The Rifle Arm of Phillies' Right Fielder Bob Bowman

To honor his birthday, here is a remembrance of Bob Bowman.

In doing some baseball research the other day, I was perusing some journalists' lists of the best outfield throwing arms in history. Anyone who makes these lists knows that they are opening themselves up to second guessers like me who will argue who should be 36th on the list or some other silly point, but the lists seemed reasonable to me for the most part. Every list had Roberto Clemente at #1 and having had the good fortune of seeing Clemente unleash howitzers from the right field corner in Connie Mack Stadium to catch a runner foolish enough to try to go first to third on him, I have no argument with that.

Quite a few Phillies make the lists as well. While Phillies fans often got on him for his defensive lapses in going after balls over his head, Bobby Abreu makes most lists. He piled up 59 assists from 1998-2002 alone. Many Phillies fans will also remember the fine throwing arm of Johnny Callison. Callison, who held down right field for the Phillies through most of the 1960s, was a terrific all-around defensive outfielder. For four seasons from 1962-1965, Callison led the league in assists and totaled 175 for his career. Glenn Wilson, who played right field for the Phillies in the mid-eighties also makes most of these lists. Wilson led the league in assists in both 1985 and '86. Even the obscure Glen Gorbous, who played briefly for the Phillies and Cincinnati Reds in the mid-50s is on these lists primarily for a stunt he was involved in the minor leagues. In 1957, while playing for the Omaha Redbirds, Gorbous threw a ball from home plate over the center field wall, 410 feet away. On another occasion, with a running start, he made a throw that was measured at 445’, 10”.

The player with the best outfield throwing arm I ever saw play for the Phillies, however, is not on any of the lists I read. That arm belonged to Bob Bowman. Bowman played right field for the Phillies from 1955 to 1959 as one of the many players the Phillies tried at that position after Del Ennis was moved to left field and before they traded for Callison. Ironically, despite his great throwing arm, if Bowman is remembered at all today by Phillies fans, it is because he set a record for pinch hitting in 1958 with an average of .406. Bowman never hit enough as a starter to nail down a regular spot in the outfield, but when he did play, his powerful arm was on full display.

After playing a few games for the Phillies in 1955 and 1956, Bowman made the team as the starting right fielder in 1957. He introduced his arm to the National League on Opening Day at Connie Mack Stadium against the Dodgers. With the game tied at 6 in the top of the ninth, Bowman gunned down Don Zimmer trying to go first to third on a Jim Gilliam single to right. Two weeks later, he threw out the Cubs' Lee Walls trying to score on a fly ball. On June 6, the Cincinnati Reds Roy McMillan learned his lesson when he tried to score from second on a Smoky Burgess single to right and Bowman gunned him down with a laser to catcher Stan Lopata. "Whew, what a throw," proclaimed Phillies manager Mayo Smith. Smith later was effusive in his praise of Bowman. "He's won five games for us with his arm and it is getting so that enemy third base coaches are throwing up their hands when they see him getting ready to throw."

As spectacular as some of these assists were, what has burned Bowman in my memory is a throw that did not result in an assist or even show up in a box score. As I remember it, the throw happened in a day game I attended in 1957 or 58. Stan Musial was on third base. A Cardinal hitter launched a high fly ball to right field and Bowman backed up close to the stadium's 32-foot-high wall. Bowman caught the ball and Musial, tagging up, broke for home. Bowman unleashed a line drive heave that seemed to trail sparks on its way to the plate. Musial got halfway home, slammed on the brakes, and retreated to third as the ball landed on the fly in the catcher's mitt. If it had been a pitch, the umpire would have called it a strike. I would estimate the throw traveled 325 feet on a line. The crowd stood and cheered. I sat mouth agape.

A knee injury suffered while playing winter ball ended Bowman's career early. Bob, who had begun his career as a pitcher, even tried his hand at pitching in the major leagues, appearing in five games and pitching 6 innings for the Phillies in 1959, but a second career was not in the cards. After playing two additional years in the minor leagues, he retired from baseball in 1961. But the memory of that one day and one perfect and improbable throw lingers in my mind. Bob Bowman has a spot on my list of the best outfield arms ever.

Sources

Rick Weiner, "MLB: The Forty Best Outfield Arms in Baseball History," Bleacher Report, accessed on August 17, 2021.

Greg Erion, "Bob Bowman," SABR BioProject. accessed on August 17, 2021.