Skowron was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was of Polish descent. His father was a city garbage collector. One day his grandfather gave the seven-year-old Skowron a haircut that resembled a known Italian dictator\'s, which resulted in his friends jokingly calling him "Mussolini", and caused his family to shorten the nickname to "Moose." The name stuck throughout his career.\n', '

Skowron attended Weber High School in Chicago, then went to Purdue University in Indiana, where he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Though Skowron went to the school on a football scholarship, he found himself better suited to baseball, hitting .500 as a sophomore in 1950, a record in the Big Ten Conference that lasted ten years.\n', '

Following his sophomore year at Purdue, Skowron was signed to play baseball for the Austin (MN) Packers in the Southern Minny League (Class AA-level town-team baseball). Skowron did so well in Austin that the Yankees made a contract offer.\n', '

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