Larry Gowell

Lawrence Clyde "Larry" Gowell (born May 2 1948 in Lewiston, Maine) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees in by|1972. Gowell was drafted by the Yankees in the 4th round of the 1967 amateur draft, on June 6, by|1967. After winning every game at Edward Little High School in Auburn, Maine,citeweb|url=http://www.footopedics.com/yankees.html|publisher=www.footopedics.com|title=Baseball biography of Larry Gowell and part of the Yankees history|accessdate=2008-08-08] he was signed by the Yankees to a professional contract. He pitched in the minor leagues for six years before making his major league debut, after winning 11 games in a row in double-A. Gowell was listed at 6' 2" in height, and 182 in weight.

Major league career

The New York Yankees called up Larry Gowell from their minor league organization to play as a September call-up. Gowell made his major league debut on September 21, by|1972 against the Milwaukee Brewers.citeweb|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL197209210.shtml|title=The New York Yankees against the Milwaukee Brewers on September 21, 1972|publisher=2008-08-08] The game was held at County Stadium, with 4,185 people attending the game. Gowell was called to replace Rusty Torres pitching and batting ninth in the bottom of the sixth inning. He pitched two innings with one strikeout. Felipe Alou was then called to pinch hit for Gowell in the top of the eighth inning. The Yankees lost the game 6-4. On October 4, Gowell hit a double on a 3 balls-2 strike count, hitting a fastball by pitcher Jim Lonborg for his first and only major league hit and the last hit by a pitcher in a regular season American League game before the start of the designated hitter rule.citeweb|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/firsts/first5.shtml|title=Expansion Era famous firsts|publisher=www.baseball-almanac.com|accessdate=2008-08-08] The baseball that Gowell hit was accepted as a historical baseball by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, in Cooperstown, New York, where it now resides.

References

External links

*baseball-reference|id=g/gowella01
* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=gowella01 Baseball Almanac]