All-Time Indians: John Lowenstein

The three decades of desolation in Cleveland were perpetuated by poor drafting, but every once in awhile, even the worst in the game get lucky and in 1968, the Tribe got very lucky when they took John Lowenstein in the 18th round.

Coming out of California, Riverside, Lowenstein would be the Indians most successful signing out of that entire draft as most would never see the Majors. Already 21 when selected, Lowenstein would start with the A level Reno Silver Sox, but was in AAA by the start of 1970 and Cleveland by the end of the season. After a fairly successful September call-up (.256/.273/.442 in 43 at bats) he broke camp with the team in 1971 as a utility man, playing all three out field positions as well as second and short. In mid-May, he would take a trip back to AAA Witchita for the final time in his career before getting back to Cleveland by late June. He batted just .186, for the entire season but hit four home runs and showed some promise by playing strong defense, especially in left field and second base.

Other than Vada Pinson in right, the Indians hadn’t had any even passable outfielders since Chuck Hinton and Leon Wagner in 1967, so Lowenstein’s poor second season wasn’t a his final chance and either was another lackluster season in 1972 when he batted just .212/.304/.397 in 151 at bats. This was a time when it was beneficial for the Indians to stick with a struggling player in his early years as he broke out in 1973 at the age of 26.

That year, he played every position on the field except pitcher, catcher and short stop while raising his average to .292 and knocking in 40 in 98 games. While he wasn’t given a regular position, manager Ken Aspromonte managed to play Lowenstein much more than the average utility man until September, when he replaced Jack Brohamer as the Indians regular second baseman.

By 1974, the Indians had solidified their positional roster a little better with Charlie Spikes in right, George Hendrick in center, Buddy Bell at third and Brohamer returning at second. This allowed Lowenstein to remain primarily at one position for the first time in his career, playing 89 games in left field although he still had time to play all the same positions he had the year before for at least one game. Playing in 140 games, this would be the only season of Lowenstein’s career that he would play more than 130 despite the fact that he would continue playing for over a decade. It wouldn’t be his best year as he had greater production during his time in Baltimore to come, but it would be his closest to being a starter for a full year.

One change in his game besides his positional security was that Lowenstein starting taking bases. In his first four seasons, he had stolen just nine bases and been caught 12 times in 241 games. In 1974, he took 36, a number he wouldn’t match again for the rest of his career, and was caught 17 times. This aggressiveness on the bases was new, but would continue for the rest of his time in Cleveland. From 1975 through 1977, even if he wasn’t as successful, he kept trying and was safe in 27 of 53 attempts.

Beyond his base stealing, which likely cost his team more than it helped after 1974, Lowenstein also added a little bit of power to his game as he neared 30. After hitting 17 home runs in his first four partial seasons, he hit eight in his full year in 1974 and 12 in 91 games in 1975. While that greatly disappeared during his final years in Cleveland, it’s return in his mid-30’s would be what made him such a valuable player to Baltimore. In 1975, he was still generally a regular player, but now played more at DH than any position and stayed in left when he was in the field. He did play games at second, third and all three outfield spots, but these were much more rare and this was his final season with games at second. Once he left Cleveland, he became exclusively a left fielder/DH as his speed and reaction time decreased.

The 1976 season would be a step back for Lowenstein, batting just .205 in 93 games with no power and little speed and no longer providing the positive benefit of being a solid defensive utility man. Somehow, the Indians were able to deal him to Toronto after the season for Rico Carty, who the Indians had lost in the expansion draft. Carty had his best season for the Indians in 1976 and would be a great hitter in 1977 as well. The extra bonus for the Indians was that they were able to bring back Lowenstein before the 1977 season started by sending journeyman Hector Torres to the Blue Jays for his final MLB season.

This trade only bought the Indians one more year of Lowenstein anyway, but it was better than the previous season as he batted .242/.335/.376 in 81 games. He padded his numbers a bit to get to 65 doubles, 43 home runs and 183 RBI in his Indians career. On bases he made his one mark that still stands as his 55 times caught remain in the Indians top ten despite the fact that 18 modern players (since they started counting times caught stealing) have stolen more bases than Lowenstein’s 72.

The 31 year old super utility man turned DH was traded to Texas prior to the 1978 season along with Tom Buskey for David Clyde and Willie Horton and the trade was generally ineffectual for either team. After the Rangers released Lowenstein at the end of the season he would be selected by the Orioles and his career resurgence would begin. He would play from 1979 through 1985 with Baltimore, going to two World Series and winning one in 1983 while batting .385.

What really turned his career around was manager Earl Weaver, who believed in the platoon system and finally got Lowenstein out of situations against left handed pitching. Over his career, he batted .197/.255/.271 against South paws and .260/.346/.418 against right handed pitching and it was Weaver’s exclusive use against righties that lead to his best season ever in 1982 when he batted .320 with career bests in home runs (24), RBI (66) and runs scored (69). The Indians didn’t have the talent that the Orioles did in the 1980’s and that is probably why they tried to get more out of Lowenstein than he was capable of. Once he found his niche, however, he was an extremely productive player all the way through his age 37 season in 1984. He retired after playing 12 more games in 1985. After his career, he served as a broadcaster starting in 1986 through 1996.