According to an article in the Brown Alumni Magazine:
Nineteenth-century baseball authority Tim Murnane of the Boston Globe proclaimed Dowd the best center fielder he'd ever seen, especially for his skill at sprinting back on a ball over his head and then turning left or right for the catch. For years Dowd held the unofficial record time for circling the bases.
After his career, he coached at Amherst College and Williams College, and managed in several minor and independent leagues. In 1908 he was managing at Hartford, and signed Chick Evans to a contract.