Former Twin Cities sports reporter Bob Fowler, who went from reporting on the Twins to owning a successful minor-league Baseball team, died last week.
Fowler, who was 69 and lived in Clermont, Fla., died Thursday. He had suffered from ALS for 2 1/2 years. "He was a very fair beat writer," said Twins television color analyst and former pitcher Bert Blyleven. "He was very dedicated to his work."
Fowler, a Detroit native who graduated from Albion College, joined the Minneapolis Tribune in the mid-1960s after starting his journalism career in Royal Oak, Mich.
In the fall of 1967, he left the Tribune to work for the Minnesota Muskies of the American Basketball Association. In 1968, he went to work for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, covering the Twins. He returned to Minneapolis in the mid 1970s to work for the Minneapolis Star.
"He loved covering Baseball," said former Twins media relations director Tom Mee. "He liked the travel and he was good at dealing with the players."
In 1975, he co-authored a book with Twins shortstop Danny Thompson: "E-6: The Diary of a Major League Shortstop." Around 1980, he joined the Orlando Sentinel. In 1984, Fowler and several investors purchased the Utica (N.Y.) Blue Sox, a Class A minor league Baseball team, for $75,000. In February of 2002, Fowler sold the franchise to Cal Ripken Jr. for a reported $3 million.
Fowler is survived by his wife of 45 years, Patricia, sons Robert and Peter and two grandchildren.
The funeral is today in Clermont, Fla.
