Elston Howard

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Elston’s heroism as a Yankee was cemented in the 1958 World Series. Down three games to one in Game Five, Howard got the start in left, despite having dental work that morning. In the sixth, he made a game-saving dive in the outfield, then doubled off the runner, in a play that turned the Series around. “I knew I had to get the ball,” Howard told reporters after the game. “I skinned my knee and my stomach doing it. I’m no outfielder. I’m a catcher, but the manager put me out there and I had to do the best I could.” The next game the Yankees won again, 4-3, in ten innings in which Howard had two hits and scored a run, and in Game Seven, with the score tied 2-2 in the eighth, Howard drove in the go-ahead run. The New York Baseball Writers chapter gave him the Babe Ruth Award as the outstanding player in the World Series.

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In 1959, Casey’s annual prediction that Berra would catch less was again wrong. In fact, Yogi caught 116 games, more than the previous year. Though Elston reached his career high in games played, the platoon system made him feel like a part-time player. One thing that did change was that the Yankees picked up another black player, Panamanian Hector Lopez, who came from Kansas City in a trade. But Mickey Mantle was hurt, Whitey Ford’s elbow was balky, and it was all downhill that summer. The Yankees suffered bad losing streaks, including losing five straight at Fenway Park, and finished third in the standings.

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Because the club had done poorly, general manager George Weiss tried to cut salaries in 1960. Howard’s offer was $5,000 less than his previous year’s wages, and he held out, missing the reporting date for spring training. Weiss relented, giving him $25,500, a $3,000 raise. Elston, like the rest of the team, had ups and downs that season, but eventually came out on top. Shelved by a few injuries, he nonetheless did get in 107 games, 91 catching, and made the All-Star team. He sprained a finger on the season’s last day. Doctors said he wouldn’t play until Game Three of the World Series, but Casey had him pinch hit in Game One. He hit a two-run home run in the 6-4 loss to Pittsburgh. He had a very good Series until he broke a finger batting against Bob Friend. He batted .462 in the Series, but the Yankees lost, on the famous Bill Mazeroski home run. The loss precipitated the ouster of both manager Casey Stengel and general manager George Weiss.

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Ralph Houk, the former second-string catcher pushed back to the minors by Elston’s emergence, became the manager in 1961. Preferring a more stable lineup than Stengel had, Houk plugged Howard in as his catcher 111 times, playing Berra more in left field. New hitting coach Wally Moses encouraged Howard to bat with his feet closer together, allowing him to spray the ball to all fields. Howard responded with a career year, hitting .348 with 21 home runs in 129 games. He again made the All-Star team and would have battled Norm Cash of Detroit for the batting title if he’d had the plate appearances (Cash won it, hitting .361). Between the revitalized Howard, an historic home run race between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, and terrific pitching (Ford won 25 games), the Yankees won 109 and took only five games to beat Cincinnati in the World Series. Howard caught all five games and was honored in the off-season as St. Louis’ Man of the Year by the city.

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1962 brought another improvement. Pressured to stop segregating their black players in spring training housing, the Yankees moved their camp to Fort Lauderdale. Howard’s pay raise was significant, to $42,500, and he earned it. He hit another 21 home runs with 138 hits and a .279 average in a career-high 136 games. The three catchers, Howard, Berra, and Johnny Blanchard, combined for 44 homers that season. But Howard’s batting average suffered a bit, down to .268 on June 30, though he made the All-Star team again. Most of the homers came in the late-season pennant race with Minnesota, and his and Mantle’s surges insured that the Yankees captured the flag. They faced the San Francisco Giants in a pitching-dominated World Series that was drawn out by rain on both coasts. Elston was behind the plate when Ralph Terry secured the final 1-0 win in Game Seven.

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The Howards bought a vacant lot in Teaneck on which to build a larger house. Mayor Matty Feldman begged them not to build in a white neighborhood. The Howards ignored him, and although they suffered graffiti and sabotage during building, they moved in toward the end of the 1963 season. Elston switched to a heavier bat, thirty-eight ounces, that he said helped his power to right field. He hit a career high 28 home runs in 1963, many into the short porch in Yankee Stadium’s right field, and with Mantle and Maris both hobbled by injuries, Howard batted cleanup often that year. He ended the season with a .287 average, and became the first African-American to win the American League MVP Award. He also took home the Gold Glove with his .994 fielding percentage. Howard appeared in his eighth World Series, and he hit .333, but Dodgers’ pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale kept the Yankees in check. The Dodgers swept in four.

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The MVP Award meant off-season banquets and Howard gained ten pounds speaking on the dinner circuit. The award also brought commercial endorsements, and Elston, his wife, and family were featured in ads for oatmeal, mustard, and beer. Howard also became the first black man to ever model clothes for GQ magazine. His salary for 1964 jumped to $60,000, making him one of the best paid players in baseball. (Mantle earned $107,000.) After the season, Ralph Houk moved upstairs to become GM; Yogi Berra became the field manager. Howard told reporters that he had set his sights on the batting title. “It takes planning,” he told them. “That year I hit .348 … I was a base-hit swinger, not a home-run swinger.” He vowed to go with the pitch more and not be too pull-conscious. His efforts were successful. In a career-high 150 games, he tallied a career-high 172 hits for a .313 average, as his homer total dropped to 15. He also walked a career-high 48 times. He did not win the batting title but did catch all nine innings of the All-Star Game. The Yankees went to the World Series once again, but Bob Gibson’s Cardinals came out on top in seven games.