1961 Profile: Elston Howard

1961 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR

"Now considered a quality catcher by all in the league. Powerful and knowledgeable, Howard was used mostly in the outfield until last year. He has also filled in at first base.

After taking the most-valuable award as a catcher in the International League in 1954, Howard became the first Yankee Negro player in '55 and hit .290. He smashed .314 in '58 when he was named the most-valuable Series performer.

Born in St. Louis, Howard prepped in the minors for three seasons."

-Don Schiffer, The Major League Baseball Handbook 1961

EASY DOES IT FOR ELLIE

Yanks' Howard Has Lost Temper Only Once In Six Years

"One day last summer Nellie Fox executed a hook slide as he came charging into home plate. Elston Howard, who was catching for the Yankees, stabbed the ball at the little White Sox infielder. 'Safe!' cried Umpire Hank Soar.

Whereupon Ellie Howard started to argue with Soar, and Casey Stengel came running from the bench and quite a noisy scene took place. Later, during a press conference, Casey explained: 'I couldn't see the play from the dugout but I ran out there just the same. When Howard argues, he must be right.'

Six months later Ellie sat in the playroom of his home in Teaneck, New Jersey. 'The funny thing about that argument was I thought I was right but I wasn't. A picture in the papers the next day showed that Fox had slid under the ball. When I showed it to Casey he said, 'Pictures don't tell the truth all the time.' But that one did.'

Ellie will begin his seventh season as a Yankee in April. He has been in five World Series. He has caught and played the outfield and first base. Except for the Fox incident, he has never lost his temper, and he has plenty of reasons for losing his temper. This year he will succeed Yogi Berra as the No. 1 catcher of the Yankees, what with Yogi moving into the outfield, final recognition of Ellie's value to the American League champions.

Most catchers chatter away to batters and try to help the plate umpire call strikes and balls. 'I don't believe in getting the umpire's dander up,' Ellie says. 'When he calls a ball on a close one I say, 'That was a pretty good pitch, wasn't it?' More often than not he says, 'Yes, Ellie, that was a pretty good pitch.' It's my way of making him wonder whether he called it right, and on the next close one he'll look sharper.'

Ellie's relationship with Yankee hurlers is equally harmonious. In the back of his head is a picture of their physical and mental characteristics. He tells them: 'You and I are both trying to do the same thing. We're thinking about how to get rid of the batter. Two heads are better than one. I give you the signs, but they're just my opinion of what you ought to throw. If you've got a different idea, shake me off.'

'No one shakes me off much,' says Howard. 'I get to know what they're thinking and what they likely to throw in any given situation.'

Ellie can reel off a thumbnail sketch of any battery-mate with the ease of a trained observer of human nature. 'Whitey Ford is the smartest pitcher in baseball,' he says. 'His brain is working from the moment he walks through the clubhouse door. He's made a scientific study of pitching and, what's more, he can put his own ideas into effect.

'Whitey uses seven different kinds of pitches. He has a fast ball, a change-up curve, a regular curve that breaks down into a sharp curve or into a slower one. He also has a sinker and a slider.'

Ellie denies that, as charged by some, Bob Turley is a worrier. 'Bob's arm troubled him last year but he still won nine games and lost only three. Bob is a smart pitcher who is always trying to improve himself. He knew he couldn't get by with speed alone and has never stopped trying to master the curve ball at various speeds. Not many pitchers would change the style of their deliveries in the middle of their careers. Bob did when he used the no-windup delivery. His real trouble is control. If he had Early Wynn's control he'd be as big a winner as Early.

'Bill Stafford is going to be one of the most successful pitchers of the next ten years or more. Stafford has remarkable control for a young fellow. He acts like a veteran out there on the mound; you'd think he'd been in the majors for 15 years and knew every batter in the league. He has a good fast ball, a slider, a sinker and a change-up. That boy is going to make his mark- nothing can stop him.

'Art Ditmar has the liveliest arm on the club if not in the league. But Art gets upset when things go wrong. He gets mad at himself when a batter makes a single on one of his best pitches. Well, Art won 15 games last year, which ought to satisfy anyone, but it doesn't satisfy Art. He had bad luck in the opening game of the Series with the Pirates. Balls went between our infielders that could have been double-play balls. Bad bounces occurred because the infield's surface was hard. But Art blamed everything on himself. It's just a matter of disposition with him. If he'd take it easier he'd be tops as a right-hander in any league any time.

'The only trouble with Ryne Duren is that he doesn't get enough work to suit himself, and he doesn't get enough work. What I mean is that Ryne could work in regular rotation if he hadn't fallen into the bullpen job. Most people think Ryne just fires away without knowing where the ball is going. He has a good sinker and would have more control if he could work more.'

Ellie himself wants to work in every game of every season. Last year he chased Bill Tuttle of the A's in a rundown. He stepped on Tuttle's heel and fell on his left hand, damaging ligaments. 'I couldn't hold by bat properly. It looked as if I was due to sit it out. But Casey said, 'Forget about hitting. Go in there on defense.' It was the best news I ever heard. Of course, it didn't do my batting average any good, but a player needs work every day if he's to keep in shape for the long grind.'

Catching is Ellie's business. 'I feel comfortable behind the bat. I can play the outfield. I've played it on and off since my high school days. But I'm less easy-minded about outfielding. It isn't just standing around until a ball comes your way. It's ball-hawking, and handling ground balls, and knowing angles, and running and throwing. And each of these details has to be mastered. Catching comes naturally to me. I know the answers before the questions are asked. A catcher gets hurt more than an outfielder, but I feel safer at the plate.'

Yet Ellie is a better than average outfielder. 'No, I've never had any trouble finding balls in left field at Yankee Stadium. The shadows are bad there in the fall. If an outfielder gets gummed up out there it's because he doesn't know how to flip down his sunglasses quick enough.

'I don't say that was Norm Siebern's trouble in the 1958 World Series when he lost fly balls in the sun, but it could have been. Siebern's nerves got shot. He cried like a baby because he lost that game. He let it get to him, which isn't the professional way. A pro must take things easy, good or bad. Norm was still having fielding trouble last year in Kanas City.'

Calm, thoughtful Ellie has given consideration to his own problem of utilizing his power to produce more hits, homers and RBI's. 'I might have made more homers in the past if had pulled the ball all the time. However, Casey wanted me to hit to right field on hit-and-run plays, which cut down my chances to go for the long ball to left, although I have made several homers to right. I use a 36x35 bat for the placed hit and a lighter 35x33 bat for pulling, as it can get around in front of the ball more easily.'

Elston enjoys one distinction which cannot be recorded statistically and, oddly enough, is seldom mentioned in print. He was the first Negro member of the New York Yankees. And it is to his credit as well as the Yankees' that his integration was accomplished with a minimum of incidents.

To put the story of his private life in its proper perspective it is best to start at the beginning. He was born in St. Louis on February 23, 1929, seven months before the stock market crash which heralded the Great Depression.

'I wasn't aware that my father was Travis Howard, principal of a high school in New Madrid, Missouri, until I was four or five years old. My mother and father were separated when I was a baby, and my mother married Wayman Hill, who works as a welder in St. Louis now. I am my mother's only child. My stepfather has been like a real father to me.

'I grew up big and strong and played a lot of softball as a kid. The ball kept growing from 12 to 15 to 18 ounces and I was always the big hitter.

'I lived in an all-Negro neighborhood and attended Vashon High, an all-Negro school. I went out for all the organized sports: baseball, football, basketball and track- and made all the teams.'

He caught passes as an end on the grid team, and tipped two-pointers into the basket on the court, and threw the shot-put and discus on the track team, breaking the local record for the shot-put at 41 feet. But it was in baseball that he excelled.

'I was all-state in football, basketball and baseball. I hit over .500 for the school team. Colleges all over the country were offering me scholarships. Big league scouts were following me around- I could have signed with the Dodgers.'

The year was 1947. Jackie Robinson was already the first Negro in big league baseball, but the color line had not been breached on clubs other than the Dodgers. 'Jackie had played on the Kansas City Monarchs before signing with the Dodgers, so I accepted a Monarch offer and forgot about my plans to take a pre-medical course in college and to become a physician. We had some pretty good players on the Monarchs.' Among there were Ernie Banks, Gene Baker, Hank Thompson, Bob Thurman and Willard Brown.

By 1949 the Yankees were seriously scouting for Negro players. 'Johnny Neun and Tom Greenwade watched me in Monarch games for quite a while. They made a deal with the Monarchs for my contract, and the Yanks gave me a $2,500 bonus.

'At Muskegon in the Central League in 1950 I played nothing but the outfield and hit .283,' Ellie says. 'I was supposed to be with Binghamton in the Eastern League the next year, but I was drafted by the Army and put into the Special Services Corps playing baseball. I was at Camp McCoy in Wisconsin and then was sent to Japan, and it was 1953 before I got back to the diamond in the U.S.'

Ellie went back to Kansas City, home of the Monarchs, as a member of the Kansas City Blues of the American Association, then a Yankee farm team. 'The Yankees decided I was better at catching than in the outfield,' he relates. 'To tell the truth, they had too many catchers, among them Hal Smith, Lou Berberet, Gus Triandos and Cal Neeman, all of whom have made good in the majors.'

At Kansas City, Ellie batted .286 with ten homers and 70 RBI's, but the surplus catching situation resulted in his being farmed out to the independently-owned Toronto team of the International League in 1954. As the Leaf's No. 1 catcher and part-time gardener he was a sensation, batting .330, with 22 homers and 109 RBI's, not to mention 16 triples, a specialty Ellie still stars in. This display made it impossible for the Yanks to keep him longer in the minors. He was quietly eased onto the roster that winter and reported to St. Petersburg in March, 1955.

'From the start the Yankee front office and players accepted me as just a ball player, trying to make good. Bill Dickey was my coach. Bill hails from Arkansas, where there's been so much trouble about desegregating the schools. Well, Bill worked with me, taught me more about catching than I could learn in five years myself. Phil Rizzuto became my pal. We'd have dinner together, go to the movies. I still see Phil, who still broadcasts for the same brewery that I do promotional work for in the winter.

'I heard the usual name-calling from opposing players and fans. I paid no attention to it. In New Orleans we were playing an exhibition game. I was in left field where the white bleachers were located. A bottle flew by my head. I heard threats. Well, Casey moved me to right field where Negro fans were segregated. I finished the game. What's more, I beat the New Orleans club with a long hit.

'In Kansas City, Chicago and Baltimore I couldn't room with my teammates at hotels. I didn't like it. Neither did my teammates. The hotels gave in to pressure. We all stay in the same hotels now, everywhere in the big leagues. Baseball has given the nation a fine example of how desegregation can be accomplished. Just go ahead and desegregate. Time will pass- in the case of baseball, about ten years. And the problem solves itself.'

Ellie enjoys a pleasant relationship with the Yankees and the results have been equally pleasant to both parties. He adds stability and power to the lineup; his rewards are many. Among them is the blue station wagon before his modern home in Teaneck; his association with a brewery, which he hopes to continue in future years; and, of course, his sizable salary [sic] and World Series shares.

On a winter's day four-year-old Cheryl Howard is playing in the snow on the front lawn, and six-year-old Elston, Jr., is sledding in the back. Mrs. Arlene Howard, the pretty girl who lived on the same street, attended the same schools and married Ellie in 1954, is preparing lunch for the baby.

Down the steps from the living room is Ellie's clubroom and, on a lower level, his tastefully furnished game room, trophy-room and fun-room which Ellie built for himself. There he proudly shows visitors his cups, plaques, mementos and the rack of guns he uses when he goes bird-hunting in south Jersey.

He has no doubts about the Yankees' future or his own. 'We've got the same team that won the pennant last year and almost took the Series,' he says. 'There's no reason why we can't take 'em both next year. Of course, there never was a manager like Casey Stengel, but Ralph Houk is young, he has ideas, he knows us and we know and respect him.'

Elston Howard's Yankee career began with a five-for-five day against Willard Nixon, then known as the 'Yankee-killer.' He hit a home run in his first time at bat in a World Series game; the pitcher was the redoubtable Don Newcombe of the Dodgers.

'I was a little nervous both times, before the game,' Elston says. 'But I just tried and it came out all right.' "

-Charles Dexter (Baseball Digest, March 1961)

1960

April 24: Five RBIs on home run, two triples in rout of Orioles.

May 4: Beats Tigers, 4-2, with two-run homer in 6th.

May 15: Beats Nats, 4-2, with four RBIs on triple and sacrifice fly.

May 23: Beats A's, 4-3, with sacrifice fly in 9th.

June 11: Beats Indians with two-run pinch homer.

July 6: Added to American League All-Star squad.

August 18: Gets three hits in 11-7 win over Bosox.

August 27: Three RBIs on two singles in 7-4 win over Indians.

September 28: Injures middle finger of right hand but recovers in time for World Series.

Comment: "Below standard at bat, but still dangerous at the plate and slick behind it."

-Joe Sheehan, Dell Sports Magazine Baseball, April 1961

"Elston Howard thinks this will be HIS year! Bugged by injuries last season, the fine receiver hopes to stay healthy and finally hold on to that elusive first-string catching job. Of course, Ellie's great value to the Yankees lies partially in his versatility. He can play first base, and quite adequately, and he can do a first-rate job in the outfield (remember the 1958 World Series?). But Howard would like to catch and be in the lineup regularly. He also hopes to 'up' his 1960 offensive figures ... batting average, homers, RBIs.

Now that Howard has emerged as a regular, he is full of confidence and hope, hope for himself and a good '61 season and hope for another Yankee pennant."

-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook

Elston Gene Howard (C)     #32

Born February 23, 1929, in St. Louis, Missouri, resides in Teaneck, N.J. Height: 6-2, weight: 200. Bats right, throws right. 

Married and father of two daughters, Cheryl Lyn (3) and Karen (2), and one son, Elston Jr. (5).

-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook

"Thirty-two-year-old Elston Howard will probably be the Yankees' No. 1 catcher this season. Don't be surprised, however, to see him in the outfield or on first base when the need arises.

A native of St. Louis, Howard is one of the many Yankees who make their year around home in New Jersey. Ellie, with his wife and three youngsters, resides in Teaneck.

The 6'2" righty broke into Organized Ball with Muskegon of the Central League and batted .283. After a two-year hitch in the Army, he spent one season with Kansas City of the American Association.

The Yankees loaned Howard to Toronto of the International League for the 1954 season and he was the oldest minor league's Most Valuable Player. With the Maple Leafs his batting average was .330 and he had 21 doubles, 16 triples (tops in the circuit), 22 homers and 109 RBIs.

Elston became the first Negro to play for the Yankees when he made the Bombers in 1955. As a rookie he batted .290 and slammed out 10 homers. Casey Stengel, the master strategist, used Howard in the outfield and at first base as well as behind the plate. And he has done the job wherever he has played. His throwing arm is one of the most respected in the American League.

In 1958, Howard batted .314, his major league high to date. He smacked 18 homers in 1959 for his high in that department and also was credited with 73 runs driven in.

Ellie stole three bases in as many tries last season and led the team with three sacrifice flies. A jammed left hand, in July, and a late-season dislocated finger were partially responsible for his batting last summer.

In the World Series, he was going at a .462 clip when a pitch by Bob Friend broke a bone in his right hand. The wounds have healed and Elston is rarin' to go this season."

-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)

"Elston Howard was beset by injuries during the 1960 season, which played havoc with his batting average. The 31-year-old Howard's great value to the Yankees lies partially in his versatility. He can play first base quite, and quite adequately, and can do a first-rate job in the outfield (remember the 1958 World Series?). But he likes to catch and be in the lineup regularly.

The 6-2, 200-pound righthander has been in five World Series with the Yankees. He broke into pro ball in 1950 with Muskegon and came up to the Yanks in 1955. He batted .314 in 1958.

Elston and his wife live in Teaneck, New Jersey, with their two girls and a boy."

-1961 World Series Official Souvenir Program