Elston Howard

Elston Howard

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. | Full bio ⇓
Career Batting Stats
G AB H R HR RBI SB AVG SLG OBP OPS OPS+
1605 5363 1471 619 167 762 9 .274 .427 .322 .749 108.1




Where does Elston Howard rank among baseball greats?
Elston Howard ranks #12 among the Top 50 all-time at C. Rankings ⇒



Elston Howard Teammates
Yogi BerraGeorge ScottBilly MartinClete BoyerPhil RizzutoCarl YastrzemskiMickey MantleRoger MarisWhitey FordDon LarsenJim BoutonBob TurleyMel StottlemyreSparky LyleRyne DurenCasey Stengel

Best Season: 1961
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.


Factoids
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.

Full Bio
Born in St. Louis on February 23, 1930, Howard’s parents were educated and successful, spoiling their only child. He attended Vashan High School and starred in football, basketball, and baseball. Upon graduation he rejected 25 scholarship offers from various colleges. In 1948, at age nineteen, Howard played three seasons in the Negro leagues with the Kansas City Monarchs as an outfielder/catcher. According to Blackbaseball.com, he posted batting averages of .283, .270 and .319in those seasons.

In 1950 the Yankees signed him to a minor league contract. Playing in Muskegon, Michigan, in Class A ball he was assigned as a catcher. The Yankee organization was ripe with catching prospects and few held hope of braking into the majors as long as Yogi Berra was around. But Howard was optimistic, and despite warnings that he was simply a “token black”, he stuck with it.

After a stint in the Army during the Korean conflict, Howard returned to the Yanks for spring training in 1953. Soon Yankee legend Bill Dickey was tutoring him on the art of catching. But in the minor leagues to open the season he was in the outfield for the Yankee farm club in Kansas City. When a catcher was injured, Howard was pressed into duty behind the plate and performed well.

In the 1954 spring camp Dickey spent even more time with Howard, grooming him to support Berra at the major league level. Yankee officials liked Howard’s bat but were concerned that he may be unable to handle the pressures of catching. At the time there was a feeling among many that blacks lacked the intellect to call a game. This ignorance persisted in spite of Roy Campanella’s success with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Casey Stengel did not share this concern. He recognized Howard’s strong arm behind the plate. He felt Elston’s bat was not strong enough to make it as an outfielder. Regardless of Stengel’s praise, Howard was farmed to Toronto for the ’54 season. Playing both the outfield and catcher, Howard tore up the league, batting .330 with 22 homers and 109 RBI. His efforts earned him the MVP award for the International League. It appeared that 1955 would be the season for Elston Howard to make history with the Yankees.

After posting an MVP season in the International League in 1954, Howard expected to stick with the Yankees in 1955. However, the catcher position was held firmly by Yogi Berra, who was in his prime. Luckily for Howard he was versatile and could play first and the outfield as well. This was a welcome attribute that Casey Stengel gladly accepted.

The next three seasons (1955-1957), Howard filled in and played between 97 and 110 games. He was a solid contributor on three New York pennant winners. In 1958 he played more frequently and kept his average well above .300 during the season. In the World Series against the Braves Howard proved critical to team success.

In the fifth game, with the Yankees trailing 3 games to one, Howard made a spectacular play in left field, robbing the Braves of a hit and doubling a runner of first. He later added two hits in the Game Six victory and in the finale he drove in the series winning run. He was named the World Series MVP, the first black player to be so honored.

The next two seasons Howard continued to fill in for Casey Stengel’s Yankees. “You can say that Howard is our most valuable utility player,” said the skipper. In both 1959 and 1960 Howard played in less than 130 games, but he managed to get more than 300 at-bats each season. By 1961 he was poised to replace Berra, who was playing less and less behind the mask.

The next two seasons were pivotal for the now mature major leaguer. The 1961 Yankees are considered one of the greatest teams in baseball history. They won 109 games and hit a record number of home runs. Roger Maris eclipsed Babe Ruth’s single season hoe run record, Mickey Mantle challenged the record most of the season as well, and Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Moose Skowron, Bobby Richardson, and Elston Howard starred for the pennant winning ball club.

Howard had played just 2/3 of his teams’ games the last four seasons but had still been selected to the All-Star game each year. The depth of the Yankees was apparent, as Howard, Hector Lopez, and others played part-time despite their obvious talents. In 1961 Howard was inserted as the regular catcher by new manager Ralph Houk. It wasn’t that former manager Casey Stengel hadn’t trusted Howard enough to make him his starting receiver, it was that he preferred using Howard as a utility man. Houk preferred a set lineup and he moved aging star Berra to left field and Howard became his catcher. The first black player in team history, Howard took immediate advantage of the opportunity.

Playing in 129 games, Howard batted a career high .348 with 21 homers and 77 RBI. His slugging percentage of .549 fit nicely in the already potent attack of Maris, Mantle, and crew. In 1962 he played even more behind the plate, and again hit 21 homers and bested himself with 91 RBI.

His play behind the plate improved as much as his batting in those seasons, and in 1963 and 1964 he finally won Gold Gloves for his field work. It was the 1963 season that proved to be Howard’s finest hour. With both Mantle and Maris out for various stretches of the season with innjuries, Elston took over as team leader. He batted .287 with a career high 28 home runs. He caught 132 games and drove in 85 runs. He was often thrust into the role of cleanup hitter and he rarely disappointed in the clutch. Major league writers rewarded him with the MVP award, making him the first African-American to win the honor in the American League.

In 1964 he caught 146 games, won his second Gold Glove, and led AL catchers with a .998 fielding mark. He batted .313 with 84 RBI as the Yankees won their fifth straight pennant, this time under former catcher and Howard road block Berra.

The next few seasons Howard’s production fell off dramatically and he finished his playing career in 1968 with the Red Sox. He had been, along with Detroit’s Bill Freehan, one of the best catchers in the American League during the 1960’s. Immediately following his retirement the Yankees hired him as a coach, a position he held for more than a decade.


Where He Played
Left field (1955-1959), catcher (1956-1968)

Born
Elston Gene Howard was born on February 23, 1929, in St. Louis, MO.


Died
December 14, 1980, New York, NY


Batted: Right
Threw: Right


Major League Debut
4 14,

Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1955
Brooks Robinson
Roberto Clemente
Ken Boyer
Rocky Colavito
Clete Boyer
Elston Howard
Sandy Koufax
Jim Bunning
Bill Virdon

Uniform Numbers
#32 (1955-1967), #18 (1967-1968)


Similar Players
Terry Steinbach, Mike Stanley


Related Players
Yogi Berra


Hall of Fame Voting
Year Election Votes Pct
1974 BBWAA 19 5.2%
1975 BBWAA 23 6.4%
1976 BBWAA 55 14.2%
1977