Frank Howard was my Man

[BaseballBrain46]

I'm 46 years old and I remember Frank Howard very well, about 6-7 215 pounds and wore glasses. He could hit some mammoth shots. Too bad he didn't play for a really good team like the Yankees back then.

[Baseball Guru]

I got to meet Mr. Howard when he was a coach for the D-Rays a few years ago and got his autograph...

He is a big, big man!!!!

[The Real McCoy]

In Game 1 in '63, Howard, then with the Los Angeles Dodgers, comes up in the first inning against Ford and hits a line drive over shortstop (Kubek actually jumped for the ball). It is hit so hard, it goes all the way to the left center field wall on the fly, (this is pre-renovation at the Stadium) over 400 feet and caroms back so quickly to Mantle in centerfield that Howard stops at first with what had to be the longest single in Stadium history. Frank Howard may have hit the ball harder than anyone in the game (he's sure in the top 5).

[shlevine42]

...and in Game 4, Howard gets the only 2 hits off Ford -- one of them a MONSTER home run -- to help Koufax and the Dodgers complete the sweep.

How sweet that was!

[The Real McCoy]

Game 2 was my first WS game. Watched Johnny P extend his pinstripe scoreless streak to 19.1 before Ron Perranoski got the last two. Sweet? Absolutely, but we both know how it could have been much sweeter!

[shlevine42]

Of course it would have meant more if the winners had worn caps with a "B," but tell the truth: Didn't you get some satisfaction from having a team called the Dodgers cream the Yankees in 4?

Given our history, a large part of being a Dodgers fan was wishing the worst for the Yankees. For me, '63 met that goal, and provided some measure of redemption, even if the winners were wearing the wrong uniform.

[BaseballBrain46]

Can anyone give me the regular lineup for the Senators when Frank Howard played for them. Like in the early 60's I guess. Wasn't Brinkman the shortstop or something?

[The Commissioner]

Here might be typical lineup from circa 1968, the first year that Howard led the A.L. in homers with 44:

CF Del Unser
RF Ed Stroud
1B Mike Epstein
LF Frank Howard
2B Bernie Allen
C Paul Casanova
3B Ken McMullen
SS Ed Brinkman/Ron Hansen
Pitcher

[BaseballBrain46]

Thanks I appreciate that.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

I came across two beautiful 8X10 photos of Frank Howard. One is from his playing days with the Senators, and the other is as a Yankee coach.

I would like to have just posted the pictures. But, they are very large, and "vB code" evidently does not allow you to resize images. So, I linked each photo to a small thumbnail-sized image below.

Click on the thumbnail of Frank in a Senator cap to see the photo of him with Washington (not the same shot as the thumbnail); click on the thumbnail of Frank in a Tampa Bay hat to see the shot of him as a Yankee coach.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

Frank was a Yankee coach under both Dallas Green and Stump Merrill in the late 80s and early 90s. He is now back in the organization, and serves as a spring training instructor. This year he even managed the AAA Columbus Clippers for a while on an interim basis.

[BaseballBrain46]

Did any of the other players on the 68 team becomes coaches or managers, like Brinkman or Mike Epstein?

[The Commissioner]

I believe at one point in the '80s while Howard was coaching, Brinkman was also a coach with the White Sox, Unser with the Phillies, and Hansen with the Expos.

[Bob Hannah]

Frank Howard

I saw Frank Howard in '66 or '67 hit a home run to dead center field in DC in what is now RFK Stadium. I was eight or nine at the time. As I remember it, the pitcher seemed to turn his back and duck to get out of the way of the shot. The ball contiually rose on a straight line and hit the wall past the fence in center (where the Longines clock kept time), the ball still on the rise when it hit. I have never seen a ball hit so hard. The only batter close to hitting the ball that hard, that I have ever seen, is Dave Winfield in the '80s.

As kids, we all worshiped Howard in the DC area. He was about the only shining light DC baseball had (Bosman was a very good pitcher, I can't take that away from him). The Senators were our team. We rooted for Frank, Eddie Brinkman, Ken McMullen, Epstein, Casanova, et al, through thick and thin. From this team, I learned DEFINITELY that winning isn't everything. Loved that team so much I even followed the Rangers for two or three years after DC got Shorthorned in '71.

Baseball in DC '03! :gt

[Markus58]

Growing up in Northern Virginia in the late `60's and beyond, me and my buddies worshipped the `Nats although there was little reason to do so. Frank Howard was The Man, the Gentle Giant who was a fearsome slugger. In `68 thru `70, he posted up some MVP type numbers only to lose out to Denny McLain, Killebrew and Boog Powell. Epstein was a slugger, but he got shipped off to Oakland for Don Mincher.

Remember Frank's 10 homers in 20 AB's streak in `68? Shawn Green rivaled that this past season, 35 years later.

Remember Frank homering in his home park at RFK in the `69 All-Star Game?

Brooks Robinson once talked about seeing a ball leave Frank's bat, and he instinctively came out of his normal crouch. The ball just ticked his left ear lobe, never seen. Brooks looked over his left shoulder and saw the drive carom off the left field wall on the fly. At the end of the inning, he sat down in the dugout and was shaking visibly, once he realized how close he came to sustaining a serious injury.

In the Senators last game ever prior to being "Bob Shorted" to Texas, Frank homered against the Yankees, and the fans went wild. The `Nats were leading 7-5 going into the 9th, but the game was officially forfeited due to fans running on the field.

God bless you Frank....thanks for the memories.