Players As Ordinary People
 

Nothing to do with umpiring, but last night, I watched some of a replay of Game 2 of the 1983 World Series (Phillies-Orioles). Don't remember the channel (either an ESPN channel or a local cable station).

The thing that impressed me most was that the players looked like regular folks. No bulges, no uniform buttons ready to burst, no Popeye forearms. Everybody had a neck. They looked like people that you'd maybe see on a bus.

I mean, really! Can you imagine a juiced John Lowenstein?

If I don't know who he is, then I certainly cannot imagine him 'juiced'. :p

Overall in MLB, he had 881 Hits, 510 Runs, 137 Doubles, 18 Triples, 116 Home Runs, 441 RBI and 128 Stolen Bases at (.253/.337/.403) in 1,368 Games.Overall in the minors, he had 221 Hits, 125 Runs, 35 Doubles, 10 Triples, 34 Home Runs and 131 RBI. Including 1983, he played in 17 postseason Games with 10 Hits, 6 Runs, 3 Doubles, 2 Homeruns and 9 RBI at (.263/.333/.500).

Lowenstein was a color commentator for Baltimore Orioles television broadcasts for a decade (1986-1995). His principal hobbies were golf, traveling and hunting. He celebrated his 59th birthday in 2006 at his current residence in Las Vegas NV

Now you know a little about him....can you imagine him juiced?

Yeah...prune juiced!

LMan, he had one of the better Chris Berman nicknames: John "Tonight Let It Be" Lowenstein.

He was also quite a character. I remember several stories about him.

He was once interviewed by a Jewish magazine on what it was like to be a Jewish professional ball player. He gave a very nice interview - the only problem was he wasn't Jewish. They never bothered to ask him if he was so he figured why bore them with minor details.

He once went into a Thom McAnn shoe store and pretended to be a district manager. He talked to the store manager and gave him several pointers and suggestions about changing the store displays. He visited the store a couple of weeks later and the store manager thanked him for the suggestions saying that sales had increased 20%.

If I recall correctly, he hit a grand slam against the Yankees that won a woman in the Baltimore area a million dollars in one of those contests banks used to sponsor. She never heard of John Lowenstein until he hit that homerun...

"I flush the john between innings to keep my wrists strong (fitness tip for designated hitters)." - John Lowenstein

"Sure, I screwed up that sacrifice bunt. But look at it this way: I'm a better bunter than a billion Chinese. Those suckers can't bunt at all." - John Lowenstein

"The secret to keeping winning streaks going is to maximize the victories while at the same time minimizing the defeats" - John Lowenstein

"If you act like you know what you're doing, you can do anything you want -- except neurosurgery." - John Lowenstein

"Nuclear war would render all baseball statistics meaningless" - John Lowenstein

"Baseball is reality at its harshest . . . You have to introduce a fictional world to survive." - John Lowenstein