Former Red Sox catcher Rich Rowland dead at 62

Former MLB catcher Rich Rowland has died, his son Robby announced.He was 62.No cause of death was revealed.“Pops, my hero man.

My best friend & my role model..Thank you,” Robby wrote in an Instagram post.

“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 98 games over six seasons with the Tigers (1990-93) and Red Sox (1994-95).

In 240 career at-bats, he hit .213 with a .646 OPS.Primarily a backup, Rowland’s best season came in 1994 with Boston, when he played a career-high 46 games and hit all nine of his career home runs playing behind starting catcher Damon Berryhill.Rowland was a 17th-round draft pick by the Tigers out of Mendocino College in Northern California in 1988.He was the second player ever chosen out of the junior college and the only one to appear in the majors.After six years in the Tigers’ system, Rowland was traded to Boston for catcher John Flaherty.

He hit free agency in 1995 and signed with the Blue Jays, slashing .226/.344/.406 for Triple-A Syracuse before he was released and signed with the Giants in 1996, playing 19 games with Triple-A Phoenix.He never cracked the majors with either club.His final MLB game came with Boston on June 19, 1995, against Cleveland.According to his Society for American Baseball Research biography, Rowland spent his baseball retirement working in the timber industry and woodworking with redwood.Robby Rowland had a professional career of his own, pitching eight seasons in the minors and five seasons in the independent Frontier League.

Rich’s elder son, Richie, played one professional season, in 2010, alongside Robby for the Missoula Osprey....