1964 Profile: Elston Howard

1964 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR

"To send the best catcher in the American League to the bench takes a solid quality job, something Elston Howard has done in a quiet and efficient manner. Yogi Berra was the big man behind the plate when Ellie's talent had to be given priority, and last year he proved to be the most valuable of all, becoming the first Negro in the American League to earn this honor.
An outfielder and catcher since joining New York in 1955, he's compiled a .286 figure in nine years and the reputation of being the most feared Yankee in the clutch."

-Don Schiffer, Major League Baseball Handbook 1964

"Recognized as the best catcher in baseball, Elston Howard is the latest in a long line of Yankees to reign as the Most Valuable Player of the American League. An excellent handler of pitchers, he's also a dangerous and timely hitter. Last season he batted .287, high on the team among regulars, and socked 28 homers (also a team high) and drove in 85 runs (four behind team leader Joe Pepitone).
After years of moving around between the outfield and even occasionally first base, he's now THE Yankee catcher."

-Dave Anderson, 1964 Major League Baseball Handbook

"When Elston Howard was a youngster back in his native St. Louis, his favorite baseball team, for some inexplicable reason, was the Boston Braves. 'But the Yankees,' he remembers, 'they were the team to look up to.'
Today, a generation later, catcher Howard is the spark plug that triggers the Yankees into action. Last season he was the landslide winner for the American League's Most Valuable Player- the first Negro to be so honored in the history of the junior circuit.
'This has to be the greatest thrill of my career,' said Howard after hearing the news.
'There is no denying Ellie was the solid man of our club,' observed Ralph Houk, 1963 Yankee manager. And new Yankee skipper Yogi Berra chimed in: 'Howie sure was the big man for us throughout the season.'
Strangely, on a statistical basis, Howard's 1963 showing wasn't overly impressive. He batted .287 and included 28 home runs among his 140 hits. Others hit for a higher average and slammed more homers. But Ellie had a way of coming through with the important hits, and his influence on such brilliant young pitchers as Jim Bouton and Al Downing was the key to the Yankees' pennant victory.
'He was like a big brother to me,' says Bouton, a 21-game winner in his second season in the major leagues.
Howard has won his success the hard way. He was a youngster playing for the all-Negro Kansas City Monarchs when the Yankee management spotted him and bought his contract. For Ellie, it meant the end of the all-night bus trips and a hectic, tiring schedule. After two years in the Army, he joined Kansas City, the Yankee farm club in the American Association. In 1955 he landed with the Yankees, filling in at first base, in the outfield and behind the bat- a soft-spoken, unassuming key man on baseball's most successful team."

-Bill Wise, 1964 Official Baseball Almanac

"The 1963 baseball season was a climactic one for the Yankees' ace catcher, Elston Howard. It was a long climb up the ladder from school days in St. Louis, through three years in the Yankee farm system (plus two in military service), and then a period of apprenticeship with the Bombers behind Yogi Berra. But Ellie made it and this past winter reaped the highest award when he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player.
Winner of 15 of the 20 first-place votes, and named on all ballots, Howard was a runaway winner. And rightly so. He topped all A.L. catchers with a .287 average, led the Yanks in homers with 28 and triples with six. The Associated Press named him to the mythical major league all-star team last year.
A master receiver and fine handler of pitchers, Ellie gives all the credit to his four catching tutors - Bill Dickey, Ralph Houk, Jim Hegan and Berra. Earlier in his career with the Yankees, the receiver proved his versatility by playing the outfield and first base, and it was in left field in the 1958 come-from-behind World Series win that he starred.
Elston swings a heavier-than-average bat at 36 oz. and it resulted in a .528 slugging percentage last year, third highest in the league. The Yankee MVP hopes he can have an even better 1964, ' ... for Yogi. I owe him a great deal and now I've got a chance to repay him,' Howard said."

-The New York Yankees Official 1964 Yearbook


"Having been named as the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1963, there are few worlds left for Elston Howard to conquer in 1964, it seems. But knowing the 34-year-old catcher, he'll be out there trying to do his very best in every game as he has always done.
Howard batted .287 last season in 135 games, smashing 28 homers and accounting for 85 runs batted in. Ellie was one of the few bomber stickouts in the late lamented World Series against the Dodgers. He had five of the Yanks' 22 safeties and was the lone New York regular to bat over .300 with five for 15, good for .333.
Howard was amply rewarded for his outstanding performance, receiving a reported $10,000 raise to bring his annual salary to about $55,000.
Ellie, the son of a Missouri high school principal, credits Hall-of-Famer Bill Dickey for helping his development as a receiver the most.
'He taught me the correct moves in blocking low pitches, which was my biggest weakness when I started out.'
The native of St. Louis starred in high school as a baseball, football and basketball player, but turned down several college scholarships in order to sign with the Kansas City Monarchs, from whom he was purchased by the Bombers in July 1950.
'I never regretted it,' says Howard. 'Baseball will enable me to educate my children and give them a nice home.'
Ellie and his wife have a son and two daughters.
Average-wise, Ellie's best season with the Yanks occurred in 1961 when he batted .348. He also holds the distinction of homering in his first time at bat in a World Series, on September 28, 1955."

-1964 Jay Publishing New York Yankees Yearbook

M.V.P. - 1963
"In 1955, Elston Howard became the first member of his race to make the Yankee varsity. And, in 1963, he became the first member of his race to be named the American League's Most Valuable Player.
The 33-year-old receiver was an overwhelming choice of the 20-man panel of the Baseball Writer's Association of America, with 248 out of a possible 280 votes. Howard drew 15 first-place ballots. Detroit's Al Kaline was second in the tabulation with 148 points and one first-place nod.
Whitey Ford, who garnered three first-place ballots, finished third with 125. The other first-place vote went to Tom Tresh, but he finished 11th with 38 points.
Howard, who was named on every ballot, received in his addition to his 15 firsts, two seconds, one third, one fourth and one sixth.
It was the 16th time a Yankee player captured the precious prize since it was instituted in 1931. Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra won it three times, Roger Maris twice and Lou Gehrig, Joe Gordon, Spud Chandler and Phil Rizzuto once each.
Upon being notified of the honor, a happy Howard said, 'This has to be the greatest thrill of my career. I never thought I'd ever win one of these. Even after hearing myself mentioned as a possible candidate, I didn't put much stock in it. There's one thing I know, though, without the help of my teammates, I could not have possibly won it. I want to thank the writers for the award.' "

-1964 Jay Publishing New York Yankees Yearbook


STEADILY ... TO STARDOM
Elston's Howard's rise to recognition and the MVP award was not exactly meteoric, but now he's arrived and means to stay awhile.
When Elston Howard won Most Valuable Player honors in the American League last fall, the standard questions were asked and they included, of course, 'Is this your greatest thrill?'
Elston took a long time before saying, 'Yes.' Most of his interrogators were a little surprised that there was any hesitation, but not those who saw Elston's debut as a World Series performer eight years earlier. A home run in your first World Series at-bat isn't exactly a yawn-producer, either.
The customers who watched Elston that afternoon certainly weren't bored. The Yankees were tangling with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the first game of what was to be a seven-game Series. Elston was in left field in an outfield that included Hank Bauer and Irv Noren. Mickey Mantle was hurt and wasn't able to play until the third game.
Howard batted sixth in that first game. In the first inning, Bauer bunted safely but Dodger Don Newcombe got out of it with a double-play ball. The Dodgers got two runs on the board before Joe Collins walked in the second inning with one out. Then Howard crashed one into the far left field seats of Yankee Stadium. That tied it up and the Yankees went on to win, 6-5.
The Yankees won the second game, too, kayoing Brooklyn starter Billy Loes. Eventually, though, the Dodgers won the Series even though Elston hit safely in five of the seven games.
Howard has hit a lot of homers since. His career total was exactly 100 going into 1963, he hit a [career] season-high of 28 last year en route to his MVP award and he'll hit many more. His homers last year came at a crucial juncture in Yankee history, when Mantle and Roger Maris were hobbled with injuries and the Yankees were desperately in need of a long ball. If the Baseball Writers Association (which picks the MVPs in both leagues) needed any extra votes for Howard, the Yankees' front office people would gladly have whipped out their pencils to add a few more X's.
Matter of fact, after Howard there weren't many votes left for the other A.L. stars. He got 15 of a possible 20 first-place ballots. No fluke champ was Elston, just as he was not the first Negro to play for the Yankees merely to indicate that they were in step with the general acceptance of Negro players in the '50s.
The Yankees always insisted that there'd be room for a Negro player or players when any of major league caliber came along. In retrospect, two things stand out: they were right, and they took their time picking one. When they got one he was a dandy.
Elston spent 1954 at Toronto where he was changed into a catcher by order of Casey Stengel. Until then, he had spent his minor league career in the outfield. Howard started in 1950 at Muskegon, Michigan, then spent two years in military service before reporting to Kansas City. So successful was the metamorphosis at Toronto that he wound up MVP in the International League, an omen of what was to happen a decade later with the Yankees.
In the spring of '54, when the Yankees announced that Howard was (a) being changed into a catcher and (b) being sent to Toronto, there was a lot of significant eyebrow-raising. Mightn't this be a dandy way of getting rid of him by claiming he was unable to make it in his new role? And why catching? Didn't the Yankees have a virtual parade of backstop talent, beginning with Yogi Berra, best in the league, and including Clint Courtney, Lou Berberet, Hal Smith, Gus Triandos, Charlie Silvera and a tough, outspoken fellow named Ralph Houk? Where would another catcher fit in? Sure, Bill Dickey worked virtually from sunrise to sunset tutoring the new man, but couldn't this be part of a Machiavellian scheme to prevent Howard from getting to the majors?
Such suspicions certainly backfired in the faces of the Yankees' detractors. Howard came up to the team in 1955 and has been an increasingly valuable performer since. When Berra slowed down after three Most Valuable Player seasons, Howard stepped in smoothly and took charge. He's played for three managers, Stengel, Houk and now Berra, and none has had anything but the highest praise for him. Rivals also respect him as a receiver, a handler of young pitchers and a deadly foe at the plate with a 36-ounce stick in his hands. He hit .287 in '63 and his lifetime average is .286.
It was an indifferent time for catchers in the majors last year. In the National League, not one backstop got as much as a single vote for MVP. In the American League, it was a little better; Howard was first and Earl Battey of Minnesota finished in seventh place.
But if it was a poor year for catches as a group, it was a tremendous year for Howard. Never before had he finished higher than 10th in Most Valuable Player balloting. He had put in a lot of time with the Yankees and the big prize didn't come to him until he was pushing 34, but it was worth it.
Yes, the thrill was bigger than that home run in his first World Series at-bat. But the homer wasn't exactly bad, either."

-Baseball 1964 Guidebook

Purchased by Yankees from Kansas City Monarchs, July 24, 1950.
Hit home run in first World Series at-bat, September 28, 1955.
Won Babe Ruth Award (top World Series player), 1958.
Led Yankees in hitting (.348), 1961.
Hit two home runs in one game three times, 1962.
Led Yankees in batting average (.287), 1963.
Led Yankees in home runs (28), 1963.
Led Yankees in triples (6), 1963.
Named Most Valuable Player in American League, 1963.

-1964 New York Yankees Press-TV-Radio Guide