Frank Howard obit

Legendary MLB Slugger Frank Howard Has Died

 

He was not on the list.

One of the best sluggers in Major League Baseball history has died on Monday.

Frank Howard, an all-time slugger for the Washington Senators, has died. The Washington Nationals confirmed the news on Monday afternoon.

"We are deeply saddened to share that Washington Senators legend Frank Howard has passed away at the age of 87. We join Frank’s loved ones in mourning," the team announced on Monday.

Howard played in the majors from 1958 until 1973. He spent most of his career with the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers.

The legendary MLB slugger finished his career with 382 home runs and 1,119 RBI. Howard was a four-time All-Star and the Rookie of the Year in 1958. He won a World Series in 1963.

Howard went on to have a lengthy coaching career, coaching in the majors from 1977-99.

Our thoughts are with his friends and family members during this difficult time on Monday afternoon.

Howard was named the National League's Rookie of the Year in 1960 for the Dodgers. He twice led the American League in home runs, and total bases and once each in slugging percentage, runs batted in, and walks. His 382 career home runs were the eighth most by a right-handed hitter when he retired; his 237 home runs and 1969 totals of 48 home runs and 340 total bases in a Washington uniform are a record for any of that city's several franchises. Howard's Washington/Texas franchise records of 1,172 games, 4,120 at bats, 246 home runs, 1,141 hits, 701 RBI, 544 runs, 155 doubles, 2,074 total bases, and a .503 slugging percentage have since been broken.

Frank Oliver Howard was born in Columbus, Ohio, to John and Erma Howard, the third of six children. His father was a machinist for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and had played semi-professional baseball, later on encouraging his son's interest in the game.

Howard attended South High School in Columbus, Ohio, and Ohio State University, where he played college baseball and college basketball for the Ohio State Buckeyes. He was an All-American in both basketball and baseball. He averaged 20.1 points and 15.3 rebounds per game in 1957, and was drafted the following year by the Philadelphia Warriors of the National Basketball Association.

Howard instead signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Howard spent the 1958 season with the Green Bay Bluejays of the Class B Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League. He led the league with 37 home runs and 119 runs batted in (RBIs). The Dodgers promoted him to the major leagues after the minor league season, and he hit his first MLB home run over 29 at bats. He began the 1959 season with the Victoria Rosebuds of the Double-A Texas League, and he hit .356 with 27 home runs and 79 RBIs in 261 at-bats before the Dodgers again promoted Howard to the major leagues. He batted .105 in 19 at bats for the Dodgers before they demoted him to the Spokane Indians of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League on July 1. In 76 games for Spokane, Howard had a .319 average, 16 home runs, and 47 RBIs across 295 at bats. He won The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year Award.

Howard succeeded former Brooklyn Dodger All-Star Carl Furillo as Los Angeles' right fielder in 1960. He was named the NL's Rookie of the Year after batting .268 with 23 home runs and 77 RBIs. His teammates gave him the nickname "Hondo" after the character in a John Wayne film.

Howard hit 98 home runs in the following four seasons. In the 1962 campaign, he batted .296 with 31 home runs and finished among the NL's top five players in RBIs (119) and slugging (.560). He won the NL Player of the Month award in July with a .381 average, 12 home runs, and an incredible 41 RBIs. As an outfielder starting 127 games (completing just 91), Howard was credited with 19 outfield assists (the league leader, Johnny Callison, starting 147 games had just five more). The season ended with the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants tied for first place. In the three-game pennant playoff that followed Howard had only a single in 11 at-bats and struck out three times against Billy Pierce in the first game, including the final out; but he had a run and an RBI in the second contest, an 8–7 win. The Giants took the pennant in three games, but Howard ended up ninth in the MLB Most Valuable Player award voting.

In 1963 his production dropped off to a .273 average, 28 homers and 64 RBIs; but the Dodgers won the pennant, and his upper-deck solo home run off Whitey Ford broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning of Game 4 of the World Series, helping Los Angeles to a 2–1 win and a sweep of the New York Yankees. He again hit over 20 home runs in 1964, and on June 4 his three-run home run in the seventh inning provided all the scoring in Sandy Koufax's third no-hitter, a 3–0 defeat of the Philadelphia Phillies; Howard had also homered for the final run in Koufax's first no-hitter on June 30 two years earlier, a 5–0 win over the New York Mets. But the team's 1962 move into pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium hurt power hitters, and speedier outfielders like spray-hitting Willie Davis were seen as more in line with the club's future. Howard batted .226 in 1964.

On December 4, 1964, the Dodgers traded Howard, Phil Ortega, Pete Richert, and Dick Nen to the Washington Senators for Claude Osteen, John Kennedy, and cash. Howard went from a fourth outfielder with Los Angeles to an every day player with the Senators. In 1965, his first season in Washington, he batted .289 with 21 home runs in 143 games. In 1967, Howard hit 36 home runs, third in the AL behind Harmon Killebrew and Carl Yastrzemski. During an one-week stretch from May 12–18, 1968, Howard hit 10 home runs in 20 at bats. He hit 13 home runs in 16 games, a mark that still stands, matched only by Albert Belle in 1995. Howard finished the season leading the AL with 44 home runs, a .552 slugging percentage and 330 total bases, and was second to Ken Harrelson with 106 RBI; he made his first of four consecutive All-Star teams that year. Beginning in 1968, Howard appeared semi-regularly at first base in order to limit the wear and tear of playing the outfield daily.

Ted Williams became manager of the Senators in 1969, and he helped Howard to become a more patient hitter. He encouraged Howard to lay off the first fastball he saw, and work pitchers deeper into the count, advice which resulted in Howard's walk totals nearly doubling and 45 fewer strikeouts the first year. A year later, Howard added 32 more walks to lead the AL with 132.

In 1969, he hit career highs with 48 homers (one behind Killebrew's league lead), 111 runs (second in the AL to Reggie Jackson), a .296 batting average and a .574 slugging mark. On Howard's broad shoulders, the Senators had their best year ever, 86–76, but still finished far behind the Baltimore Orioles in the Eastern Division. He again led the AL with 340 total bases, the most ever by a Washington player, and added 111 RBI; his fourth-place finish in the MVP vote was the highest of his career. In 1970 he led the AL both in home runs (44) and RBI (126); his 132 walks in that year also topped the league, and remain a franchise record. On September 2, he received three intentional walks from flamethrowing southpaw Sam McDowell—two of them to lead off an inning. He came in fifth in the 1970 MVP race, and received one first-place vote.

Howard hit the last regular-season home run for the Senators in RFK Stadium in his final at bat on September 30, 1971 off Yankees pitcher Mike Kekich. After waving to the cheering fans, Howard tossed his hat into the stands, and blew a kiss to the crowd.

The Senators moved to Dallas/Fort Worth in 1972, becoming the Texas Rangers. Howard hit the first ever home run for the Rangers, but batted only .244 with nine home runs in 95 games before his contract was sold to the Detroit Tigers in August for the $20,000 waiver price. He had just one home run in 33 games for division champion Detroit, and was left off its postseason roster. His final big league season was 1973, batting .256 with 12 home runs playing DH. Unable to find a job in the majors in 1974, Howard signed to play in Japan's Pacific League for the Taiheiyo Club Lions. In his first at bat there he swung mightily and hurt his back, and never played again.

In 16 Major League seasons Howard batted .273, had a .499 slugging percentage, hit 382 home runs, and drove in 1,119 RBI in 1,895 games played. His lifetime marks included 864 runs, 1,774 hits, 245 doubles, 35 triples, eight stolen bases and a .352 on-base percentage; his 1,460 strikeouts, the product of a long swing, fence-busting power, and an enormous strike zone, were then the fifth highest total in major league history.

Following his retirement as a player Howard coached for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1977 to 1980 before being named manager of the 1981 San Diego Padres. The team finished in last place in both halves of that strike-marred season, and Howard was let go. Catching on as a coach with the Mets in 1982, he took over as manager for the last 116 games in 1983 after George Bamberger resigned, but again finished in last place.

In all he posted a 93–133 career managerial record. Howard also coached again for the Brewers (1985–86), Mets (1994–96), Seattle Mariners (1987–88), Yankees (1989, 1991–93), and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (1998–99). Since 2000 he worked for the Yankees as a player development instructor.

Back in 1972 Howard had thought that before much time had passed another president would deliver the opening-day pitch in the capital; he was only off by over three decades. On April 14, 2005, baseball returned to Washington. Reflecting on its '71 departure he remarked, "I thought that within five years it would be back. Well, 34 years later, here we are." During pregame ceremonies before the Washington Nationals–Arizona Diamondbacks game at RFK Stadium which featured players from both former Senators clubs, Howard walked out to left field and was greeted by a raucous ovation. At age 68, he joked, "I know I'm going to left field – if I can make it that far without having a coronary! I used to be able to sprint out there but I don't even know if I'll be able to jog. I told (former Senator Ed) Brinkman, 'For crissakes, call 911 if I have a blowout in left field.'"

Howard helped raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.