Frank Howard

At 87 years old, Frank Howard has this physical status:

Frank Oliver Howard (born August 8, 1936), also known as "The Washington Monument" and "The Capitol Punisher," is a former All-Star outfielder, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Senators/Texas Rangers franchises for most of his career. Former Senators/Rangers trainer Bill Zeigler said Howard would tip the scales at between 275 and 290 pounds, making him one of the sport's most powerful players.

Howard was named Rookie of the Year in 1960 and went on to lead the American League in home runs and total bases, as well as in slugging percentages.

When he retired, his 382 home runs were the eighth most home runs by a right-handed hitter; his 237 home runs and 1969 total bases in a Washington uniform were a record for any of the city's numerous franchises.

Howard's Washington/Texas franchise records of 1,172 games, 4120 at bats, 1,141 hits, 701 runs, 541 runs, 514 total bases, and a.503 slugging percentage have since been broken.

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Career

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. In both basketball and baseball, he was an All-American. In 1957, he averaged 20.1 points and 15.3 rebounds and was drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors of the National Basketball Association the following year.

Howard later signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and received the Sports News Minor League Player of the Year Award in 1959 after winning 43 home runs in the Pacific Coast League. He took over Los Angeles' right fielder in 1960 after a few appearances in 1958 and 1959. After batting.268 with 23 home runs and 77 runs batted in, he was named Rookie of the Year in the Netherlands. (RBIs) After the character in a John Wayne film, his coworkers gave him the nickname "Hondo."

Howard had 98 home runs in the following four seasons, most prominently in a 1962 campaign in which he batted.296 with 31 home runs and finished among the top five players in RBIs (119) and slugging (.560). He received the NL Player of the Month award in July with a.381 average, 12 home runs, and an astounding 41 RBIs. Howard was awarded 19 outfield assists (the league champion, Johnny Callison, who played in 147 games, had only five more). With the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants tied for first place, the season came to an end. Howard had only one 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 game, an 8–7 victory. In three games, the Giants won the pennant, but Howard finished ninth in the MLB Most Valuable Player award voting.

Joe Watt's average, 28 home runs, and 64 RBIs dropped off in 1963, but the Dodgers won the pennant, and Whitey Ford's upper-deck solo home run off Whitey Ford helped Los Angeles to a 2–1 victory and a sweep of the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the World Series. He hit over 20 home runs in 1964, and in Sandy Koufax's third no-hitter, a 3–0 win over the New York Mets, he had been homered for three runs in the seventh inning. However, the team's 1962 move into pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium hurt power hitters, as well as quicker outfielders like spray-hitting Willie Davis, who were seen as more in tune with the team's future.

Howard's.226 batting average in 1964, as combined with high strikeout numbers, culminated in his trade to the Washington Senators in December, an expansion franchise that played the original Senator team, which had moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins. Claude Osteen, the future All-Star pitcher, was drafted to Los Angeles to add to the already strong starting rotation. "I was basically a fourth outfielder in Los Angeles, doing it on 400 at-bats," Howard recalled welcoming the trade in 2005, when going from a pennant contender to a weak expansion team. "What if I get 550 at-bats?" He wondered. "I had my best years here."

Howard was unquestionably the center of the offense in Washington, leading the team in home runs and RBI in each of his seven seasons. However, the Senators were a terrible bunch under new owners Gil Hodges, Jim Lemon, and Ted Williams, with only one winning season in that season. In 1967, he hit 36 home runs, third in the AL behind Harmon Killebrew and Carl Yastrzemski, as he entered the peak years of his career. Howard hammered 10 home runs in 20 at bats in 20 consecutive games during an incredible one-week stretch in 1968 (May 12–18); his ten home runs were also the most in a week. He would go on to play in 16 games, a record that hasn't broken since 1995, compared only to Albert Belle. Howard finished second in the AL with 44 home runs, a.552 slugging percentage, and 330 total bases, as he finished second in four consecutive All-Star teams this year (particularly, after winning Rookie-of-the-Year awards with the Dodgers at age 23 years ago) and eighth in the MVP voting, with the Senators in tenth (last) place with a 65–96 record. His 1968 numbers were all the more impressive, considering that pitching dominated the year; 1968 has often been described as the "Year of the Pitcher."

Howard wore #9 from the time he first joined the Senators in 1968 until 1968. Howard happily gave #9 to the Hall of Famer as new owner Bob Short signed retired slugger Williams to head the team; Howard wore #33 for the first time in 1969; "Can you tell me how a guy hits 44 home runs and only gets 48 bases on balls?" Williams asked, urging him to be more patient at the plate. Howard advised Howard to lay off the first fastball he saw and bring out the count, which resulted in Howard's walk totals almost doubling and 45 fewer strikeouts in the first year. Howard took the AL lead after 32 more walks a year ago, with a record of 132.

Howard began semi-regularly at first base in 1968 in an attempt to minimize the wear and tear of playing the outfield daily. He had a typical bad showing at the plate against the Orioles on April 13, 1969, when he struck out six times in the course of a doubleheader, including four against Jim Palmer in the first game. He vented his rage by breaking a bat over his knee.

Howard had a career high in 1969 with 48 home runs (one behind Killebrew's league lead), 111 runs (second in the AL to Reggie Jackson), a.296 batting average, and a.574 slugging record. The Senators had their best year ever, 86–76, but they finished much behind the Baltimore Orioles in the Eastern Division, on Howard's broad shoulders. He led the AL with 340 total bases, the most by a Washington player, and 111 RBI; his fourth-place finish in the MVP poll was his highest of his career. He led the AL in home runs (44) and RBI (126); his 132 walks in that year also topped the league and remain a franchise record. Sam McDowell, a flamethrowing southpaw, took three deliberate walks on September 2, two of whom were meant to lead off an inning. He came in fifth in the 1970 MVP competition and received one first-place vote.

In his last at bat for the Senators in RFK Stadium on September 30, 1971, under Yankees pitcher Mike Kekich. Howard threw his batting helmet into the crowds, and after the game, Howard yelled "This is utopia for me."

In 1972, the Senators were called the Texas Rangers, who then migrated to Dallas/Fort Worth. Howard had only 9 home runs in 95 games before his deal with the Detroit Tigers was sold to him in August; he had just one home run in 33 games for division champion Detroit, and was notably left off the postseason roster. His last big league season was 1973, with a.256 average and 12 home runs as DH. Howard decided to play in Japan's Pacific League after struggling to find a job in the majors in 1974. In his first at bat, he swung swung mightily and injured his back, but he never returned to action.

Howard played in 1,119 RBI in 1,895 games played in 16 Major League seasons, with a.499 slugging percentage, 382 home runs, and drove in 1,119 RBI in 16 Major League seasons. His lifetime totals, 864 runs, 1,774 runs, 245 doubles, eight stolen bases, and a.352 on-base percentage, were his 1,460 strikeouts, the result of a long swing, fence-busting capability, and a large strike zone; he had a 1.8 percent on-base percentage, the fifth highest total in major league history.

Howard played for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1977-1980 before being named manager of the 1981 San Diego Padres. During the season's two halves, the team came in last place, but Howard was let go. Since George Bamberger resigned as a coach with the Mets in 1982, he took over as manager for the first 116 games in 1983, but the Mets finished last in last place.

In all, he had a 93-133 career managerial record. Howard worked with the Brewers (1985–86), Mets (1994–96), Seattle Mariners (1989, 1991–93), and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (1998–99). Since 2000, he has been working with the Yankees as a player development coach.

Howard predicted that before long time had passed, another President would have delivered the opening-day pitch in the capital; he was only off by over three decades. Baseball returned to Washington on April 14, 2005. "I thought it would be back in five years," he said reflecting on its '71 departure. Well, 34 years later, here we are. Howard walked out to left field during pre-game ceremonies at RFK Stadium, where both former Senators players were greeted with a raucous ovation. He joked that "I know I'm going to left field" at age 68, as long as I don't have a coronary! I used to be able to sprint out of there, but I don't know if I'll be able to jog. "For crissakes, call 911 if you have a blowout in left field," I told (former Senator Ed Brinkman.'

Howard now raises funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

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