This is RetroSports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
This is Elson Howard of the New York Yankees and in a few moments I'll tell you about my
greatest sports thrill.
This is Harry Wismar. What you're about to hear is a transcribed story of one of baseball's
outstanding players and an event our special guest Elson Howard considers his greatest
sports thrill. And Elson himself is here to tell us all about it. But first, here is Bill
Reddick with a message of interest from your United States Air Force.
Young men, your first few years after college graduation can be very important years. You
can be earning good pay building toward a secure future. Yes, all these advantages can
be yours if you qualify for officer training with the U.S. Air Force. As an Air Force officer,
you will be recognized as a leader, a man of high mental, physical and moral standards.
And along with the important work you do for the Air Force in the great new age of space,
you will enjoy excellent recreational facilities as well as liberal vacation periods and the
opportunity for world travel. If you're a college graduate between 20 and a half and
27 and a half years old in good physical condition, make arrangements now for an interview with
your Air Force recruiting officer. He will give you complete details on the new officer
training school program. This can be your first step toward a bright future with the
greatest defense team in the world, the United States Air Force. And now, back to Harry
Wismer. In the reasonably short span of four seasons,
Elston Howard, the first Negro to wear a New York Yankee uniform, has moved up to star
ranking. Manager Casey Stengel considers him the best catcher in the American League,
which means that Casey must regard him above Yogi Berra, a three-time winner of the most
valuable player award in the league. Elston Howard is a Yankee untradable. Set Stengel,
I can get any player in the league for him, and don't think I can't, but I'm not going
to do it. Every time a fellow comes to me with a list of names he's willing to deal,
he also has a list of Yankees he must have. And Elston Howard is at the top of the list.
Well, he ain't gonna go anywhere. He's worth more than any ball player in the league in
a trade. Elston Howard can hit. He's the best hitter on the club, as indicated by his 314
batting average in 1958, highest among the Yankees. Howard can catch. He learned the
lessons taught to him by the Yankees' hall of famer Bill Dickey and learned them well.
Behind the plate, Howard is a polished workman, playing up as close behind the hitters as
anyone, taming the would-be base-dealers with a throwing arm that's the best on the Yankees.
Howard can also play the outfield, where he spent most of his time as a Yankee while
waiting for Barrett to slow up. It was in the outfield that he starred during the 1958
World Series, on the way to winning the Babe Ruth Award as the outstanding player of the
series. Elston Howard is a better catcher than he is an outfielder, although it was
his brilliant defensive play in left field in the World Series with the Milwaukee Braves
in 1958 that helped turn the tide in favor of the Yankees. During most of the first four
games, Elston was confined to the Yankee dugout. The Braves won three of them. Howard was given
a shot at the difficult left field position after Norm Seaburn's faulty handling of the
job had cost them the fourth game and left them only one game from elimination. The ensuing
three-game sweep marked only the second time in World Series history that a team won after
losing three of the first four in a seven-game set. It was engineered almost as much by Elston
Howard's fielding and hitting as by the pitching of Bob Turley, who appeared in all three final
games. In the sixth inning of the fifth game, Howard made a diving catch of Brad Shane Deane's
low liner and double Bill Brutonoff's first base to preserve Turley's seven-to-nothing
shutout. The series shifted to Milwaukee for the sixth game and Howard remained in left
field. In the second inning, with Milwaukee ahead two-to-one, and the bases full, Howard
caught a fly by Johnny Logan and fired a no-bounce throw to the plate to nail Andy Paphko trying
to score after the catch. The Yankees won the game four-to-three in ten innings when Howard
singled and scored the winning run. Those were sparkling events in Elston Howard's career,
but the high mark came in the eighth inning of the grand finale. With the score tied 2-2,
Yogi Vara hit a two-out double off Luber Depp. Howard then hit a sharp single through the
middle to put the Yankees ahead three-to-two. The bombers kept going, and Bill Scarran's
homer settled the final count at six-to-two. Elston Howard isn't just one of those baseball
mechanics. A man whose athletic skill is limited to the routines of the diamond. He was an
all-around high school athlete in St. Louis, where he grew up as a member of the Cardinals'
Not-Hole Gang. It was easy for young Elston to become interested in baseball. He lived
only a few blocks from Sportsman's Park, now Bush Stadium.
Elston Howard was scouted by the Yankees as intensely off the field as on it. The Yankees
were determined that their first Negro player would be a man of pride and desire, a credit
to his team and to his race. Elston's background was researched as completely as his athletic
records. The Howard family was well regarded. Elston's father, Travis, is an educator and
a descendant of George Washington Carver. He is now principal of a Negro high school
in New Madrid, Missouri, 130 miles southeast of St. Louis. Ellie is the only child.
The Yankees acquired Elston Howard in 1950, two years after he was out of high school
for $15,000 and sent him to Muskegon, Michigan, at the Class A Central League in July. He
played 54 games, all as an outfielder, and knocked in 42 runs on only 52 hits, a third
of them being for extra bases. They were going to send Howard to San Francisco in 1951, but
he went farther than that. He was drafted into the service and shipped to Japan where he
spent 14 months. Discharged in the winter of 1952, Elston Howard was assigned for the
Yankees to Kansas City, then their farm club in the American Association. He had a good
year hitting 286 and knocking in 70 runs. It was in the latter part of the season that
orders went out from the Yankees to begin making a catcher of Elston Howard. When Elston
reported to the Yankee Rookie School in St. Petersburg in February of 1954, Bill Dickey
was assigned to teach him the art of catching, and he learned quickly.
Still crude as a catcher, Howard was farmed out to Toronto of the International League.
There he made it big. He hit 330 for the pennant-winning Maple Leafs, and had 109 runs batted in. He
followed 22 homers and led the league with 16 triples. Even more significant, he led
the league's catchers in fielding. It was obvious that he was now ready for the Yankees.
The following spring Howard impressed in the Florida Exhibition Games, and he was formally
inducted into the Order of the Bronx Bombers. He became a helpful hand very quickly, although
confined to pinch-hitting roles for the first two months. His pinch-triple in the night
beat the Red Sox one afternoon at Yankee Stadium. A few days later, he won another game with
a pinch hit. When it happened a third time in the same home stand, the appreciative Yankee
players formed a guard of honor for him as he entered the clubhouse. They stood in two
lines and laid out a path of towels leading from the dressing room door to his locker
as a red carpet. It was the player's way of showing Elston Howard they were happy to have
him on the New York Yankees. Now before you meet our special guest, Elston Howard in person
in an interview from Yankee Stadium and hear about his greatest sports thrill, here is
a message of interest to all young men with an eye on the future.
The search for a bright promising career leads many of America's finest young men to the
U.S. Air Force. As officers in this great forward-looking service, they are given unlimited opportunity
for advancement. They are trained to be leaders in the age of space. Can you qualify for officer
training? If you are a U.S. citizen, a college graduate between 20 and a half and 27 and
a half years old, married or single, and if you possess good health and good moral character,
you may be eligible to become an Air Force officer, an important member of the greatest
defense team in the world. This would include the opportunity for exciting foreign travel,
further education, and wonderful sporting and recreational activities which are provided
on Air Force bases. Make arrangements now for an interview with a recruiting officer.
Learn how you may become a technical or flying officer in the U.S. Air Force, the man with
a bright future in the new age of space. Now back to Harry Wismert.
Elston Howard, what was your greatest sports thrill?
Harry, I have to say my greatest sports thrill was in 1955, I think my first appearance, 1955
World Series where I hit at least my first pitch, I hit a home run against Don Nukum
of the Brooklyn Dodgers. And we went on to win the World Series and I think that because
I say it was my greatest thrill because my first time up I was real nervous and when
I hit the home run it was just like any other ball game.
If you had a choice, would you rather play the outfield or catch?
Well, Harry, if I had a choice I'd rather be catch because since I've been in the major
leagues I've been playing outfield and also I've been catching. Anything that I can do
is to help the ball club, that's what I'm willing to do but if I had to pick one I'd
prefer catching.
Who would you say has been most helpful to you in your development as a major leaguer?
Harry, I have to say that Bill Dickey because when I was down in spring training I went
down to Casey Stingles School and Bill Dickey took me on a sad and he worked hard with me
every day showing me all the points and all the tricks of catching and I think that at
the present time he's still, when he's in the stand, if he come down doing the game
before the game he look at me and he'd tell me all the mistakes that I'm making and I
have to give all the correct to him because he's really helpful to me since I've been
in the big leagues.
Ellie, when playing left field at the Yankee Stadium, do the shadows bother a fielder as
much as they say it does?
Well, Harry, I think I have played left field in Yankee Stadium but I never had trouble
with the sun which is, I think it's one of the roughest fields in any major league ball
part because late in the year the shadows fall behind the stand and as the sun forms
in the lower part of the stand, I mean it really is a reflection on any left fielder
because the sun is direct in the left field's eyes and I never have, as I said before, lost
the ball in the sun but if you recall, Stephen in West Covington had a little trouble in
the field during the World Series.
Then the following day I went to the outfield and where I had a pretty good day I didn't
have a question enough to make a catch against Red Chambers which a lot of people say was
turning tired of the World Series and as I said before, I think that any ball player
that has played left field in Yankee Stadium and they'll say that it's as tough as I'll
feel in the league.
Ellie, do you go along with the thinking that a batter should just try and hit the ball
where it is pitched?
Well, Harry, that's the case that helped me over the past year where I hit 3-14 in 1958.
I led the Yankee Ball Club in Hidden where the years before, 1954 and 1955, I was pulling
the ball but I hit 2-90 and I hit 2-71.
Well I would say that hitting the ball where it's pitched is very important because offensive
for a fellow, keep the ball away from you and you try to pull the ball, majority of
the times you're going to hit the ball right back to the pitcher.
But during the times I have been hitting the ball where it's pitched, offensive I had a
wonderful year, I hit the ball the right field, right center, then when the ball comes inside
I pull the pitch.
So I think that it really helped me and thanks to Casey Stingel because he was the one who
always was preaching about hit the ball where the ball is pitched and that's what I did
and it really helped me tremendously.
Do you recall your first appearance at the plate in the Yankee uniform?
Well my first appearance at the plate in the Yankee uniform was in 1955, right here in
Yankee Stadium when I faced one of the top pitchers in the major league at the time was
Mike Garcia.
My first time up I think that I came in for a pitch hitter for Tom Sturvin who was pitching
the ball game, he came out and my first time up I hit a line, dragged down a left field
line which was fouled and three pitchers later he walked me and naturally I was a little
nervous because my first appearance in the big leagues and later on I went up to Boston
and I played in the ball game and fortunately enough I got five for five, that was my first
big break in the big leagues.
Ellie what is the most unusual play you've ever been involved in?
Well Harry I think the most unusual play that I've been involved in was on the sister double
play which we were playing in the Baltimore Orioles and Tom Sturvin was a pitcher and
I was a catcher and I think the hitter was Gus Triandos with runners on third and first
and Gus hit the ball back in time and the runner was Billy Claus, he started breaking
towards the plate and I hollered at Tom and he threw the ball at me and I run as the fellow
Claus back down the third base to get him in the chase but this time I tagged Claus out
and the other runner was right at third base and as he slid in I tagged him out so that
was on the sister double play I think that was my most unusual.
Thank you very much Alston Howard of the New York Yankees, one of baseball's outstanding
players.