It was 1968 and, in the major leagues, pitching was dominant. So much so, that season became forever known as “The Year of the Pitcher.” In fact, pitchers appeared to have such an “upper” hand that MLB went into the 1969 season with a lower mound (10 inches) and a smaller strike zone. Consider, in 1968:
- The MLB earned run average was 2.98.
- Six qualifying pitchers put up ERAs under 2.00.
- Bob Gibson’s 1.12 ERA was (and still is) the fourth-lowest in MLB history (and was the lowest since 1914).
- Only six qualifying hitters hit .300 or better.
- Carl Yastrzemski won the AL batting title with a .301 average, and a .274 average was good enough for the AL top ten.
- Denny McLain won 31 games, becoming the first 30-game winner since 1934 (Dizzy Dean).
- Pitchers Denny McLain (Tigers) and Bob Gibson (Cardinals) won the AL and NL Cy Young and MVP awards, respectively.
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In 1968, there were 339 shutouts in MLB – with 20.9 of the season’s losses (or victories, depending on which side you are on) coming in whitewashings.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
Yet, somehow – in the midst of all this pitching dominance – the Washington Senators’ big (6’8” – 260-lb.) OF/1B Frank Howard put together one of the most explosive offensive weeks in MLB history. From Sunday May 12 through Saturday May 18, in just 25 plate appearances (in six games), Howard banged out thirteen hits – including ten home runs and one double – and drew one walk (for a .542 average). He also scored ten times and drove in 17 tallies. Side note: Surprisingly, the Senators went 3-3 over Howard’s streak. Howard’s ten home runs remain MLB’s record for home runs in a week.
Howard’s game lines during the streak looked like this:
- May 12 … two-for-four, two runs scored, two RBI, two home runs.
- May 14 … three-for-four, two runs scored, three RBI, two home runs.
- May 15 … two-for-four, one run scored, two RBI, one double, one home run.
- May 16 .… two-for-four, two runs scored, four RBI, two home runs.
- May 17 … one-for-four, one run scored, two RBI, one home run.
- May 18 … three-for-five, two runs scored, four RBI, two home runs.
Howard picked on some pretty good hurlers during his streak. Three of the long balls came off the Tigers’ Mickey Lolich, who went 17-9, 3.19 on the season and won three games in the 1968 World Series. Another pair of the record-setting round trippers came off “Sudden” Sam McDowell, who – while he only went 15-14 that season – put up a 1.81 earned run average and led the AL with 283 strikeouts. Howard also showed he could “hit ‘em anywhere.” Only two of the ten long balls came at home – and his streak also included home runs in Boston, Cleveland and Detroit.
Howard came into the streak with a.300 average on the season (which he raised to .347 during the six games). Notably, he didn’t “come in hot,” he had just three hits (.130 average) over his previous six games.
All-Around Athlete
Frank Howard was All American in both baseball and basketball for Ohio State University – and still holds the Ohio State record for rebounds in a game at 32.
Howard was signed out of Ohio State University by the Dodgers. The 21-year-old began his professional career in 1958 – with the Class B Green Bay Blue Jays, where he hit .333, with 37 home runs and 119 RBI in 129 games, was named the Three-I League MVP and began building his reputation for hitting the ball hard and far. (Today’s exit-velocity fans would have loved him.) That performance earned him a September call up to the Dodgers, where he hit .241, with one long ball in eight games.
His early career did feature a few “ups and downs.”
In 1959, Howard began his season with the Double-A Victoria Rosebuds (Texas League), where he raked at a .371-27-79 pace over 63 games – earning a mid-June call up to Los Angeles. That stay lasted only about a week, during which Howard went 2-for-19 (.105). He was sent down to Triple-A Spokane, where he continued to dominate minor-league pitching, with a .319-16-47 line in 76 games. That earned him another call up and he went one-for-two (with a home run) in two September pinch-hitting appearances.
Howard again started the season at Spokane in 1960, hitting .371-4-24 in 26 games and earning a May call up. For LA, he hit .268-23-77 in 117 games, earning National League Rookie of the Year honors. (For those who like to know such things, the Phillies’ Poncho Herrera finished second in the ROY balloting and Howard’s teammate Tommy Davis finished fifth.)
That One’s Outta Here
In the fourth game of the 1963 World Series, Frank Howard became the first player to hit a home run into Dodger Stadium’s loge level (upper deck) in left field – a feat that wouldn’t be matched for four decades.
Howard stayed with the Dodgers through the 1964 season, showing solid, but not spectacular power (.271-98-297 in four seasons … 1961-64). His best campaign for LA came in 1962, when he hit .296, with 31 home runs and 119 RBI (going .297-20-71 in 76 games after the All Star break). In December of 1964, he was sent to the Washington Senators as part of a seven-player trade.
Frank Howard Knocks Out Duke Snider
In the fifth inning of a September 16, 1958 game against the Reds, with Duke Snider leading off third base, Frank Howard hit a rocket (foul) down the third base line. The ball hit Snider on the shoulder and ricocheted the bottom his helmet – knocking Snider out and ending his season.
It was in Washington that Howard seemed to refine his uppercut swing and his bating eye (he often credited Gil Hodges, Jim Lemon and Ted Williams for the tutelage) and finally reach his “big man” potential. The 1967-1971 seasons (ages 30-34) were clearly Howard’s best in the majors. In that five-season span, he made four All Star teams and hit .278, with 198 home runs and 515 RBI. He topped 40 home runs in three straight seasons (1968-70) and also topped 100-RBI in each of those campaigns. Howard led the AL in long balls in 1968 and 1970, as well as in RBI in 1970.
In Washington, “Hondo” Howard became known as “The Washington Monument” and the “Capitol Punisher” – one of the game’s most powerful hitters and a true second-deck threat. He also continued his reputation as one of the game’s most popular, humble, gracious and accommodating stars.
He’ s the most pleasant giant of a man I know.
Dusty Baker about Frank Howard
Howard ultimately played in 16 MLB seasons (1958-73 … Dodgers, Senators, Rangers, Tigers). He put up a .273-382-1,119 stat line. Howard hit 30 or more home runs in five seasons and drove in 100+ runs in four. The four-time All Star also led his league in total bases twice, slugging percentage once, walks once, intentional walks twice and, as noted earlier, home runs twice and RBI once.
“No one hit the ball harder than Frank Howard. He was the strongest I ever saw. I saw him hit a line drive off Whitey Ford at the (Yankee) Stadium that Whitey actually jumped for, it was hit that low. It ended up hitting the speakers behind the monuments in dead center.
Mickey Mantle about Frank Howard
No one pitcher took more punishment from Howard then the Orioles’ three-time All Star Dave McNally. In 35 games over nine seasons, Howard hit .336 against McNally with 13 home runs and 24 RBI (his most HR and RBI versus any MLB pitcher). Still, he seemed to have an even greater affinity for the offerings of Bob Hendley (Brewers/Giants). In just 16 games against Hendley, Howard hit eight home runs and drove in 16 tallies (with a .366 average).
Sam McDowell seemed most prone to pitch around the big guy. In 28 games (95 plate appearances), McDowell walked Howard 25 times (26.3 percent of those plate appearances). That figure includes nine intentional passes – the most any pitcher awarded to Howard. (The 25 total walks were also Howard’s high against any pitcher.)
Howard’s lowest batting average (minimum 25 at bats) versus any pitcher came against the Orioles’ Tom Phoebus at .083 (3-for-36, although two of the three were home runs). Notably, Jim Maloney, Reds and Angels, held Howard to a .118 average over 12 games and fanned him in 50 percent of the times he faced him (17 whiffs in 34 plate appearances).
Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; “Frank Hondo Howard – The Gentle Giant,” LADodgerTalk.com, August 21, 2020; “The Dodgers Troubled Giant.” Sports Illustrated, May 25, 1964; “IT’S OUTTA HEEERRE!!: A New Generation of Sluggers Invites Tape-Measure Comparisons,” Los Angeles Times, June 21, 1986.
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