John Lowenstein

Positions: Leftfielder, Third Baseman and Second Baseman
Bats: Left • Throws: Right
6-0, 175lb (183cm, 79kg)
Born: January 27, 1947 in Wolf Point, MT us
Draft: Drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 18th round of the 1968 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of California, Riverside (Riverside, CA).
High School: Norte Vista HS (Riverside, CA)
School: University of California, Riverside (Riverside, CA)
Debut: September 2, 1970 (13,055th in major league history)
vs. WSA 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Last Game: May 4, 1985
vs. MIN 3 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Full Name: John Lee Lowenstein
View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen
View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject

Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1970

Dave Concepcion
Jose Cruz
Don Baylor
Larry Bowa
Ken Singleton
Bobby Grich
Cesar Cedeno
Bert Blyleven
Charlie Hough

All-Time Teammate Team

Coming Soon

Notable Events and Chronology

May 17, 1971

Tom McCraw of the Washington Senators hits one of the shortest home runs in history

October 13, 1979

Baltimore Orioles score six runs in the 8th inning en route to a 9 – 6 win, taking a 3-1 Series advantage over the Pittsburgh Pirates

Biography

After spending eight of his first nine ML seasons as a utility man with the Indians (1970-77) and the Rangers (1978), Lowenstein was picked up on waivers by Baltimore. The lefty was platooned against righthanded pitchers and became a favorite of manager Earl Weaver for his intelligence and attitude. Lowenstein reached his peak in 1982 when, platooning in left field, he hit .320 with 24 HR, 66 RBI, 69 runs, and 54 walks (all career highs) in just 322 at-bats (122 games). His .602 slugging average and 7.5 HR percentage would have led the majors if he had had enough at-bats to qualify. And he led all outfielders in fielding, going the entire season (111 games) without an error.

Even when not posting such spectacular numbers, Lowenstein was consistently valuable for the Orioles. In 1979, he missed much of the stretch run with a badly sprained ankle, but in Game One of the LCS he pinch hit. In the bottom of the tenth inning with the score tied 3-3 with two out and two on, he hit an opposite field homer off the Angels’ John Montague. Lowenstein followed this in the World Series with a pinch two-run double in the eighth inning of Game Four as the Orioles rallied for six runs after being down 6-3. In 1983 he hit a WS homer in Game Two to tie the game in an eventual 4-1 victory as Baltimore won the first of four straight to become World Champions.

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Factoids, Quotes, Milestones and Odd Facts

Played For
Cleveland Indians (1970-1977)
Texas Rangers (1978)
Baltimore Orioles (1979-1985)

Post-Season Appearances
1979 American League Championship Series
1979 World Series
1983 American League Championship Series
1983 World Series

Scouting Report
“He murders fastballs from the middle of the plate on in, but can slow up his stride enough to time a curve and line it to right-center… is rated an excellent clutch hitter… seems to enjoy contact with fences, and like Lou Piniella,e he does not look pretty chasing fly balls.” — from the 1984 Scouting Report

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