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

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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 catch ...

and

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(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 , the team ...

, Texas Rangers, and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) 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 America ...

Playing career

Lowenstein was born in

Wolf Point, Montana Wolf Point is a city 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 largest community on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Wolf ...

. He attended Norte Vista High School in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

, and the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

where he was a three-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

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, an ...

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 school, private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the U ...

and be selected in the

MLB draft The Major League Baseball draft (officially the Rule 4 Draft; also known as the first-year player draft or amateur draft) is the primary mechanism by which Major League Baseball (MLB) assigns amateur baseball players from high schools, colleg ...

,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 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

. 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) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

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

Rico Carty Ricardo Adolfo Jacobo Carty (September 1, 1939 – November 23, 2024), nicknamed "Beeg Boy", was a Dominican professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from 1963 to 1979, most prominently as a member of th ...

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

platoon A platoon is a Military organization, military unit typically composed of two to four squads, Section (military unit), sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the Military branch, branch, but a platoon can ...

during the late 1970s and early 1980s with

Gary Roenicke Gary Steven Roenicke (born December 5, 1954) is an American former Major League Baseball left fielder for the Montreal Expos (1976), Baltimore Orioles (1978–85), New York Yankees (1986) and Atlanta Braves (1987–88). Early career Roenicke wa ...

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 Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

. 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 Nationa ...

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 Lowenstein 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 (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

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. 0–9 0 :"Oh and ..." See count. 1 ...

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 Monumental Sports Network, formerly NBC Sports Washington, is an American regional sports network owned by Ted Leonsis through Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the channel broadcasts regional coverage of sport ...

for eleven seasons, working as an analyst with

Mel Proctor Mel Proctor (born 1946) is an American television sportscaster, actor, and author. Biography A Denver, Colorado native, Proctor has called play-by-play for the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals, Sa ...

. 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, and later a radio and television personality with a varied career. He played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the ...

and

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

) on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

'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 t ...

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) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

References

External links

* * {{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 20th-century American sportsmen