ORLANDO, FL -- Every baseball field holds 1,000 stories.
At Bishop Moore's Joe Skinner Field, the story of the man the diamond is named after is a powerful one.
"“I get goose bumps whenever I walk onto this field," said Bishop Moore Baseball Coach Tony Mehlich. "Joe was the kind of kid to have a field named after him.”
“Our lives revolved around Joe’s baseball games,” said Scott Skinner, Joe's father. "Every weekend, every summer we were on the way to another tournament."
From a young age, Joe Skinner immersed himself in everything baseball. Arrivng to Bishop Moore in the spring of 2014 for his sophomore season, his impact was immediately felt.
“His potential was scary. Scary in a good way. Five-tool. Role model. High character. For me his future was that,” Mehlich said.
As a junior, he was the lead-off hitter on one of the best teams in the state.
"“I vaguely remember him saying it was going to be a special year," Mehlich said. "We were going to win states.”
His future was mapped out. After capping his high school career with a title, Skinner would team up with best friend Dallas Beaver at UCF.
"“We both decided we wanted to come here," Beaver said. "We wanted to be part of building a legacy.”
Joe Skinner would leave a legacy at UCF. It's the way he left his legacy that nobody predicted.
“He came home from the school on Thursday. We originally thought it was mono," said Judy Skinner, Joe's mother. "They sent him for a chest x-ray and some blood work. The doctors called me at 2:30 the next day and said to take him to Arnold Palmer (Hospital for Children). They’d be waiting for him.”
In December 2015, Joe was diangosed with hypodiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
“Leukemia especially in children is an 80% cure rate these days," Scott said. "We got this beat. You give Joe and 80% chance at anything and he'll make it work."
For months, Joe received various treatments including car-t cell therapy at Dallas Children's Hospital in Texas. Everyday Joe continued to fight. His parents described his hospital room as a revolving door. Friends, teammates and family members were constantly paying visits.
Joe even received inspirational messages from the Chicago Cubs, Joe's favorite baseball team. Through it all, Joe's spirits remained high.
“The smile he had on his face the last time I saw him was something I’ll never forget,” said Dallas.
In April 2016, his condition began to worsen. It became evident, after a five-month battle, nothing more could be done.
"You just tell him you love and that you'll see him again," Judy said.
Joe Skinner passed away in the afternoon on April 30, 2016 in Dallas.
“I’m not sure it’s hit me completely and there are still moments where I don’t think it has," said Molly, Joe's sister. "I’ll go to text him or snapchat him something he’d like to know and it’s like I can't."
Three months after Joe's passing, Greg Lovelady was hired as UCF's Head Baseball Coach. He never knew Joe, never recruited him, but he felt his presence.
“He was supposed to be there and he wasn’t,” Lovelady said. “I’ve said it a thousand times. There’s nothing more I wish in my life that I got to meet him, that I got to coach him."
Lovelady embraced Joe's legacy for himself and the team.
"“Dallas was certainly aware of that like my best friend is supposed to be sitting in this locker next to me and he’s not.”
Joe's #38 jersey still hangs in UCF's dugout. On gamedays, it's worn by Dallas.
"I just try and honor him everytime I step on the field," Dallas said.
On April 26, 2019, Dallas honored his late best friend the only way he knew how. On Skinner Strong Night against Memphis, Dallas stepped to the plate in the bottom of the first inning. On the first pitch he saw, he cracked a two-run home run over the "Skinner Strong banner" in right field.
“I was running around the bases thinking of Joe the whole time.”
Six innings later, Dallas blasted another home run over the same banner.
“There’s a scene in "Angels in the Outfield" where an angel helps him hit a home run. That’s what it felt like to me.”
Joe Skinner's story didn't end that night. For years to come, even though he's gone, he'll always be this story's hero.
“You just hope that every kid who hears the story of Joe hears that there’s a right way of doing things and Joe did everything absolutely right,” Mehlich said.
As the old saying goes, heroes get remembered, but legends never die.
“I think the way he lived his life, the strength that he showed going through this ordeal, that makes him the legend,” Scott said.
For more information on the life and legacy of Joe Skinner, click here.
