Jack McDowell, the baseball pitcher, knew how to throw a curveball. So when life threw him a curve in the form of an elbow injury, he already had a back-up plan. He’d be a rock star.
McDowell, ’88, led the Cardinal to the 1987 College World Series title in his junior year. A few months later, he was the first-round pick of the Chicago White Sox and stopped out of school to join the team. He won the 1993 Cy Young Award for best pitching in the American League and subsequently played for the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees and Anaheim Angels.
In 1997, McDowell injured his elbow and underwent arthroscopic surgery and rehabilitation. But he never completely recovered—and in 1999, he left the field, the fans and the baseball fever. For good.
Now McDowell is working on a new pitch, trying to sell himself as a musician. In fact, he was still playing baseball for the White Sox when he started his band, stickfigure—named after his lanky 6-foot-5 physique—in 1994. Last spring, the band released its third CD, Ape of the Kings, under an independent label. The songs fluctuate between rock and pop, following the tradition of R.E.M., the Pretenders and the Replacements.
McDowell, a communication major, fell in love with music at age 8, when he began guitar lessons. He didn’t join a band in high school or at Stanford but always aspired to songwriting. He began to see music as a career option in the winter of 1988, when he returned to Stanford to finish his degree.
He roomed with Lee Plemel, ’89, a bassist, and they took to jamming in their apartment’s garage. Their collaboration resulted in a band called V.I.E.W., which released two CDs, then broke up over creative differences. But McDowell found music infectious. “Once you catch the [music] bug, you want to bring it to others,” he says. “I think it’s any artist’s goal.”
Stickfigure, based in Los Angeles, has always toured at clubs across the nation; but in the past, bookings had to fit around baseball. Now, McDowell is full-time lead singer, songwriter, guitarist and publicist for the band. “It’s a lot harder than people might envision,” he says. “I book all our shows and make personal contact with the club owners. We get farther quicker this way.”
But not far enough, yet. Despite the CDs and some radio play at medium-sized stations, no major label has shown interest. McDowell still supports his family with his baseball earnings. “We’re struggling to make ends meet,” he says. The three other members have day jobs: guitarist Mike Hamilton and drummer Rob Brown are engineers, and bassist Mike Mesaros tours with the veteran rock band the Smithereens.
“It’s just hard as far as the traveling goes,” Mesaros says. “But we usually work out the schedule. Jack is a great lyricist, and I think I can make a contribution to his songs.”
In the notes of his latest CD, McDowell thanks his family—his wife, Meridith, and children, Lucas, 7, Emmett, 6, and Olivia Mae, 4—calling them his “smiles, sunshine and ground.” Occasionally, fatherhood and music intersect. “The song ‘Olivia Mae’ was written for my little girl,” McDowell says. “I came home the day she was born and sat down and wrote it in one sitting.”
McDowell says getting typecast as a baseball player can be an obstacle. “The comparisons are pretty natural, seeing how I became famous in [sports] rather than [music],” he says. “But music is definitely not a hobby. I’ve put out records for 10 years.”
That’s been long enough for McDowell to learn the difference between the music industry and the sports world. “In sports, if you have the talent, you’re set,” he says. “In music, it doesn’t have to do with any of that.” But he isn’t easily deterred. In September, stickfigure will tour clubs in California.
“I never dreamed of being a baseball player or a musician,” McDowell says. “I just did them. The art of performing is in my personality.” It’s an art McDowell is trying to perfect, even if he’s playing a whole new ball game.
