But Bowie had something else to remember his major league career — severe back pain. “The pitching had really taken its toll on my lumbar,” he said. “Once I got done with baseball, and the pain became unbearable and unmanageable, we had a spinal cord stimulator put in in August 2016 to help with the pain and to try to get me ready for some fusions that were necessary because of baseball. Not long after we had some complications from the surgery the battery bounced around, created some damage. I ended up with both lungs being damaged and my diaphragm being ruptured. I’ve had multiple surgeries to try to correct that damage.”
He can't sue for malpractice because Texas caps awards and he says the cost of bringing a case would be more than the award. He is 20 days short of qualifying for an MLB pension, but filed an appeal because he claims his back injuries from baseball kept him from attaining the minimum service time. His appeal was denied by the MLB pension program, and he claims he was told by a member of the appeal board that they blew off his appeal without reading it because their attorney said they could. To be fair, that is how he is characterizing it. The amount of money is $5K a month, which he says would keep him out of bankruptcy.
