Elston Howard

[GeoPoto]

(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).

[commishbob]

This is nice to see and I'm looking forward to more posts. I'm an Elston Howard collector as well. He was the first ballplayer I was able to meet in person. He had opened Elston Howard Travel in my hometown of Nutley, New Jersey. When it opened my best friend and I would walk by daily hoping for a glimpse of a major leaguer. One day a woman waved us into the offices and told us to come by that weekend. Sure enough, Elston was there and he signed pictures for us. The signature has faded quite a bit but I still treasure the photo.

btw...I hope you are okay with me posting in this thread. I'll remove this if you want.





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[GeoPoto]

Bob: Thanks very much for the images and the story. I am not only OK with you posting in this thread, but I am trying to encourage it. The more images and remembrances of Elston we can get posted the better. I look forward to your contributions as we work our way through his career.

[Chris Counts]

Under different circumstances where Yogi Berra wasn't his teammate, he might have had an even more impressive career from a statistical standpoint. He was stuck in the minors so long fans picketed Yankee Stadium, and never played 100 games as a catcher until he turned 32. While the Hall of Fame's stubborn gatekeepers might cringe, he wouldn't be the worst catcher in Cooperstown.

Of all his cards, I like the 1958 Topps the best.

[GeoPoto]

(Chris: Thanks for the post and the nice 58T of Elston!)

In the summer of 1945, Howard, then 16, was playing baseball in a sandlot when Frank Tetnus “Teannie” Edwards approached him. “The biggest kid on the field was hitting the ball so hard and far that it made Teannie mad,” wrote Arlene Howard in her book Elston and Me. “When he got to the field he found out that the big kid was, in fact, one of the youngest on the lot.” Edwards, a former Negro Leagues player himself, helped run the St. Louis Braves and he wanted Elston. Convincing Emmaline was the hardest part. Edwards had to promise that young Elston would eat properly. On Easter Sunday 1946 (April 21), Howard debuted in the Tandy League, catching in a game against Kinloch. He had two hits and threw out two runners trying to steal second in a 5-4 loss.

[ronniehatesjazz]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

Under different circumstances where Yogi Berra wasn't his teammate, he might have had an even more impressive career from a statistical standpoint. He was stuck in the minors so long fans picketed Yankee Stadium, and never played 100 games as a catcher until he turned 32. While the Hall of Fame's stubborn gatekeepers might cringe, he wouldn't be the worst catcher in Cooperstown.

Of all his cards, I like the 1958 Topps the best.

One of the more underrated players of his era... shocking that if you asked the casual fan if they knew who Elston Howard is they would have no idea, despite the 12 AS appearances (really 9 though) and an MVP.

Also, I have surprisingly never seen that 58 Howard and it is one of my new favorites. Has to be the best looking card in the set and probably one of the better looking one of the 50s as a whole.

[jingram058]

I for one love these threads. Outstanding!

[brian1961]

George, many thanks for treating us again to a significant player's life story. It's been a joy, though sometimes very sad and frustrating, to read of the problems the player and his family encountered along the way. Elston seems to have risen above so much of the prejudice and poor judgment against him. Then again, what would I know of how much it actually bothered him? He died so very young. Being a WASP, most of what I "know" you could stick in your eye, and not even blink.

George, the contribution I can make is a minor story. When I was a tween, my dear Dad was a motion picture cameraman for NBC News. He was sent down to Ft. Lauderdale on assignment with a crew to cover the 1966 New York Yankees in spring training. They were squaring off against their old World Series opponent, the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the eyes of NBC, that made for a good story.

Now, recall this is the spring of '66. The Dodgers are defending World Series champs, whilst the Yankees are preparing for what would be their worst season of all, finishing dead last in the AL. Their dominance had been deteriorating for several years, and now a distant memory.

Knowing my intense interest in Major League Baseball, my very busy father did what he could do to bring home his son a nice memento. He got a program, and proceeded to get several Yankees and Dodgers to autograph it. Mickey Mantle could not be approached---I vaguely recall my dad saying there was a huge crowd around him. Understand, my Dad was not a pushy, aggressive browbeater. He was somewhat shy. Now, with his job, he was aggressive, but not here. Besides, doing his job, he would have had very little time to get autographs. Thus, any autographs he got were from friendly, willing players. These Yanks signed the program---Roger Maris, Tom Tresh, and Elston Howard. George, understanding the situation as I got older, my respect and appreciation for those 3 Yankees soared. I was already a Roger Maris fan, having become a card collector in 1961....

Now as for the Dodgers, my Dad got Manager Walt Alston and Jim LeFevere to sign. If you may recall, two players were holding out at this time---Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, so they were absent from the scene. Such is life. That's OK; I understand. I'm just glad Sandy and Don got the money they deserved.

You can rest assured I hung onto that cherished program. However, sadly, when I was laid off from my job in the bad recession of 2008-09, I consigned the perfect Roger Maris autograph, along with a few other items, to help pay bills and put food on the table. Such is life, also.

So, when I think of Elston Howard, I always think first of him graciously giving my Dad an autograph, in which he brought home to me. Never underestimate what a player's willingness to give an autograph will do to the mind of a child. --- Brian Powell

[GeoPoto]

(Albert and Brian: Thank you for the kind words. And, Brian, that's a great remembrance, combining your insight into your father's likely approach to capturing mementos for his son with the openness of the players involved. I don't doubt that Elston was among the more approachable players.)

The loss precipitated major changes. Yogi Berra was fired as manager, replaced by Johnny Keane, and CBS bought the team and did nothing to improve the aging roster. Howard injured his elbow during spring training, and it worsened over the next few weeks. By April 13 it was so swollen that he couldn’t bend his arm enough to eat breakfast. Bone chips were surgically removed from his elbow and the Yankees slipped in the standings. Howard didn’t catch again until June 13 and persisted catching 95 games after his return despite the sore arm. He ended with the lowest average of his career, .233, while the Yankees went nowhere. 1966 was not much better. The arm still hurt, the now 37-year-old Howard hit .256, and the Yankees were stuck in the cellar.

[GeoPoto]

Then came 1967. The Yankees offered a $10,000 pay cut. After a four-day holdout, Howard accepted only a $6,000 cut and a clause that if he performed well, he could earn the money back. But on June 26, Rick Monday fouled a ball off Elston’s finger and his hitting suffered. On August 3, Houk telephoned to tell him he had been traded to the Red Sox. Boston was in second place at the time and, unlike the Yankees, had a chance to reach the top. Tom Yawkey called Howard to assure him how much they wanted him. Howard briefly considered retiring, but the chance to play in his tenth World Series was enticing. “If I can help the Red Sox win the pennant this year it would be the greatest thrill of my career,” he told writer Jim Ogle.

[GeoPoto]

He joined the Sox on the road in Minnesota and was greeted by manager Dick Williams, two years his junior. Elston played the next day in a nationally televised contest against the Twins. Not an auspicious beginning: He struck out with the bases loaded in the 2-1 loss. Boston mustered only three hits against Dave Boswell. Elston caught the next day, too, when Boston’s best pitcher, Jim Lonborg, took the hill. But rain cut the game short, and Minnesota won it 2-0 in five innings, as Dean Chance did not allow a base runner and struck out four. They lost again after an off day, at Kansas City, the first time they had lost four games in a row since July 9.

(This thread will now enjoy a pause.)