He started in baseball at age nine, where he earned his nickname, "Pants", from base-running antics while wearing his father\'s overalls at games of the Dubuque (Iowa) Ninth Street Blues.\n', '

Rowland served as a reserve catcher in the minors. Never a great player, his love of the game drove him to find other occupations. Pants worked as a scout in the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League—the so-called "Three-I" League—for the Dubuque Miners. He worked his way into a managerial job, which proved to be his early calling.\n', '

He then became the manager of the Three-I League Peoria Distillers in 1914. After the 1914 season, on December 17, Charles Comiskey, possibly as much for his legendary cheapness as for Rowland\'s talent, surprised White Sox fans and Chicago journalists when he called on Pants to manage the White Sox.\n', '

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