1935-1937

Stewart Bowers was born on February 26, 1915, in New Freedom, Pennsylvania. He went through the New Freedom public schools, and then on to Gettysburg College for two years. On Opening Day for the Gettysburg College Bullets he was pitted against the US Naval Academy’s nine in Annapolis in April 1935. He struck out 15 midshipmen and hit a home run to boot.

In July 1935, Red Sox manager Joe Cronin announced that the team had signed Stew. He was only 20 years old and still at Gettysburg as a sophomore when he signed with the Red Sox. He’d played two seasons of semipro ball in the York-Adams League in Pennsylvania and was the league’s leading pitcher.

He joined the Sox and debuted in August 1935, at Fenway Park against the visiting New York Yankees. He appeared in 10 games in 1935, and his record was 2-1.

He turned 21 as he headed south to train with the Red Sox at Sarasota, Florida, in the spring of 1936. He stuck with the team right through the City Series in Boston against the National League Boston Bees in April. He spent most of the season optioned to the Syracuse Chiefs (International League) and didn’t get in a lot of work, though, due to a sore arm. He rejoined the Red Sox in mid-July, but saw no service before being sent back at the beginning of August.

Once again Bowers trained with Boston in 1937 and traveled north with the ball club, pitching in the City Series. Other than in an exhibition game against Hazelton, the only game action he saw with the Red Sox was at the end of May before he was optioned to Minneapolis. He had a major-league career 4.60 ERA to go with his 2-1 record. 

In 1937 Minneapolis shipped him to Rocky Mount.  He had an infection and wasn’t able to pitch and they didn’t know how long it was going to be, so he was released. He came back and signed up with Baltimore, in the International League. He later played that year for Williamsport and then Class-D Thomasville in Georgia, but his arm was not too good.

He next went down to Thomasville, Georgia in Class D and wasn’t throwing too well. In 1940 he was with Thomasville and Selma. His last year in Organized Baseball was 1941, during which he pitched for Selma, Jacksonville, and Quebec.

In March 1944 he enlisted in the US Army at Fort Meade, Maryland and was in the service for two years. Then he came home and went to work as a salesman for a local company. He was in sales for quite a few years and later became a golf pro at the Radnor Valley Country Club at Villanova, Pennsylvania.

Stew Bowers died in Havertown, Pennsylvania on December 14, 2005, at age 90.