As manager Robert Lincoln Lowe (July 10, 1865 – December 8, 1951), nicknamed "Link", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player, coach, and scout.

Lowe was the first player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game, a feat which he accomplished in May 1894.

Lowe was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in July 1865, two months after the end of the American Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Charley Powers, who played minor league baseball, was working as a compositor at the Courant and was selected as the captain of the printers.

[3] Powers and Lowe both signed to play with the Eau Claire, Wisconsin team in the Northwestern League during the summer of 1887.

Lowe was put into the lineup in a game against Milwaukee and drew cheers from the crowd for his defensive play at third base.

In his first at-bat, he hit a long home run off Varney Anderson that "sailed far over the center field fence.

[10] In 1891, Lowe tied a then major league record with six hits (four singles, a double, and a home run) in six at-bats.

[11] Having played mostly in the outfield in 1891 and 1892, he replaced Joe Quinn at second base in 1893 and was the Beaneaters' starting second baseman for eight straight years, from 1893 to 1900.

He accomplished the feat in front of a Decoration Day crowd of 8,500 spectators against Elton "Ice Box" Chamberlain of the Cincinnati Reds at Boston's Congress Street Grounds.

The crowd cheered Bobby every time he came up, and when he responded with a home run even the visitors had to join in the good-natured smile.

His work does not appeal to the bleachers and grandstand like the less natural and clumsy player who is often seen floundering around like a fish out of water, while the crowd enjoy the effort and go home to tell what great playing they saw.

[9] In August 1906, he sustained a broken nose and a fractured jaw after being struck by a foul tip from his own bat during a game in Philadelphia.

[18] After the injury, Lowe missed the remainder of the 1906 season and appeared in only 17 games (with 37 at-bats) in 1907, his final year in the major leagues.

His arm is just as good as ever and he is a much stronger ball player than many who held down regular jobs in the league this past season.

[21][22] In 1911, Fred Tenney wrote a series of articles for The New York Times selecting the greatest player in baseball history at each position.

[23] He wrote: "Lowe of Boston was one of those baseball phenomeons [sic] who could play any position on the team in first-class style.

"[23] In 1932, syndicated sportswriter Whitney Martin wrote a column arguing that Lowe ranked with Bobby Doerr, Joe Gordon, Nap Lajoie, and Eddie Collins as the greatest second basemen of all time.

"[14] At the conclusion of his playing career, The Detroit News wrote: "Lowe was one of the greatest and is today one of the most popular ball players ever in the game.

Of the 33 players who finished ahead of him in the voting, 24 have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and several players who finished behind Lowe in the voting (including Bobby Wallace, Jesse Burkett, Jake Beckley, Tommy McCarthy, Tim Keefe, and Candy Cummings) have also been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

[25] In addition to his having been the manager of the Tigers for the last half of the 1904 season, Lowe also coached baseball at the college and minor league level.

In April 1907, a newspaper reported: "Mr. Lowe is the idol of the students at the university and has received the highest possible praise from the college for the excellent manner in which he handles the team.

[30] After retiring as a player and coach, Lowe continued his affiliation with the game as a scout for the Detroit Tigers in the early 1910s.

[31] In February 1912, a syndicated newspaper story reported that Lowe had traveled 20,000 miles as a scout during the prior year, and noted that his itinerary "reads like a cross between a railroad guide and an atlas.