Dixie Howell (catcher)
Dixie Howell | ||
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Runs batted in | 93 | |
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Homer Elliot "Dixie" Howell (April 24, 1920 – October 5, 1990) was an American professional baseball catcher. He appeared in eight seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1947 and 1956 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers.[1]
Robinson's teammate in Montreal
Howell was born in
"I was with Jackie on Montreal", Howell told Roger Kahn in 1953. "The way he was thrown at that year was unbelievable. Unbelievable and disgraceful."[3]
"You never saw anything like it", Howell said in a Los Angeles Times interview published eight months before his 1990 death. "Every time he came up, he'd go down!"[4]
According to Robinson biographer Arnold Rampersad, Howell was one of two Southern-born Montreal players (with Marv Rackley) who personally wished Robinson well on his promotion to the parent Dodgers in April 1947,[5] breaking the baseball color line.
Major league career
Howell also made his major league debut in 1947, but not for the Dodgers. On May 3, he was traded to the Pirates in a multi-player transaction headlined by former Brooklyn
Selected by Cincinnati in the 1948 Rule 5 draft, Howell spent the next four seasons (1949–52) in the big leagues with the Reds, serving as their most-used catcher in both 1950 and 1951. But in 1952, the Reds traded for veteran receiver Andy Seminick and Howell appeared in only 17 games. In October, the Dodgers reacquired him for pitcher Clyde King. He played mostly at Triple-A in 1953 and 1954 (when he returned to the Montreal Royals), but spent the entire 1955 season on Brooklyn's National League roster. Playing behind Roy Campanella and Rube Walker, Howell got into only 16 games (13 in the field and nine as a starting catcher). But he batted .262, and participated in another memorable season that saw Brooklyn win its only world championship, a seven-game triumph over the New York Yankees in the 1955 World Series. Howell did not appear in the World Series.
Howell was sent back to the Royals for most of the
He is one of three Dixie Howells to have played professional baseball, and his big-league career coincided with that of pitcher Millard "Dixie" Howell, also a native Kentuckian. Both Dixie Howells were teammates on the 1949 Cincinnati Reds.
References
- ^ a b "Dixie Howell Statistics and History". "baseball-reference.com. Accessed June 1, 2017.
- ^ "Those Who Served," Baseball in Wartime.com
- ISBN 978-1-62336-297-3. Page 211
- ^ Balos, Dick (February 12, 1990). "Jackie Robinson: Simply a great athlete". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ISBN 0-345-42655-X. Page 167
- ^ Retrosheet box score, 1947-5-6
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Baseball Reference (Minors)