Baseball’s Peanuts Lowrey Dead at 67

Harry (Peanuts) Lowrey, a former major league player and coach who spent 43 seasons in organized baseball, died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at Daniel Freeman Hospital in Inglewood. He was 67.

Lowrey, who lived in Inglewood, had been hospitalized for seven weeks and underwent open-heart surgery last month.

A native of Culver City, Lowrey played professionally for 23 years until his retirement in 1959. He played in the majors with the Chicago Cubs from 1942 to 1949, missing the 1944 season while in military service, and also played for the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies.

Primarily an outfielder who also played second base and third base, Lowrey’s best season came in 1945, when he batted .283 with 7 home runs for the Cubs. He had a career average of .273 in the majors.

Lowrey managed in the minor leagues at New Orleans in 1957, Austin, Tex., in 1958 and Idaho Falls, Ida., in 1960 before becoming a major league coach. He had coaching stints with the Phillies (1960-66), San Francisco Giants (1967-68), Montreal Expos (1969), Cubs (1970-71 and 1977-80) and the Angels (1977). He retired after suffering a heart attack in 1981.

Lowrey leaves his wife, Lee, who was at his bedside when he died; a brother, Edwin; two daughters, and four grandchildren.