Elston Howard
Elston Howard | |||||||||||||||||
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Manhattan, New York, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||||
Professional debut | |||||||||||||||||
NgL: 1948, for the Kansas City Monarchs | |||||||||||||||||
MLB: April 14, 1955, for the New York Yankees | |||||||||||||||||
Last MLB appearance | |||||||||||||||||
September 29, 1968, for the Boston Red Sox | |||||||||||||||||
MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||||
Batting average | .274 | ||||||||||||||||
Home runs | 167 | ||||||||||||||||
Runs batted in | 762 | ||||||||||||||||
Teams | |||||||||||||||||
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Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||
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Elston Gene Howard (February 23, 1929 – December 14, 1980) was an American professional baseball player who was a catcher and a left fielder. During a 14-year baseball career, he played in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball from 1948 through 1968, primarily for the New York Yankees. A 12-time All-Star, he also played for the Kansas City Monarchs and the Boston Red Sox. Howard served on the Yankees' coaching staff from 1969 to 1979.
In 1955, he was the first
Early life
Howard was born in
Early baseball career
In 1948, nineteen-year-old Howard turned down college football scholarship offers from Illinois, Michigan, and Michigan State and instead signed to play professional baseball for $500 a month with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League under manager Buck O'Neil.[2] He was an outfielder for three seasons and in 1950 roomed with Ernie Banks.[2]
The Yankees signed Howard on July 19, 1950, after purchasing his contract along with the contract of
In 1953, Howard played for the
He played with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Class AAA International League in 1954, where he led the league in triples, with 16, to go along with 22 home runs, 109 runs batted in and a .330 average, winning the league's MVP award.
The Yankees assigned Bill Dickey to work with Howard in order to develop his catching skills.[4]
Major league career
1950s
Howard made the Yankees' major league roster at the start of the 1955 season. On April 14, 1955 (the second game of the season), Howard made his major league debut when he entered the game in the sixth inning as a
In the
By 1959, Howard was often playing at first base in order to remain in the lineup. Despite not finding a regular position yet, he was first selected to the All-Star team in 1957, the first of nine consecutive years through 1965 in which he made the squad; he would appear in six of the games (1960–1964), including both 1961 contests.
1960s
In 1960, Howard took over the majority of Berra's catching duties, although his .245 batting average was his lowest to date. The Yankees met the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960 World Series, and Howard's two-run pinch-hit homer off Roy Face in the ninth inning of Game 1 brought the Yankees within two runs, though they lost 6–4. Howard hit .462 in the Series, but did not play in Game 7 after being hit on the hand by a pitch in the second inning of Game 6, and could only watch as the Pirates won the Series, 10–9, on Bill Mazeroski's home run leading off the bottom of the ninth. In 1961, he raised his average 103 points to a career-best .348 mark on a team that featured Roger Maris's record 61-home run season; Howard also enjoyed his first 20-homer campaign, along with 77 RBI, as the Yankees set a major league record with 240 HRs. He finished tenth in the MVP voting that year, won by Maris. Meeting the Cincinnati Reds in the 1961 Series, he and Bill Skowron had solo home runs in the 2-0 Game 1 victory, and he scored three runs in the final 13–5 win in Game 5. He followed up with a 1962 season in which he batted .279 with a career-best 91 RBI, again hitting over 20 homers, and collecting eight RBI in an August 19 game in Kansas City which the Yankees won, 21–7. Although Howard batted only .143 in the 1962 World Series against the San Francisco Giants, the Yankees won in seven games.
In his 1963 MVP season, he batted .287 with 28 home runs, 85 RBI and a .528 slugging average, also winning his first Gold Glove. The Yankees were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1963 Series, though Howard hit .333 and drove in the only Yankees run of Game 2. He batted .313 (just ten points behind batting champion Tony Oliva) with 84 RBI in 1964, again winning the Gold Glove and placing third in the MVP vote as Berra took over Ralph Houk's post as manager. His totals of 939 putouts and 1,008 total chances broke the AL records of 872 and 963 set by Earl Battey with the 1962 Minnesota Twins; Bill Freehan would top Howard's marks with the 1967 Detroit Tigers. Howard also led the AL in fielding average in 1964 with a .998 mark. Playing in his ninth World Series in ten years against the St. Louis Cardinals, he batted .292, though the Yankees were overcome in seven games; he tied a Series record with three passed balls, including two in the 9-5 Game 1 loss. In 1965, Howard injured his elbow during spring training. He played in four games through April, then had surgery, missing five more weeks.[6]
Traded to the Red Sox & Last World Series
Howard struggled in 1967. He backed up Jake Gibbs and batted only .198 through the start of August. On August 3, 1967, Howard was traded to the Boston Red Sox for Pete Magrini and a player to be named later, Ron Klimkowski.[7] Though he batted only .147 for Boston, he was effective in handling the pitchers; teammate Tony Conigliaro noted, "I don't think I ever saw a pitcher shake off one of his signs. They had too much respect for him." In 1967, Howard also took over Sherm Lollar's major-league record for career fielding average; Freehan moved ahead of him in 1973.
One of Howard's highlights during his time with the Red Sox occurred on August 27, 1967, when the
Howard had his last postseason highlight in the 1967 World Series against the Cardinals when his bases-loaded single in the ninth inning of Game 5 drove in two runs for a 3–0 lead. The hit was crucial, as former teammate Maris homered in the bottom of the inning for the Cardinals before the Red Sox closed out the 3–1 win. St. Louis, however, won the Series in seven games. It was the sixth losing World Series team Howard played on; he and Pee Wee Reese have the dubious distinction for playing on the most losing World Series teams.
On October 29, 1968, Howard was released by the Red Sox. Over his 14-year career, he batted .274 with 167 home runs, 1,471 hits, 762 RBI, 619 runs, 218
Later life and death
Howard returned to the Yankees the following year, where he served as first-base coach from 1969 to 1979. He was the first black coach in the American League. The team won the AL pennant in 1976 and the World Series in 1977 and 1978. During a game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in June 1977, Howard and Yogi Berra were peacemakers during a dugout incident between Yankees player Reggie Jackson and Yankees manager Billy Martin.
After Howard's coaching career ended, he became an administrative assistant with the Yankees; however, that position did not last long due to declining health. Howard was diagnosed with
Red Smith, a columnist for The New York Times, reacted by writing, "The Yankees' organization lost more class on the weekend than George Steinbrenner could buy in 10 years."[12]
Legacy
In Howard's memory, the Yankees wore black armbands on their sleeve during the 1981 season. On July 21, 1984, the Yankees retired Howard's uniform number 32 and dedicated a plaque in his honor for Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. On that day the Yankees also bestowed the same honors to Roger Maris who, unlike Howard, was still living. Howard's plaque describes him as "A man of great gentleness and dignity" and "one of the truly great Yankees."
Howard is credited with inventing the batting "doughnut", a circular lead weight with a rubber shell used by batters in the on-deck circle by placing it around a bat to make it feel heavier, so that it will feel lighter at the plate and easier to swing. Its widespread use caused the discontinuation of the practice of hitters swinging multiple bats at the same time while waiting to hit. Howard helped two New Jersey entrepreneurs, Frank Hamilton and Vince Salvucci, to market the bat weight and lent his name to the product.
In 2020, the baseball field on the former site of
Howard was portrayed by Bobby Hosea in the 2001 film 61*[13] and in the 2014 Broadway play Bronx Bombers.[14]
His great-nephew is NBA player Josh Hart, who has described him as a role model.[15]
See also
- List of first black Major League Baseball players
- List of Negro league baseball players who played in Major League Baseball
References
- ^ "Obituaries Ms Emaline Hill". The Sporting News. February 4, 1967. p. 11.
- ^ a b c Tan, Celia. "Elston Howard". Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Rosengren, John (April 13, 2015). "Elston Howard became the Yankees' Jackie Robinson 60 years ago". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
- ^ "Bill Dickey – SABR". sabr.org. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
- ^ Creamer, Robert W. (1984). Stengel: His Life and Times. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 282
- ^ "Lewiston Morning Tribune - Google News Archive Search". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Retrieved April 15, 2015 – via Google News Archive Search.
- ^ "Elston Howard Trades and Transactions". Baseball Almanac.
- ^ Richard, Mike. "August 27, 1967: Tartabull's throw keys cardiac win for Red Sox". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
- ^ Higgins, Bill. "My Take: Memories of Dick Williams". Cape Cod Times. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
- ^ "Tartabull throws out Berry". MLB.com. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
- ^ ISBN 0-8262-1358-8.
- ^ Smith, Red (December 15, 1980). "On Howard, A Class Guy". The New York Times.
- ^ "61* (TV Movie 2001) - IMDb". IMDb.
- ^ Kepler, Adam W. (October 21, 2013). "A Broadway Run for 'Bronx Bombers'". The New York Times. ArtsBeat – New York Times Blog. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- ^ "Knicks' Josh Hart credits his baseball days for rebounding skills". February 13, 2023. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
Further reading
- Elston and Me: The Story of the first Black Yankee (2001), by Arlene Howard with Ralph Wimbish, Missouri University Press.
- Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia (2000). Kingston, New York: Total/Sports Illustrated. ISBN 1-892129-34-5.
- Stengel: His Life and Times by Robert W. Creamer (1984). New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-22489-1
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet, or Seamheads
- Elston Howard at the SABR Baseball Biography Project
- Elston Howard at Find a Grave