Rex Bowen

Jack Rex Bowen

• Bats Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 175 lb.

• School Temple University

• Born October 2, 1911 in Shiloh, NJ USA
• Died December 30, 2004 in New Smyrna Beach, FL USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Rex Bowen was a major league scout for decades. His brother Joe Bowen and grandson Jackie Bowen also were scouts.

Rex Bowen debuted in 1935 with the Albany Travelers, hitting .287 with 27 doubles as a starting infielder. He split 1936 between Albany (.245, .380 SLG in 62 G) and the Asheville Tourists (.228, .335 SLG in 39 G). In 1937, he hit .345 in 25 games for the Fostoria Red Birds to end his playing career. He managed Fostoria for part of 1937 and the Thomasville Dodgers for part of 1945.

The rest of his career was spent as a scout. He was with the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1943-1950, the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1950-1967 (the last 12 as scouting director) and the Cincinnati Reds from 1967-1975 (as special assistant to the GM). He later was a Reds consultant from 1975-1990. He signed Bill Mazeroski, Maury Wills, Dick Groat, Eddie Miksis, Ray Moore, Bob Milliken, Roger Craig, Bruce Dal Canton, Gene Freese and George Freese among others. In 2000, Baseball America named him one of the top 10 scouts of the 20th Century.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Playoffs	Notes
1937	Fostoria Red Birds	Ohio State League		6th	--	replaced Red Jenkins on Jul 26, replaced by Red Jenkins on Aug 23
1945	Thomasville Dodgers	North Carolina State League		7th		replaced Red Kaiser

Sources

• 1989 Orlando Sentinel article
• 1971 Sarasota Herald-Tribune article
• Historicbaseball.com
• Obituary by Dejan Kovacevic