| Elston Howard | |||||||||||||||||
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| Catcher /Left fielder | |||||||||||||||||
| Born:(1929-02-23)February 23, 1929 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||
| Died: December 14, 1980(1980-12-14) (aged 51) Manhattan, New York, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||||
| MLB debut | |||||||||||||||||
| 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 | 168 | ||||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 775 | ||||||||||||||||
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |||||||||||||||||
| 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 professionalbaseball player who was acatcher and aleft fielder. During a 14-year baseball career, he played in theNegro leagues andMajor League Baseball from 1948 through 1968, primarily for theNew York Yankees. A 12-timeAll-Star, he also played for theKansas City Monarchs and theBoston Red Sox. Howard served on the Yankees' coaching staff from 1969 to 1979.
In 1955, he was the firstAfrican American player on the Yankees roster, eight years afterJackie Robinson had broken MLB's color barrier in 1947. Howard was named theAmerican League'sMost Valuable Player for the 1963 pennant winners after finishing third in the league inslugging average and fifth inhome runs, becoming the first black player in AL history to win the honor. He wonGold Glove Awards in 1963 and 1964, in the latter season setting AL records forputouts andtotal chances in a season. His lifetimefielding percentage of .993 as a catcher was a major league record from 1967 to 1973, and he retired among the AL career leaders in putouts (7th, 6,447) and total chances (9th, 6,977).
Elston Gene Howard was born on February 23, 1929, inSt. Louis, Missouri, to Travis Howard and Emaline Hill, a nurse at a local hospital. When he was six years old, his parents divorced and his mother remarried.[1] Howard was a standout athlete atVashon High School.
In 1948, nineteen-year-old Howard turned downcollege football scholarship offers fromIllinois,Michigan, andMichigan State and instead signed to play professional baseball for $500 a month ($6,634.83 in 2025) with theKansas City Monarchs of theNegro American League under managerBuck O'Neil.[2] He was an outfielder for three seasons and in 1950 roomed withErnie Banks.[2]
The Yankees signed Howard on July 19, 1950, after purchasing his contract along with the contract ofFrank Barnes. They were assigned to the Muskegon Clippers, the Yankees'farm team in theCentral League. Howard missed the 1951 and 1952 seasons due to his military service in theU.S. Army.[2]
In 1953, Howard played for theKansas City Blues of theClass AAAAmerican Association. The next year, the Yankees invited Howard tospring training and converted him into acatcher, despite the presence ofYogi Berra as the Yankees' starting catcher.[3]
He played with theToronto Maple Leafs of the Class AAAInternational League in 1954, where he led the league intriples, with 16, to go along with 22 home runs, 109 runs batted in and a .330 average, winning the league'sMVP award.
The Yankees assignedBill Dickey to work with Howard in order to develop his catching skills.[4]
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 aleft fielder. Howard hit asingle in his only plate appearance of the day. He became the first black player to play for the Yankees.[3] Howard was known to be very slow afoot. When Howard first came to the Yankees, managerCasey Stengel referred to him as "Eightball".[5] Howard made his first start on April 28,[3] because it was difficult to find room for Howard in the lineup. Berra won his third MVP award in 1955, andMickey Mantle andHank Bauer were solid outfield regulars. Stengel used Howard as a backup catcher and occasional outfielder; he competed for playing time withNorm Siebern andEnos Slaughter. He hit .290 with 10home runs and 43runs batted in (RBIs) in 97 games played for the season.[3]
In the1955 World Series against theBrooklyn Dodgers, Howard hit a home run offDon Newcombe in his first at bat in the second inning of Game 1. The round tripper tied the game at 2-2 and the Yankees went on to win the game, 6–5. Howard's ground ball out toPee Wee Reese in Game 7 ended the Series; it was the first time in six meetings the Yankees had lost to Brooklyn. In the1956 World Series against Brooklyn he played only in Game 7, but his solo home run off Newcombe in the fourth inning was one of four Yankee HRs inJohnny Kucks' 9–0 victory. Against theMilwaukee Braves in the1957 World Series, his three-run homer offWarren Spahn with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 4 tied the score 4-4, though Milwaukee won 7–5 in the 10th inning on aEddie Mathews’ walk-off home run. As the Yankees again met the Braves in the1958 World Series, his impact did not become notable until Game 5, when he caughtRed Schoendienst's sinking fly ball in the sixth inning and made a throw to catchBill Bruton off first base for adouble play, preserving a 1–0 lead. In Game 6, he threwAndy Pafko out at the plate in the second inning, and singled and scored with two out in the tenth inning for a 4-2 Yankee lead; therun proved decisive, as the Braves came back to score once in the bottom of the frame. In Game 7, his two-out RBI single scored Berra for a 3–2 lead in the eighth inning, with New York going on to a 6–2 win, completing only the second comeback by a team from a 3–1 deficit in a Series. Howard was later given theBabe Ruth Award, presented by the New York chapter of theBaseball Writers' Association of America, as the top player in the Series, although theWorld Series MVP Award was won by teammateBob Turley.
By 1959, Howard was often playing atfirst base in order to remain in the lineup. Despite not finding a regular position yet, he was first selected to theAll-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.
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 thePittsburgh Pirates in the1960 World Series, and Howard's two-run pinch-hit homer offRoy 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 beinghit 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, onBill 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 featuredRoger 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 theCincinnati Reds in the1961 Series, he andBill 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 the1962 World Series against theSan 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 the1963 Series, though Howard hit .333 and drove in the only Yankees run of Game 2. He batted .313 (just ten points behind batting championTony Oliva) with 84 RBI in 1964, again winning the Gold Glove and placing third in the MVP vote as Berra took overRalph Houk's post as manager. His totals of 939 putouts and 1,008 total chances broke the AL records of 872 and 963 set byEarl Battey with the 1962Minnesota Twins;Bill Freehan would top Howard's marks with the 1967Detroit Tigers. Howard also led the AL in fielding average in 1964 with a .998 mark. Playing in his ninthWorld Series in ten years against theSt. Louis Cardinals, he batted .292, though the Yankees were overcome in seven games; he tied a Series record with threepassed 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]
Howard struggled in 1967. He backed upJake Gibbs and batted only .198 through the start of August.
On August 3, 1967, Howard was traded to theBoston Red Sox forPete Magrini and aplayer to be named later,Ron Klimkowski.[7] Though he batted only .147 for Boston, he was effective in handling the pitchers; teammateTony 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 overSherm 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 theChicago White Sox were battling the Red Sox for the pennant. WithKen Berry on third base with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Red Sox leading 4–3,Duane Josephson lined out toJose Tartabull in right field. Not known for having a strong arm, Tartabull's throw sailed high and was caught by a leaping Howard, who blocked the plate with his left foot as he came down, and swipe tagged Berry — ending the game. For Red Sox fans, the play was considered a key event during their"Impossible Dream" season.[8][9][10]
Howard had his last postseason highlight in the1967 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 andPee 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, 218doubles, 50 triples and ninestolen bases in 1,605 games. His .427 slugging average trailed those of only Dickey (.486), Berra (.482) andMickey Cochrane (.478) among AL catchers. Defensively, he recorded a .993fielding percentage as a catcher and an overall .992 fielding percentage. Howard also played at left and right field and first base. His 54 total World Series games placed him behind only teammates Berra and Mantle. Howard is also credited[according to whom?] with being the first to use the extended index and pinky finger (corna) to indicate that there were two out in the inning, this being more visible to teammates in the outfield than the usual "two" gesture of the index and middle fingers.
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 in1977 and1978. During a game against theBoston Red Sox atFenway Park in June 1977, Howard andYogi Berra were peacemakers during a dugout incident between Yankees playerReggie Jackson and Yankees managerBilly 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 withmyocarditis, a rare heart disease that causes rapid heart failure.[11] He was considering aheart transplant, but his condition quickly deteriorated.[11] After staying a week atColumbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, Howard died of the heart ailment at age 51 on December 14, 1980. He was interred atGeorge Washington Memorial Park inParamus, New Jersey.
Red Smith, a columnist forThe New York Times, reacted by writing, "The Yankees' organization lost more class on the weekend thanGeorge Steinbrenner could buy in 10 years."[12]
In Howard's memory, the Yankees wore black armbands on their sleeve during the 1981 season. On July 21, 1984, the Yankeesretired Howard's uniform number 32 and dedicated a plaque in his honor forMonument Park atYankee Stadium. On that day the Yankees also bestowed the same honors toRoger 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 ofYankee Stadium was renamed in Howard's honor. The field sits directly across the street from thenew Stadium.
Howard was portrayed byBobby Hosea in the 2001 film61*[13] and in the 2014Broadway playBronx Bombers.[14]
His great-nephew is NBA playerJosh Hart, who has described him as a role model.[15]
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