Elston Howard
(I'm back again with yet another attempt to showcase one of the significant players in the evolution of integrated major league baseball. Our star of this thread is:
Elston Howard. Catcher for the New York Yankees in 1955-1967. First black player to play for the New York Yankees. 1,471 hits and 167 home runs over 14 seasons. 12-time All-Star. 6-time World Series Champion. 1963 AL MVP. 2-time Gold Glove. New York Yankees #32 Retired. First black player to be AL MVP. Also played for the Kansas City Monarchs and the Boston Red Sox.
My plan is to make a daily post including an item from my collection with a portion of Elston's excellent SABR biography written by Cecilia Tan. I hope that you find Tan's treatment of Howard's long career interesting and would love to see any pieces involving him that may be part of your collection.
My Elston Howard collection, like his career, is spread out over many years. As a result, it will take us a while to complete the entire biography. As such, I apologize in advance to those readers who may chafe at the slow pace. At any rate, here we go.)
Elston Howard was born February 23, 1929, in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Emmaline Webb and Travis Howard. A schoolteacher in Sikeston, Missouri, Emmaline fled to St. Louis when Howard, her principal, refused to marry her. She worked to become a dietician, and when Elston was 5 years old, she married Wayman “Big Poppy” Hill. Elston attended the Toussaint L’Ouverture school as well as the Mt. Zion Baptist Church. The church’s pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah M. Baker, became Elston’s godfather, and the boy was raised to work hard and eat right (thanks to his mother’s dietician’s know-how).
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