Former Major League Baseball catcher Rich Rowland has died at the age of 62, as announced by his son Robby. In an Instagram post, Robby expressed his feelings, stating, "Pops, my hero man. My best friend & my role model.. Thank you. Words simply cannot express.. and if they could I wouldn’t know which ones to use..I just feel so dang blessed to have had the best frickin dad a kid could ask for! I love you, pops."
Rowland played a total of 98 games over six seasons in the MLB, representing the Detroit Tigers from 1990 to 1993 and the Boston Red Sox from 1994 to 1995. Throughout his career, he had 240 at-bats, achieving a batting average of .213 and an on-base plus slugging (OPS) of .646.
His most notable season occurred in 1994 while with the Red Sox, where he participated in a career-high 46 games and hit all nine of his career home runs while serving as a backup to starting catcher Damon Berryhill.
Rowland was selected in the 17th round of the 1988 MLB Draft by the Tigers after playing at Mendocino College in Northern California. He was the second player ever drafted from that junior college and the only one to reach the majors. After spending six years in the Tigers’ minor league system, Rowland was traded to the Red Sox for catcher John Flaherty. He became a free agent in 1995, later signing with the Toronto Blue Jays, where he recorded a batting line of .226/.344/.406 for Triple-A Syracuse before being released. He subsequently signed with the San Francisco Giants in 1996, playing 19 games with Triple-A Phoenix, but did not return to the majors. His final MLB appearance was on June 19, 1995, with the Red Sox against the Cleveland Indians.
Following his baseball career, Rowland worked in the timber industry and engaged in woodworking with redwood, according to his biography from the Society for American Baseball Research. His son Robby Rowland had a professional baseball career of eight seasons in the minors and five seasons in the independent Frontier League. Rich's elder son, Richie, also played one professional season in 2010 alongside Robby for the Missoula Osprey.