As the Cardinals discovered, peanuts and baseball made a good mix.
On Sept. 7, 1950, the Cardinals acquired Peanuts Lowrey from the Reds for the waiver price of $10,000.
What the Cardinals shelled out was peanuts for what they got in return from the pint-sized handyman.
Lowrey was adept at reaching base, rarely struck out, played multiple positions, delivered in the clutch and excelled as a pinch-hitter.
Name game
Harry Lee Lowrey was born in 1917 in Culver City, Calif., near Los Angeles.
From the start, he went by the name of Peanuts. “It was given to me by my uncle when I was one day old,” Lowrey told The Sporting News.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, when the uncle got his first look at his nephew, he said, “Why, he’s so small, he looks like a peanut.”
As a youth, Lowrey lived across the street from the MGM and Hal Roach movie lots in Culver City, according to The Sporting News. Clark Gable used to have Lowrey keep an eye on his car while he was on the set, and Buster Keaton bought the boy ice cream cones. The “Our Gang” comedies were filmed on location at a farm owned by Lowrey’s grandfather, and the youngster got to hang out with the cast and fill in as an extra.
A top athlete at Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, Lowrey signed with the Cubs after he graduated in 1937 and was assigned to the minor leagues. Listed at 5 feet 8, Lowrey batted from the right side and played shortstop his first three seasons in the farm system, but after making 72 errors with the St. Joseph (Mo.) club in 1939 he was switched to third base and outfield.
Lowrey, 24, made his debut in the majors with the Cubs against the Cardinals at St. Louis on April 14, 1942, as a replacement in left field for Dom Dallessandro.
Tall order
After a stint with the Army in 1944, Lowrey hit .283 with 89 RBI as an outfielder for the Cubs in 1945, helping them win the National League pennant. In the World Series versus the Tigers, Lowrey hit .310 in seven games and scored four runs.
Cardinals center fielder Terry Moore rated Lowrey “a good outfielder” as well as “an excellent hit-and-run man” and “a guy who could hit well to all fields.”
“He was an excellent student of the game,” Moore said to the Post-Dispatch.
The Cincinnati Enquirer described Lowrey as “one of the best hustlers in the game” with “the knack of being able to do the right thing at the right time.”
Lowrey told The Sporting News, “A little guy has to be twice as good and twice as strong as a big guy to stay in the lineup. Take it from me, a little guy has to fight all the time for a job.”
In June 1949, the Cubs traded Lowrey to the Reds. He was the Opening Day left fielder for the Reds in 1950, but slumped in July and August. He was batting .227 for the season when the Reds shipped him to the Cardinals.
Valued versatility
Cardinals manager Eddie Dyer recommended the Cardinals acquire Lowrey, 33, to serve a utility role. “I’ve always regarded that little guy as an underrated player,” Dyer told The Sporting News. “He’s doubly valuable because he can play more than one position.”
Lowrey got into 17 games for the 1950 Cardinals, batted .268 and made starts at second base, third base and left field.
In 1951, Marty Marion was Cardinals manager and he planned to open the regular season with Tommy Glaviano as the center fielder, with Lowrey in a utility role. The plan changed when Glaviano crashed into a fence pursuing a drive during an exhibition game in April and injured his shoulder.
Lowrey was the Opening Day center fielder for the 1951 Cardinals, with Stan Musial in left and Enos Slaughter in right.
Making the most of the opportunity, Lowery hit .300 or better in every month except July. One of his best games was Aug. 7, 1951, when he was 5-for-5 against the Pirates. Boxscore
Though he primarily played center field for the 1951 Cardinals, Lowrey also made starts in left field and at second base and third base. For the season, he batted .303 and had an on-base percentage of .366. Lowrey struck out a mere 12 times in 419 plate appearances.
Produced in a pinch
In 1952, with Eddie Stanky becoming the Cardinals’ third manager in three years, Lowrey was used in a utility role, playing all three outfield positions as well as third base. He scored four runs in a game versus the Phillies on July 10, 1952. Boxscore
As a pinch-hitter for the 1952 Cardinals, Lowrey was spectacular. He produced hits in seven consecutive pinch-hit appearances and for the season batted .483 (14-for-29) as a pinch-hitter, according to retrosheet.org. His on-base percentage as a pinch-hitter was .500.
Lowrey continued to excel in 1953 for the Cardinals. As a pinch-hitter, he batted .344 (21-for-61) and had a .429 on-base percentage, according to retrosheet.org.
The magic ended in 1954. Lowrey hit .115 and was released in October. He finished his playing career with the 1955 Phillies. In 13 years in the majors, Lowrey had 1,177 hits. He struck out 226 times, a total some batters approach in one season today.
Big screen
Lowrey managed in the minors for three seasons and coached in the majors for 17 years. As a coach for the Phillies, Giants, Expos, Cubs and Angels, Lowrey had a reputation for being able to steal the signs given by opposing teams.
Staying true to his roots, Lowrey appeared in some Hollywood baseball movies. According to the Internet Movie Database, he had a credited role playing himself in the 1952 film about Grover Cleveland Alexander, “The Winning Team,” starring Ronald Reagan and Doris Day.
Lowrey also had uncredited non-speaking parts in “Pride of the Yankees,” “The Stratton Story,” and “The Jackie Robinson Story.”
His contribution to the 1951 Cardinals should not be overlooked. That year only Musial and Lowery hit over .300 among the starters. He became the first St. Louis Cardinal to lead the NL in pinch hits in consecutive years. The season he had 21 pinch hits he broke the previous Cardinal record of 20 held by Frenchy Bordagaray.
Peanuts and Frenchy. I miss those kinds of baseball names. Here is a prior piece on Frenchy Bordagaray: https://retrosimba.com/2014/02/12/how-matt-adams-links-with-frenchy-bordagaray/