Grant Skinner moved to Winnipeg in 1964 when he was 12 years old. He played minor baseball in south Winnipeg, but switched to softball. At 15, Skinner became the youngest player in the Manitoba Senior A Men’s League. Two seasons later he made the Manitoba team that competed in the first Canada Summer Games. In 1972, he played in his first Canadian senior men’s championship with Winnipeg K&A Knights.

The following year the Western Major Fastball League was established to bring high-calibre competition to the Prairie Provinces. The Winnipeg Colonels, with a nucleus of Knights, won the first WMFL championship. A perennial all-star at second base during his years in the WMFL, Skinner won batting, home run and stolen base titles and a league MVP award. In 1978, he hit a league record .408. Skinner was an all-star and MVP in the 1980 Softball Canada senior men’s championship and an all-star again in 1982.

When Canada won gold in the 1983 Pan Am Games, he was the starting second baseman and hit a homerun and drove in four runs in the final against the USA. In 1984, Skinner moved to Ontario and that season the national team won silver in the International Softball Federation world championship. In 1993, he helped the Toronto Gators win both the Canadian championship and International Softball Congress world championship. He retired from competitive ball in 1995.

Skinner was nominated for Manitoba Male Athlete of the Year in 1978 and 1983. Softball Canada inducted the 1983 Pan Am Games team into its Hall of Fame in 1997 and Skinner was inducted for his individual accomplishments in 2003. When the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame held its first induction in 2002, Skinner was one of seven athletes recognized. Grant Skinner is considered by many to be the best male position player developed in Manitoba during the second half of the 20th Century.