John Charles Rowe (December 8, 1856 – April 25, 1911) was an American professional baseball player, manager and team owner from 1877 to 1898. He played 12 years in Major League Baseball, as a shortstop (657 games), catcher (298 games), and outfielder (103 games), for four major league clubs. His longest stretches were in the National League with the Buffalo Bisons (1879–1885) and Detroit Wolverines (1886–1888). He was also a player-manager and part owner of the Buffalo Bisons of the Players' League in 1890, and the manager of the Buffalo Bisons (Eastern League) from 1896 to 1898.

Rowe appeared in 1,044 major league games, compiled a .286 batting average and .392 slugging percentage, and totaled 764 runs scored, 1,256 hits, 202 doubles, 88 triples, 28 home runs, and 644 RBIs. His older brother, Dave Rowe, also played and managed in the major leagues between 1877 and 1888.

Professional baseball

Minor leagues

At age 19, Rowe began his career in organized baseball in 1876 with a club in Jacksonville, Illinois. In 1877, he played for the Milwaukee club in the League Alliance. He also played in 1877 and/or 1878 under Tom Loftus with the Peoria Reds.

Buffalo Bisons

After the Northwestern League folded in early July 1878, Rowe signed with the Buffalo Bisons of the National League. During the 1884 season, the "Big Four" led Buffalo to a third place finish and a 64–47 (.577) record – the highest winning percentage in the club's history. Rowe registered a career high 4.6 WAR rating in 1884 and ranked among the league leaders with 14 triples (3rd), a .450 slugging percentage (9th) and a .352 on-base percentage (10th). He also led the National League's catchers in 1884 with a .943 fielding percentage. The Bisons left the National League after the 1885 season.

The 1887 season was the pinnacle in the history of the Detroit Wolverines. The team won the National League pennant with a 79-45 record and then defeated the St. Louis Browns in the 1887 World Series. Rowe was the starting shortstop for the 1887 team, appearing in 124 games at the position, and continuing to rank among the best players in the National League. Rowe hit for a .318 average, and his 4.1 WAR rating ranked as the 10th highest among the league's position players. He further ranked among the league leaders with 135 runs scored (2nd), 30 doubles (7th) and 239 total bases (9th). He also had another solid year defensively, finishing with the fifth highest Defensive WAR rating (1.1) in the league, ranking second among the league's shortstops with a .907 fielding percentage, and ranking third with 378 assists at shortstop. Rowe continued to play well with a 2.6 WAR rating in 105 games as the Wolverines' shortstop. However, he committed a career high 72 errors, the second highest total in the National League by any player at any position. With high salaries owed to the team's star players, and gate receipts declining markedly, the team folded in October 1888 with the players being sold to other teams. On October 16, 1888, the Wolverines sold Rowe and Pete Conway to the Pittsburgh Alleghenys. In July 1888, Rowe and White agreed to play for Pittsburgh. He appeared in 75 games as the Alleghenys' shortstop, but his batting average dropped to .259. The Players' League collapsed after the 1890 season, but Rowe and White sold the Buffalo club and grounds to "some Buffalo capitalists" for $2,500 in stock and $8,000 in cash. In 1891, The Sporting Life wrote that, having sold for a profit before the league's collapse, "Rowe and White are pretty slick, you bet."

Return to minors

Although Rowe did not return to the major leagues, he continued to play minor league baseball through the 1893 season. He played in 1891 for the Lincoln Rustlers of the Western Association. Rowe was reunited with his brother, Dave Rowe, who was manager of the Lincoln club.

Rowe concluded his playing career back in Buffalo, playing for the Buffalo Bisons of the Eastern League. In his last season of organized baseball, Rowe, at age 36, continued to hit well. In 110 games for the 1893 Bisons, Rowe compiled a .349 batting average and .456 slugging percentage with 113 runs scored, 22 doubles, nine triples, three home runs and 18 stolen bases. Rowe managed the Bisons from 1896 to 1898. In 1897, Rowe had an all red-headed outfield at Buffalo that inspired Zane Grey's 1922 story, "The Red-Headed Outfield". In January 1899, The Sporting Life described him as "one of the most contented men in Buffalo these days", attending to his cigar business, and "ever ready to talk base ball."

Rowe became ill in 1910 and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, to live with his daughter, Helen. He was buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.

See also

  • List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle

References

, or Retrosheet