“We wanted to make sure he knew we remembered him before he passed,” said YS9 GM Ron Collins at a community luncheon today. He was talking about news that the Nine would use their last home game of the season—a September 25th tilt against Madison—to honor Glenn Bowerman, who will turn 93 years old next spring.
Bowerman, a pitcher with the franchise in the wild catting days of 1973 and 1974, before they came to Yellow Springs, went only 7-9, recording one save in 37 games, 21 of them starts. While that doesn’t sound like an auspicious line, the team is honoring him for what he did with that bat—or, perhaps better said, what he did while holding the bat.
“The record books are clear,” Collins said in prepared remarks. “In 1974 Glenn Bowerman was hit by 81 pitches, good for an On Base Percentage of .675—clearly one of the greatest offensive seasons by a pitcher in the history of the franchise, if not the game. When we dug up that record we reached out to find Glenn, and when we discovered he was still alive we knew we had to do something special.”
DAY TO BE FILLED WITH EVENTS
That “something special” will be to hold a Glenn Bowerman day that will see him inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame as a “Player of Note,” which means he’ll not be formally in the hall as a player, but will be given a small display case that 8-year-olds can leave their smudgy hand prints on while they make their way to where the real guys are discussed. In addition, the team will have a festival of sorts, complete with corn dog stands and carnival rides. Collins and several of the team’s front office staff will sit in a dunk tank for charity in which the “target” will be a lifelike replica of Bowerman crouched in a batting stance that will have his shoulder halfway over the plate “just like real life,” the artist creating the target said.
Bowerman himself will be flown from his native Texas to attend the game, and his great grand daughter will throw out the first pitch, which will be “caught” by one of the Nine batters standing in the box.
