What years did Larry Bowa play?

Larry Bowa played in Major League Baseball from 1970 to 1985.

Was Larry Bowa a pitcher?

No. Larry Bowa was a position player (Shortstop).

How many home runs did Larry Bowa hit?

Larry Bowa hit 15 career home runs with 2191 hits.

What was Larry Bowa's career batting average?

Larry Bowa batted .260 over his career, with 2,191 hits in 8,418 at bats.

How many RBI did Larry Bowa have?

Larry Bowa drove in 525 runs in his career.

Is Larry Bowa in the Hall of Fame?

No. Larry Bowa has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Larry Bowa

Shortstop · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1970-1985)

Larry Bowa was a shortstop who played in Major League Baseball from 1970 to 1985 for the Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago Cubs, and the New York Mets, a span of 16 seasons. In 2,247 career games, he hit .260 with 2,191 hits, 15 home runs, and 525 RBI. Larry Bowa was a 5-time All-Star and a 2-time Gold Glove.

AVG (Batting Average):: Hits divided by at bats. .300 is the traditional mark of an excellent hitter.
HR (Home Runs):: Hits on which the batter circled the bases and scored, almost always by clearing the outfield fence.
RBI (Runs Batted In):: Runs that scored as a direct result of a batter's plate appearance.
OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging):: On-base percentage plus slugging percentage, the quickest single summary of offensive value. .900 or better is star-level.

Data updated October 12, 2026

AVG .260

HR 15

RBI 525

H 2,191

OPS .620

PIV -15,738

Position: Shortstop
Bats / Throws: B / R
Height / Weight: 5'10" / 155 lb
Born: 12/6/1945 in Sacramento, CA, USA
MLB Debut: 1970-04-07
Last Game: 1985-10-06
Awards: 5× All-Star · 2× Gold Glove

Full name: Lawrence Robert Bowa

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Career Batting Statistics

Larry Bowa — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
2,247	8,418	987	2,191	262	99	15	525	318	474	569	.260	.300	.320	.620	-15,738

Career AVG .260 vs. league average .258 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OBP .300 vs. league average .324 across their career seasons — 7.4% below league average.

Career SLG .320 vs. league average .380 across their career seasons — 15.8% below league average.

Career OPS .620 vs. league average .704 across their career seasons — 11.9% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Larry Bowa Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1970	PHI	NL	145	547	50	137	17	6	0	34	24	21	48	.250	.253 (-1%)	.325 (-15%)	.385 (-21%)	.711 (-18%)	-1673.5
1971	PHI	NL	159	650	74	162	18	5	0	25	28	36	61	.249	.249 (avg)	.316 (-7%)	.365 (-20%)	.682 (-14%)	-1378.1
1972	PHI	NL	152	579	67	145	11	13	1	31	17	32	51	.250	.243 (+3%)	.310 (-6%)	.353 (-10%)	.664 (-8%)	-786.6
1973	PHI	NL	122	446	42	94	11	3	0	23	10	24	31	.211	.256 (-18%)	.325 (-22%)	.378 (-34%)	.703 (-29%)	-2017.8
1974	PHI	NL	162	669	97	184	19	10	1	36	39	23	52	.275	.256 (+7%)	.324 (-8%)	.369 (-8%)	.693 (-8%)	-999.4
1975	PHI	NL	136	583	79	178	18	9	2	38	24	24	32	.305	.257 (+19%)	.327 (+2%)	.374 (+1%)	.701 (+1%)	37.6
1976	PHI	NL	156	624	71	155	15	9	0	49	30	32	31	.248	.255 (-3%)	.320 (-12%)	.360 (-17%)	.681 (-14%)	-1437.4
1977	PHI	NL	154	624	93	175	19	3	4	41	32	32	32	.280	.264 (+6%)	.329 (-5%)	.401 (-15%)	.730 (-11%)	-1083.3
1978	PHI	NL	156	654	78	192	31	5	3	43	27	24	40	.294	.257 (+14%)	.323 (-1%)	.378 (-2%)	.702 (-2%)	-289.1
1979	PHI	NL	147	539	74	130	17	11	0	31	20	61	32	.241	.265 (-9%)	.329 (-4%)	.397 (-21%)	.727 (-13%)	-1120.9
1980	PHI	NL	147	540	57	144	16	4	2	39	21	24	28	.267	.264 (+1%)	.326 (-8%)	.387 (-17%)	.714 (-13%)	-1104.4
1981	PHI	NL	103	360	34	102	14	3	0	31	16	26	17	.283	.255 (+11%)	.320 (+3%)	.368 (-8%)	.688 (-3%)	-130.4
1982	CHN	NL	142	499	50	123	15	7	0	29	8	39	38	.246	.261 (-6%)	.324 (-7%)	.388 (-22%)	.712 (-15%)	-1133.7
1983	CHN	NL	147	499	73	133	20	5	2	43	7	35	30	.267	.260 (+2%)	.324 (-4%)	.389 (-13%)	.714 (-9%)	-711.5
1984	CHN	NL	133	391	33	87	14	2	0	17	10	28	24	.223	.259 (-14%)	.322 (-15%)	.384 (-30%)	.707 (-23%)	-1404.1
1985	CHN	NL	72	195	13	48	6	4	0	13	5	11	20	.246	.257 (-4%)	.323 (-12%)	.390 (-19%)	.714 (-16%)	-505.1
1985	NYN	NL	14	19	2	2	1	0	0	2	0	2	2	.105	—	—	—	—	-505.1
Career · 17 seasons			2,247	8,418	987	2,191	262	99	15	525	318	474	569	.260	—	—	—	—	-16,243

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Larry Bowa — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
32	118	11	30	4	0	0	6	9	5	.254

Playoff Batting by Year

Larry Bowa — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1984	NLCS	CHN	5	15	1	3	1	1	1	0	.200
1981	NEDIV	PHI	5	17	0	3	1	1	0	0	.176
1980	NLCS	PHI	5	19	2	6	0	0	3	3	.316
1980	WS	PHI	6	24	3	9	1	2	0	0	.375
1978	NLCS	PHI	4	18	2	6	0	0	1	2	.333
1977	NLCS	PHI	4	17	2	2	0	1	1	0	.118
1976	NLCS	PHI	3	8	1	1	1	1	3	0	.125

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (2247 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Larry Bowa — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	1127	4168	535	1127	8	283	.270
Away	1120	4250	452	1064	7	242	.250

Last 10 Games — Batting

Larry Bowa — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO
1985-10-06	NYN	WSN	L	3	1	1	0	0	0	1
1985-10-03	NYN	STL	L	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1985-09-28	NYN	PIT	W	3	0	0	0	0	0	1
1985-09-24	NYN	PHI	W	3	0	0	0	0	1	0
1985-09-20	NYN	PIT	L	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1985-09-13	NYN	WSN	W	3	0	1	1	2	1	0
1985-09-07	NYN	LAD	L	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1985-09-01	NYN	SFG	W	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1985-08-31	NYN	SFG	L	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
1985-08-30	NYN	SFG	W	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Larry Bowa — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
2B	5	3	9	7	0	2
SS	2222	2181	3314	6857	211	1265

Season-by-Season Fielding

Larry Bowa — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1970	PHI	2B	1	0	0	0	0	0
1970	PHI	SS	143	141	202	418	13	69
1971	PHI	SS	157	156	272	560	11	97
1972	PHI	SS	150	147	212	494	9	88
1973	PHI	SS	122	118	191	361	12	87
1974	PHI	SS	162	161	256	462	12	104
1975	PHI	SS	135	135	227	403	25	82
1976	PHI	SS	156	155	180	492	17	90
1977	PHI	SS	154	154	222	518	13	94
1978	PHI	SS	156	155	224	502	10	87
1979	PHI	SS	146	147	229	448	6	80
1980	PHI	SS	147	147	225	449	17	70
1981	PHI	SS	102	100	117	309	11	50
1982	CHN	SS	140	138	210	396	17	64
1983	CHN	SS	145	141	230	464	11	102
1984	CHN	SS	132	123	217	378	16	64
1985	CHN	SS	66	60	91	197	9	34
1985	NYN	2B	4	3	9	7	0	2
1985	NYN	SS	9	3	9	6	2	3

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Larry Bowa Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Second Base	5
Shortstop	2222

Awards & Honors

Larry Bowa — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1982	Player of the Week	Week of 1982-06-25
1978	Gold Glove	SS
1978	TSN All-Star	SS
1975	Player of the Week	Week of 1975-05-16
1975	TSN All-Star	SS
1972	Gold Glove	SS

Salary History

Larry Bowa — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1985	NYN	NL	$525,000
Total Career Earnings			$525,000

College History

Larry Bowa — College History
School Name	City	State	Years Attended
Sacramento City College	Sacramento	CA	1964, 1965

Award Voting History

Larry Bowa — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1978	Most Valuable Player	NL	3rd	189.0	336	3
1977	Most Valuable Player	NL	25th	1.0	336	0
1976	Most Valuable Player	NL	29th	1.0	336	0
1975	Most Valuable Player	NL	22th	3.0	336	0
1970	Rookie of the Year	NL	3rd	3.0	24	3

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Larry Bowa (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Larry Bowa: the record in brief

Larry Bowa's major league career runs from a debut on April 7, 1970 to a final game on October 6, 1985. The team column moves through the Philadelphia Phillies (1970 through 1981), the Chicago Cubs (1982 through 1985), and the New York Mets (1985). Born on December 6, 1945, in Sacramento, CA, USA, Bowa is listed as a shortstop and switch-hit and threw right-handed. Bowa's listed size is 155 pounds on a 5-foot-10 frame. The bio lists the given name Lawrence Robert.

The batting record for Bowa: 2,247 games, 2,191 hits in 8,418 at bats, and a .260 average; the totals also include 15 homers, 525 RBI, and 318 stolen bases. Bowa got on base at a .300 rate and slugged .320 (.620 OPS). Bowa hit .260 while the league hit .258 over the same span, a figure close to average. 1978 produced Bowa's most hits, 192 of them for the Philadelphia Phillies. Bowa drove in a season-high 49 runs in 1976. On the bases, the high point was 39 steals in 1974.

Frequently Asked Questions about Larry Bowa

What years did Larry Bowa play?: Larry Bowa played in Major League Baseball from 1970 to 1985.
Was Larry Bowa a pitcher?: No. Larry Bowa was a position player (Shortstop).
How many home runs did Larry Bowa hit?: Larry Bowa hit 15 career home runs with 2191 hits.
What was Larry Bowa's career batting average?: Larry Bowa batted .260 over his career, with 2,191 hits in 8,418 at bats.
How many RBI did Larry Bowa have?: Larry Bowa drove in 525 runs in his career.
Is Larry Bowa in the Hall of Fame?: No. Larry Bowa has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.