April 9, 2022
“People leave Rochester. But Rochester doesn’t leave them.”
You may remember Nate Rowan as a frequent guest of the Rochester Press Box. He was the media relations director with the Red Wings. PR guys are generally horrible guests. They’re cautious to the point of being afraid to offend someone. That doesn’t work here, just ask these guys. But Rowan was generally forthcoming, which made him surprisingly good.
Nate came to Rochester from Farmington, Minnesota, seven years ago after a career as a baseball gypsy and a professional intern. You have to love the work. The position with the Wings was, at age 28, his first full time job. And Rochester became a second home. He dug right in. Rowan was a fixture at Section Five baseball and football games. RIT hockey. Challenger baseball in Webster. He learned how to pronounce Honeoye Falls-Lima. “I like being involved and counted on,” he says. Things he came to count on. The Genesee Brew House, Letchworth State Park and Easter dinners at Dave Welker’s. Because he only made it back to Minnesota for Christmas.
If this were as good as it got, Rowan was ok with that. He liked it here. He wasn’t looking for another job. It came to him. And it’s a good one. Senior director of baseball operations for the Baltimore Orioles. Nothing small town about that. It’s almost like being in the major leagues. There isn’t anything particularly unusual about Nate’s story. But it’s a nice reminder from someone who came from the outside, that we have it pretty good here sometimes. “People leave Rochester,” he says. “But Rochester doesn’t leave them.”
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