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17 February 2024
Important personalitiesBack
Elston Gene Howard23.2.1929
Wikipedia (04 Mar 2013, 20:53)
Elston Gene Howard (February 23, 1929 – December 14, 1980) was an American Negro League and Major League Baseball catcher, left fielder and coach. During a 14-year baseball career, he played from 1955–1968, primarily for the New York Yankees. The first African American player on the Yankees roster, he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player for the 1963 pennant winners after finishing third in the league in slugging average and fifth in home runs, becoming the first black player in AL history to win the honor. He won Gold Glove Awards in 1963 and 1964, in the latter season setting AL records for putouts and total chances in a season. His lifetime fielding percentagern of .993 was a major league record from 1967 to 1973, and he retired rnamong the AL career leaders in putouts (7th, 6,447) and total chances rn(9th, 6,977). One of the most regular World Seriesrn participants in history, he appeared in ten of them, winning six, and rnranks among Series career leaders in several categories. His lifetime rnslugging average of .427 ranked fourth among AL catchers at the time of rnhis retirement.
