Arthur Fowler died this week at the age of 84. If you?re a younger fan, chances are Fowler?s name doesn?t mean a whole lot to you, if anything.
Fowler was a right-handed pitcher out of South Carolina who put in nine years in the major leagues. He was a 31-year-old rookie with the Reds in 1954, going 12-10.
His older brother ? and I do mean older ? had been a big league pitcher, too. Jesse Fowler had pitched for the 1924 Cardinals when Art was an infant. When he wrapped it up at 41 as an Angels reliever in 1964, he had compiled a relatively undistinguished big league record (54-51, 4.03 ERA). He turned to coaching after that, and in 1969 found himself on the staff of Billy Martin?s Minnesota Twins.
It was a marriage ? with Martin, anyway ? that would last for the rest of Fowler?s coaching career.
Wherever Billy went, Art would follow. They were joined at the hip, seemingly, or at least at adjoining barstools ? from the Twins to the Tigers to the Rangers to the Yankees to the A?s to the Yankees to unemployment to the Yankees. I think they kept a cubicle in the Yankee stadium clubhouse with Art?s name on it, just to be safe.
Art finally retired from the field in 1988. Martin was killed in a car wreck on Christmas 1989, and presumably has been saving Art a stool ever since, wherever he ended up.
Former Orioles pitcher Mike Griffin told me a story that says a lot about Fowler?s impact on Martin. It was Sept. 17, 1979, game one of a doubleheader at Cleveland. Griffin was making his big league debut, just called up from Columbus. He?s waved into the game in the seventh inning in relief of Jim Kaat to face the always dangerous Andre Thornton, the Tribe?s slugging first baseman.
“Billy handed me the ball and said, ?OK, just pound this guy with sliders inside ? nothin? but sliders, that?s all I wanna see,?” Griff told me. “Brad Gulden was the catcher, and he went over the signs and went back behind the plate. I was so nervous, I wasn?t able to tell either one of them that I didn?t actually throw a slider.”
Thornton steps in the box, Gulden calls for a slider and Griffin throws his curveball. Strike one. Gulden again calls for the slider. Here comes the curve ? swinging strike two. The same sequence is repeated a couple of other times resulting in balls, but finally Thornton looks at another curve for strike three.
Griffin sat next to Fowler when he returned to the bench and told him, “Coach, the skip is under the impression I throw a slider, but I don?t. I just have a couple of different curveballs.” Fowler looked at him and said, “Kid, you know that, and I know that. He doesn?t need to know that.”
Just head for the swinging doors, Art. Billy shouldn?t be too hard to find.
Phil Wood has covered baseball in the Washington/Baltimore market for more than 30 years. You can reach him at [email protected].
