 330 feet,” jested Skara. “He tried to throw the lazy curve he had, and the ball went a long way. We also used to race, and whoever said, ‘Ready, set, go,’ won the race.’”
Skara played Little League baseball for the Major League Cubs while Spinney was a Cardinal. Both were two-time All-Stars for the Chelsea Nationals.
“Bobby always knew the game inside and out,” recalled Skara, who traveled from Florida to be at the retirement party. “He knew what base to throw to, when to steal, when to bunt. That’s what his game was: get on base, steal, and score a run. He had a very good career average against me.”
They competed on different teams in the Chelsea Pony League, with the electrifying Skara joining forces with other all-time greats like Mike Lush, Jerry Dion, Tommy Duval, and Bob Ham to produce the only undefeated team – George Triant’s 1974 Orioles – in league history. Spinney’s Angels, managed by Paul Casino with such superstars as Eric Shuman, Kevin Melisi, and Bill Francis on the roster, fell just short of a title when right fielder Bob Cameron gloved Pony League home run champion Shuman’s sinking line drive to save Game 5 and give James “Bear” Burke’s Pirates the CYBL championship.
Skara and Spinney could have been high school teammates, but Skara chose to attend Malden Catholic (“My parents wanted me to go to Malden Catholic – they figured that would be my best road to college,” he said) while Spinney stayed home and led Coach Joe Bevere’s Red Devils to the Eastern Mass. title in 1975.
“I had a four-year career at Suffolk University, and I was the only two-year captain,” humbly boasted Skara, a shortstop who was scouted by Major League teams while at Suffolk. “We almost broke Brandeis’ 27-game winning streak. We had them going into the ninth inning, but an error cost us the victory, 7-6.
Skara, who has owned a successful specialty products business in Florida for several years, said he and Bobby Spinney stay in touch and talk “three or four times a week.”
“I couldn’t ask for a better friend,” said Skara of Spinney. “When you have your best friend and a brother – we consider each other brothers – I’m just so grateful to have Bobby in my life and all these guys like Richard Szarythe, Jimmy “Joe” and Joe Ippolito, Bobby Cameron, Bucky Cole – they’re just great, great, guys.”