Elston Howard

[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.)

[GeoPoto]

The team sputtered along until August 18, when they beat the Angels 3-2 at Fenway, a game in which Howard caught Gary Bell’s complete game four-hitter. The game would be most remembered, though, for the tragic incident that shattered Tony Conigliaro’s eye socket. Perhaps inspired to win for Tony and helped by Howard’s presence, the Sox reeled off a seven-game win streak, going 14-5 the rest of the month. Eleven of the games were decided by one run. In that span they played five doubleheaders and took three of four in New York. When Howard came to bat against his former team, the Yankee Stadium crowd gave him a standing ovation, one he later called “the best ovation I ever got in my life.”

[GeoPoto]

One of the memorable moments from the stretch run came when the Sox led Minnesota by half a game on August 27. That day the Red Sox faced Chicago, clinging to a 4-3 lead in the ninth. Ken Berry, the tying run at third, attempted to score on a shallow fly caught by right fielder Jose Tartabull. Tartabull’s throw was high, but Elston leaped to snare the ball, then swept the tag down in the same motion — Berry was out, and the game was over.

[GeoPoto]

Howard’s greatest contribution to The Impossible Dream, though, may be one that can’t be measured, in his influence on the pitchers and in the clubhouse. His knowledge of the hitters in the league, his game-calling ability, and his calming presence helped the entire pitching staff. “He was like a pitching coach to Lonborg, Gary Bell, Gary Waslewski, Lee Stange, guys like that,” Reggie Smith said. “No doubt Elston helped us win it. We were a young team. Our average age was twenty-six. We needed someone like Ellie to show the way. He brought the Yankee aura of winning to the Red Sox.” The Red Sox, of course, did pull off two amazing wins over Minnesota, while Detroit lost on the final day of the season, giving Boston the pennant.

[GeoPoto]

How fitting that Elston Howard’s tenth and final World Series would be against his old hometown, St. Louis. Unfortunately, the Cardinals beat the Sox; Elston mustered only two hits in the Series. That off-season he pondered retirement, and numerous possibilities. The Red Sox asked him to play and later coach. The Yankees suggested a minor league coaching job or scouting position. Bill Veeck said he wanted to make Howard the game’s first black manager, if he could buy the Washington Senators. In the end, Veeck’s bid to buy the Senators was rebuffed. Howard helped a New Jersey entrepreneur, Frank Hamilton, to market the doughnut — not the edible kind, but the weighted metal ring that batters today use in the on-deck circle. But when spring came, the Red Sox offered a $1,000 raise, And Howard decided to play one more year.

The Red Sox and Elston were banged up. Lonborg broke his leg skiing. Tony Conigliaro did not regain his full eyesight and sat out the season, his career apparently over. George Scott’s average dropped to .171 as his weight rose. Meanwhile, Howard’s elbow acted up again. At midseason, he couldn’t straighten it and he did not want surgery. His playing time limited because of the chronic injury, Howard played in only 71 games. In his final game at Fenway, he received a standing ovation. He had hit .241, with five homers and 18 RBIs. He held a press conference on October 21 to announce his retirement from playing. Then on October 22, he was at another press conference, this one in New York to announce he was taking the first base coaching job with the New York Yankees.