North Salem grad gone pro looks back after MLB retirement

SALEM Ore. (KPTV) - Hope springs eternal for fans of all 30 teams in Major League Baseball as Opening Day 2023 is set for first pitches around the country on Thursday.

Jed Lowrie was in the ball game for 14 seasons, suiting up in more than 1300 games with Oakland, Boston, Houston and the New York Mets.

The 2002 North Salem High School grad is five years removed from his all-star season with the A’s and just days away from celebrating a 39th birthday.

Jed is an Oregon guy who caught up with FOX 12 from his place in Bend where he’s spending Opening Day with his wife and two young kids on spring break.

“My body was to the point where i didn’t want to do it anymore,” Lowrie says

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Jed Lowrie the pro ball player is now Jed Lowrie the full-time father and husband.

“Nine and six -- they are getting to the point where they are having their own activities and they are starting to have these real interesting lives themselves and I want to be a part of it.”

The North Salem High School infield legend officially hung up the spikes last week.

“I had the full cycle of a career. I got 15 years in the big leagues, 14 seasons, I went through all of that with no regrets.”

No regrets but all memories.

“I knew that the odds were always stacked against me, but I put everything I had into it.”

The Stanford man was Pac-10 player of the year and a two-time All-American with the cardinal before the switch hitter was drafted in the first round by the Red Sox back in 2005.

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“Getting to play against the best players in the world and test yourself against the best in the world. There’s not many jobs that give you that opportunity and being able to do that for 14 seasons is pretty special. There are not many jobs in the world that afford you that opportunity.”

New season, no Jed and big-time big league rule changes.

“The most important thing is that action. I remember reading something that the average time between balls in play was over four minutes and there was stuff happening, there were pitches being thrown but you didn’t have a ball play and that is when baseball is really special when you have all of this coordinating happening. You have this ballet happening on the defensive side, the anticipation, so I am excited about the new rules.”

Jed’s post-playing career is like many around here, dreaming of MLB to PDX. It’s been 30 years since the last expansion, but the first move remains figuring out the long-term health of pro ball in Tampa and Oakland where Jed played seven combined seasons.

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