yogi berra elston howard

Elston Howard Stats & Facts

 

 

Elston Howard

Positions: Catcher, Leftfielder and First Baseman
Bats: Right  •  Throws: Right
6-2, 196lb (188cm, 88kg)
Born: February 23, 1929 in St. Louis, MO
Died: December 14, 1980 (Aged 51-295d) in New York, NY
Buried: George Washington Memorial Park, Paramus, NJ
High School: Vashon HS (St. Louis, MO)
Debut: 1948 (10,389th in major league history)
AL/NL Debut: April 14, 1955
Last Game: September 29, 1968
Full Name: Elston Gene Howard
View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen
View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject

 

Nine Players Who Debuted in 1948

Roy Campanella
Richie Ashburn
Robin Roberts
Mike Garcia
Carl Erskine
Hank Bauer
Ray Boone
Don Mueller
Satchel Paige

 

All-Time Teammate Team

Coming Soon

 

Notable Events and Chronology for Elston Howard Career

Best Catchers of All Time

Best Catchers of All Time

Biography

The Yankees’ first black player, Howard was forced to play the outfield through much of his first five seasons because Yogi Berra was behind the plate. By 1960, Howard was the starting catcher and Berra was more often in the field. Howard was an exceptional defensive catcher; his .993 career fielding average is one of the highest ever, and he pioneered the use of a hinged catcher’s mitt that led to the modern one-handed catching techniques. He was also highly regarded as a handler of pitchers. He was named to the AL All-Star team nine consecutive years.

Howard was a strong hitter, three times topping .300, with a high of .348 in 1961. He hit from an exaggerated spread stance when he came up, which he modified later in his career. He was AL MVP in 1963, as much for his leadership as for his .287 BA, 28 homers and 85 RBI. He led the Yankees to their fourth straight pennant in a year when Maris and Mantle were often out with injuries.

After playing in nine WS with the Yankees, he was traded to Boston in August of 1967 and helped Boston to that season’s pennant. In 1969 he returned to the Yankees, where he served as a coach for eleven years. Howard and Pee Wee Reese share the record for playing on the most WS losers.

@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiTGVhcm4gTW9yZSBhYm91dCB0aGUgdGVhbXMsIHBsYXllcnMsIGJhbGwgcGFya3MgYW5kIGV2ZW50cyB0aGF0IGhhcHBlbmVkIG9uIHRoaXMgZGF0ZSBpbiBoaXN0b3J5IC0gLSAtIC0gLSAtIC0gIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJsaW5rX3RvX3Rlcm1fcGFnZSI6Im9uIiwic2VwYXJhdG9yIjoiIHwgIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnlfdHlwZSI6InBvc3RfdGFnIn19@

Biography

Intro
The first black man to play for the New York Yankees, Elston Howard was also the first black man to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, which he did in 1963. The versatile Howard was an outstanding catcher/outfielder for the Yankees from the mid-1950s through the 1960s. He played on ten pennant-winning teams in a 13-year stretch, earning four World Championship rings.

Unform Number
#32 (1955-1967), #18 (1967-1968)

Best Season
Though he won the MVP in 1963 (one of the strangest MVP votes ever), we’ll give his ’61 campaign the nod here. He played almost the same amount of games as he did in ’63, and batted 35 points higher (.348) with a slugging percentage (.549) almost 100 points better. In ’61 he joined Mantle, Maris and the other slugging Yankees in setting the single-season record for homers. Howard hit 21 home runs, drove in 77 (batting low in the order), and fielded .993 behind the plate.

Factoid 1
On July 23, 1955, Elston Howard followed teammate Bob Cerv’s pinch-hit homer with a pinch-hit homer of his own. It was the first time in baseball history that back-to-back pinch homers were hit.

Transition
Before 1950 Season: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent; August 3, 1967: Traded by the New York Yankees to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later and Pete Magrini. The Boston Red Sox sent Ron Klimkowski (August 8, 1967) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade; October 29, 1968: Released by the Boston Red Sox.

 

Other Resources & Links

Other Resources & Links

Coming Soon 

If you would like to add a link or add information for player pages, please contact us here.