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We’d be remiss in our duties here on Baseball History Comes Alive if we didn’t take notice of the recent passing of the fine ball player, Frank Howard, in Aldie, Virginia at age 87 following complications from a stroke. Frank was one of the most physically intimidating players in baseball history at 6’7″ and 275 pounds. We thank Vince Jankoski for sharing some thoughts about Frank with us today – GL

FRANK HOWARD, RIP

Baseball recently lost another great one with the recent passing of Frank (“Hondo”) Howard.  To understand Howard’s greatness, one must appreciate his place in Washington baseball history.  As noted in an earlier post, there have been three separate franchises constituting Washington baseball: the original Senators, the expansion Senators, and the Nationals.  Sadly, these franchises may be correctly referenced by the other names for which they were known: Senators/Twins, Senators/Rangers, and Expos/Nationals, respectively, owing to their unfortunate mobile nature.  These three incarnations roughly correspond to my family’s three generations of baseball fans: my father, me, and my sons.

The original Senators produced some great players, especially Walter Johnson whose statue graces the exterior of Nationals Park.  In addition to being one of the greatest hurlers of all time, Johnson was a consummate gentleman who came out of the West to make Washington his home and wound up having a high school named after him.  He spent his entire career in Washington.  But there were other good-to-great players for the fans of that generation to take to heart: Goose Goslin, Sam Rice, Joe Cronin, Joe Judge.  And if a fan didn’t want to identify with an individual player, the team was competitive enough that the fan could, and often did, simply root for the team.  My father’s generation had enough heroes.

Similarly, my sons’ version of Washington baseball produced some great players: Max Sherzer, Steven Strasberg, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper.  In particular, fans adored Ryan Zimmerman, another consummate gentleman who played his entire career in Washington and made the area his home.  He is affectionately known as Employee #11.  The teams were competitive most years and won the World Series in 2019.  So, this generation of fans had a role model and a lot more to root for.

My generation had Frank Howard – nothing else.  Occasionally, a Senators’ player would have a good year or two (Dick Bosman).  Sometimes half a year (Dave Stenhouse).  Or a great game (Tom Cheney).  Nothing beyond that.  Moreover, the isolated brief periods of quality play were not harbingers of great things to come.  No, I suspect they were the baseball gods’ way of tormenting the faithful brought on by the gods’ displeasure of things unrelated to baseball emanating from a large domed building on the other end of East Capitol Street.

I apologize for the digression.  Whatever the reason, the teams were consistently bad – nothing to root for on that score.   Indeed, the teams were so bad that attendance was totally a function of the quality of the opposition.   But, there was Frank Howard.  Howard not only hit home runs, he hit long ones.  This Senators’ fan could always brag to his California cousin: “Your team may be better than mine, but my guy hits longer home runs than your guy.”  People came to the stadium not so much to see if Frank Howard would hit a home run but to witness how far the home run would travel so that they could tell their friends about it when they got home.  Howard’s home runs traveled so far that exaggerations were unnecessary.  Seats where Howard’s homers landed were painted white as proof to any disbelievers that this modern-day Hercules made his presence felt.  What made Howard even more special, like Johnson and Zimmerman, Howard was a role model for our kids.  He was the man for an entire generation of Washington baseball fans (mine).  He is missed.   

Frank Howard’s Career Highlights 

Frank played 16 years in the major league (1958-1974) for the Dodgers (1958-’64), Senators/Rangers (1965-’72), and Tigers. (1972-’73).  Over his career, he hit .273 with 1774 hits, 382 home runs, 1119 RBIs, 864 runs, a .352 on-base percentage, and a .499 slugging average. His 142 OPS+ mark places him well above his major league contemporaries.  A four-time All-Star, he led the American League twice in home runs; and one time each in RBIs and slugging average. In three games in the 1963 World Series, he hit .300 with one home run and one RBI. He was the 1960 National League Rookie of the Year.  Frank managed the San Diego Padres in 1981 and the New York Mets in 1983. He is a member of the Washington Nationals Ring of Honor. 

Vince Jankoski

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