Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 1958 • Baseball Clip • Elston Howard Interview - Radio

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1958 • Baseball Clip • Elston Howard Interview - Radio · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

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