Mike Lowell

Lore & Background

Lowell was born in Puerto Rico on February 24, 1974. His parents were born in Cuba, and are of Irish and Spanish ancestry. His family relocated to Miami, Florida, when he was four. He attended elementary school at Epiphany Catholic School in South Miami, Florida. As a high school sophomore at Christopher Columbus High School, he transferred to Coral Gables Senior High School for his junior year. He graduated from Coral Gables Senior High School in 1992 with a 4.0 GPA. He received an athletic scholarship to Florida International University, where he played college baseball for the FIU Panthers. He graduated in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in finance. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 20th round of the 1995 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut with the Yankees in 1998. He was traded to the Florida Marlins on February 1, 1999, for Mark Johnson and Ed Yarnall. While waiting for spring training, he discovered he had testicular cancer and underwent surgery on February 21, returning to the lineup on May 29. He was traded to the Boston Red Sox on November 21, 2005, in a deal that also sent Josh Beckett and Guillermo Mota to Boston for Hanley Ramírez, Aníbal Sánchez, Jesús Delgado, and Harvey García. He retired after the 2010 season.

In Their Own Story

The lights at the old Ballpark in the Park hummed their low orange buzz. It was a Tuesday night in September, the kind of humid Miami evening where the air sits on your chest like a wet towel. Lowell was in the on-deck circle, bat dragging, and the whole infield could hear the scrape. He didn't look up. He never did. He just spat, adjusted his batting gloves, and started his routine—three soft turns, a shake of the wrists, a long exhale through his nose. The shortstop called for the pitch. Lowell stepped in, squared up, and the first swing was a miss. The second was a foul. The third—crack, a deep drive into the left-field seats, the ball bouncing over the top of the wall and landing in a fan's lap. Lowell didn't run. He peeled the bat off his shoulder, looked toward the third-base dugout, and let out that low, guttural roar that made the whole bench jump. He trotted the bases slow, deliberate, like he was showing the umpire he had all the time in the world. By the time he reached first, the crowd was already screaming his name. He pointed at them. He always pointed at them. That was the deal.

Reader's Guide

Lowell played third base for the Marlins from 1999 to 2005. He won the Gold Glove Award in 2005 as a third baseman. He was a four-time All-Star (2002–2004, 2007). He won the World Series with the Marlins in 2003 and with the Red Sox in 2007, earning World Series MVP in 2007. He holds the Red Sox franchise single-season record for most RBIs by a third baseman (120 in 2007). His career batting average was not consistently .300-caliber; his career high was .324 in 2007, but he hit .253 in 1999 and .236 in 2005.

Did You Know?

• Lowell was diagnosed with testicular cancer in February 1999 and returned to the Marlins lineup on May 29 of that year.
• He was the second Puerto Rican player to be named World Series MVP, following Roberto Clemente.
• Lowell and Josh Beckett became the first duo to each win a World Series MVP with one team in the AL and the other in the NL.
• Lowell's uniform number 15 was retired by Florida International University.