John Lee Lowenstein (born January 27, 1947) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

and

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by t ...

, who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

(MLB) for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

, Texas Rangers, and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

Playing career

Lowenstein was born in

Wolf Point Wolf Point ( asb, šųktógeja oʾípa) is an incorporated ranchingtown in, and the county seat of, Roosevelt County, Montana, United States. The population was 2,517 at the 2020 census, down 4% from 2,621 in the 2010 Census. It is the larges ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. He attended the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban dist ...

where he was a three-year letterman with the Highlanders in 1966, 1967 and 1968. As an All-American in his senior year, he led the team in seven offensive categories including

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(.393) and on-base and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

s (.488 and .600 respectively). He was the first person in UC Riverside history to both receive an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United ...

and be selected in the

MLB draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

,Hall of Fame: John Lowenstein – University of California, Riverside Athletics.
Retrieved September 17, 2022. 401st overall in the 18th round by the Cleveland Indians in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

. He was inducted into the UC Riverside Athletics Hall of Fame in 1989. Although he never played in a major league game for them, Lowenstein was briefly a member of the expansion

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

between the and seasons. He was traded by the Indians to the Blue Jays for designated hitter

Rico Carty Ricardo Adolfo Jacobo Carty (born September 1, 1939), nicknamed "Beeg Boy", is a Dominican former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from 1963 to 1979, most prominently as a member of the Atlanta ...

, and reacquired in the same off-season for utility infielder Héctor Torres. He is known for being part of a left-field

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may rang ...

during the late 1970s and early 1980s with

Gary Roenicke Gary Steven Roenicke (born December 5, 1954) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder for the Montreal Expos (1976), Baltimore Orioles (1978–85), New York Yankees (1986) and Atlanta Braves (1987–88). Early career He was originally dra ...

for the

. He had been claimed off waivers by the Orioles from the Rangers on November 27, 1978. Lowenstein hit an extra inning walk-off home run for the

to win Game 1 of the 1979 American League playoffs against the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

. He also made a spectacular, off-the-wall catch to rob the Phillies' Bo Diaz of a home-run in Game One of the

1983 World Series The 1983 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1983 season. The 80th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League champion Baltimore Orioles and the National ...

and hit a home run for the Orioles in Game 2. Lowenstein and the Orioles won the World Series that year, four games to one.

Eccentricities

While with the Indians in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, he started the John Lowenstein Apathy Club as opposed to having a fan club. He explained, "The people who start fan clubs do it for a publicity gimmick, and I don't care for it. I've turned down about a half dozen fan clubs already. They're a big hassle."Peterson, Harold. "''People''," ''Sports Illustrated'', June 24, 1974.
Retrieved October 23, 2020 He was taken off the field on a stretcher in the seventh inning of a 4–3 Orioles win over the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

at Memorial Stadium on June 19, 1980. While sliding into second base in an attempt to extend a game-tying single, he was accidentally hit on the back of his head by a ball thrown by

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Jeff Newman who was the

cut-off man This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. ...

on the play. As he reached the dugout, the seemingly unconscious Lowenstein abruptly sat up and pumped his fists in a victory salute to the crowd. He explained, "It was simply an opportunity I could not pass up."

Broadcaster

Lowenstein was an announcer for Oriole television broadcasts on

Home Team Sports NBC Sports Washington is an American regional sports network owned by Ted Leonsis's Monumental Sports & Entertainment, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, the channel broadcasts regio ...

for eleven seasons, working as an analyst with

Mel Proctor Mel Proctor is an American television sportscaster, actor, and book author. Biography A Denver, Colorado native, Proctor has called play-by-play for the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals, San Diego Padres and Los Angeles C ...

. After he was told before the 1996 season he would not be retained, Lowenstein speculated the Orioles put pressure on Home Team Sports to remove him from the booth. In 1986, Lowenstein served as a backup color commentator (behind

Joe Garagiola Joseph Henry Garagiola Sr. (February 12, 1926 – March 23, 2016) was an American professional baseball catcher, later an announcer and television host, popular for his colorful personality. Garagiola played nine seasons in Major League Basebal ...

and

Tony Kubek Anthony Christopher Kubek (born October 12, 1935) is an American former professional baseball player and television broadcaster. During his nine-year playing career with the New York Yankees, Kubek played in six World Series in the late 1950s ...

) on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's '' Game of the Week'' broadcasts alongside play-by-play man Ted Robinson; Lowenstein and Robinson called the May 17 game between

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

and the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

References

External links

John Lowenstein
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
John Lowenstein
at Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Professional Baseball League) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowenstein, John 1947 births Living people Baltimore Orioles announcers Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Montana Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Cleveland Indians players Florida Instructional League Indians players Major League Baseball broadcasters Major League Baseball designated hitters Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball right fielders Major League Baseball second basemen People from Wolf Point, Montana Reno Silver Sox players Texas Rangers players UC Riverside Highlanders baseball players Waterbury Indians players Wichita Aeros players