Rich Rowland

Richard Garnet Rowland — known to everyone as Rich — was born on February 25, 1964, in Cloverdale, California, a small city nestled in the redwood country about 90 miles north of San Francisco. The son of Garnet Richard Rowland, a millwright and foreman in the lumber industry, and Annette "Snookie" Rowland, an artist who ran her own arts and crafts store, Rich absorbed two gifts early in life that would define him: his father's iron work ethic and his mother's quiet instruction in how to manage frustration when things didn't go as planned. Both would serve him well. At Cloverdale High School, Rich emerged as one of the most gifted multi-sport athletes the North Central League had seen. He earned all-conference honors in football, basketball, and baseball across his junior and senior years, quarterbacking his team to over 1,500 passing yards and 10 touchdowns his senior season while also rushing for 713 yards and 13 touchdowns — a performance that earned him North Central League I Offensive Player of the Year. That same year, his basketball team captured the Northern California Division 3 state title. After a year at Ventura College, Rich chose the woods over the classroom, operating heavy equipment in the timber industry — the honest, physical work that ran in his family's blood. But baseball pulled him back. Playing Sunday games for the Cloverdale Merchants, he caught the attention of scouts after enrolling at Mendocino College. In 1988, the Detroit Tigers selected him in the 17th round of the MLB Draft. Rich went on to play six seasons in the major leagues, donning the gear for the Detroit Tigers from 1990 to 1993 and the Boston Red Sox in 1994 and 1995. Built at 6'1" and 210 pounds and described by teammates as "strong like an ox," he was a durable backup catcher who made the most of every opportunity. His finest season came in Boston in 1994, when he launched all nine of his career home runs across 46 games, driving in 20 runs. In Triple-A ball, he was even more formidable — slashing .251/.342/.457 across 552 games, earning International League All-Star honors in 1991 alongside the USA Today Tigers minor league player of the year award. When his playing days ended in 1997, Rich returned to Northern California and to the timber industry he had never really left in spirit. He and his wife, Carol Ann Crittendon — whom he married in September 1987 in Cloverdale — raised two sons, Garnet Richard III "Richie" and Robby, both of whom followed their father into professional baseball's minor leagues. Rich Rowland passed away on August 27, 2026, at age 62. He leaves behind a legacy of toughness, loyalty, and quiet dignity — a man who swung a bat in the big leagues and then came home and picked up where he left off, never once thinking himself too good for the work.