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February 23
Elston Howard Greatest Thrill February 23
February 23, 1929 in St. Louis, MO The Yankees’ first black player, Elston Howard was forced to play the outfield through much of his first five seasons because Yogi Berra was behind the plate. By 1960, Howard was the starting catcher and Berra was more often in the field. Howard was an exceptional defensive catcher; his .993 career fielding average is one of the highest ever, and he pioneered the use of a hinged catcher’s mitt that led to the modern one-handed catching techniques. He was also highly regarded as a handler of pitchers. He was named to the AL All-Star team nine consecutive years.
Best Season, 1961Though he won the MVP in 1963 (one of the strangest MVP votes ever), we'll givehis '61 campaign the nod here. He played almost the same amount of games as hedid 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 otherslugging Yankees in setting the single-season record for homers. Howard hit 21home runs, drove in 77 (batting low in the order), and fielded .993 behind theplate.
Post-Season NotesHoward was part of many ultimate games in his career, coming out on the losing end five times. Howard played in left field in the '55 and '56 Game Sevens against the Dodgers. He produced a harmless single the first year and went2-for-5 in 1956, scoring a run and driving in a run with a homer in the fourth. In 1957 against the Braves he pinch-hit and struck out, entering as a catcher. In 1958 he was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a stolen base (off Del Crandall and Lew Burdette), and an RBI. In the 1960 Series Howard hit .462 with four runs and RBI. Johnny Blanchard (who hit .455) started and played all of Game Seven, a loss to the Bucs. Conversely, in 1962 Howard hit .143 (3-for-21) and went 0-for-4 in Game Seven's win over San Francisco. In Game Seven of the '62Series Howard struck out twice against Bob Gibson and also grounded out and singled. In their re-match in '67, Howard fanned, singled, and grounded out.
TransactionsBefore 1950 Season: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent; August 3, 1967: Traded by the New York Yankees to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later and Pete Magrini. The Boston Red Sox sent Ron Klimkowski (August 8, 1967) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade; October 29, 1968: Released by the Boston Red Sox.
Enjoy the Podcast - Tom
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February 23, 1929 in St. Louis, MO The Yankees’ first black player, Elston Howard was forced to play the outfield through much of his first five seasons because Yogi Berra was behind the plate. By 1960, Howard was the starting catcher and Berra was more often in the field. Howard was an exceptional defensive catcher; his .993 career fielding average is one of the highest ever, and he pioneered the use of a hinged catcher’s mitt that led to the modern one-handed catching techniques. He was also highly regarded as a handler of pitchers. He was named to the AL All-Star team nine consecutive years.
February 23, 1934 — Brooklyn Dodgers coach Casey Stengel signs a two-year deal to manage the Team for $12,000 per season. He replaced Max Carey, who guided the sixth-place club to a 65-88 record last season. During the rookieplace.
Born: February 23, 1941 in St. Louis, MO . . Ron Hunt once said, “Some people give their bodies to science; I give mine to baseball.” He retired with three major league records for HBP: most times in a career (243); in a season (50, 1971); and in a game (three, tied). For seven straight years he led the NL in HBP. He had other ways to get on, as two .300 seasons and good walk totals showed. He set Expo team records for fewest strikeouts in a season (19, 1973) and fewest times hitting into double plays (one, 1971). Though he played on the early, horrid Met teams (in ’64 he was their first All-Star), he was heartbroken when he was traded to the Dodgers in November 1966 for Tommy Davis. After retiring, Hunt went into ranching outside St. Louis.
February 23, 1960 — Twenty-eight months after the Dodgers play their last game in Brooklyn, the demolition of Ebbets Field finally begins when a wrecking ball, painted with red and white stitches, begins its work on the ballpark Brooklyn called home for 44 years. Before the demolition wheel-chair bound Roy Campanella, the team’s former All-Star catcher and three-time National League MVP is given an urn of dirt from behind home plate.
February 23, 1974 – The California Angels send veteran Vada Pinson to Kansas City for minor leaguer Barry Raziano and cash. Pinson will call it quits at the end of the 1975 season, having rung up 2,757 hits, the most ever for an eligible player not in the Hall of Fame.
February 23, 1986 — Although he loses his arbitration case, Boston third baseman Wade Boggs receives the richest amount ($1.35 million) ever awarded by this process. Last season’s AL batting champ had sought $1.85 million, but arbitrator Thomas Roberts rules in favor of the Red Sox, resulting in a drop of a half-million dollars for the infielder.
February 23, 2012 — Ryan Braun becomes the first major league player to successfully appeal a positive PED test when arbitrator Shyam Das rules in his favor with regard to a positive test performed during the 2011 postseason. The test showed a testosterone level so high as to be almost unimaginable without outside interference. The three-man pannel chaired by Das rules that the fact that proper protocol was not followed in collecting and storing the sample prior to testing, makes it impossible to be certain that it has not been subject to tampering at some point. Braun had proclaimed his innocence all along, and now no longer faces a 50-game suspension.
Quote of the day:
"I don't think I ever saw a pitcher shake off one of his signs. They had too much respect for him.
teammate Tony Conigliaro on Elston Howard
MILESTONES
Birthday Boys!
Don Shaw, Elston Howard, Ken Boswell, Ron Hunt and Roy Johnson
Passings.
Jim King and Roman Mejias
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Trivia Answer: Elston Howard is credited with inventing the batting "doughnut", a circular lead weight with a rubber shell used by batters in the on-deck circle by placing it around a bat to make it feel heavier, so that it will feel lighter at the plate and easier to swing. Its widespread use caused the discontinuation of the practice of hitters swinging multiple bats at the same time while waiting to hit. Howard helped two New Jersey entrepreneurs, Frank Hamilton and Vince Salvucci, to market the bat weight and lent his name to the product.
