Washington Baseball Legend Frank Howard Passes On
Underrated Masher was 87
The DMV has lost another baseball giant. Earlier this week, the Washington Nationals announced the death of Frank Howard.
When you have three nicknames (Hondo, Capital Punisher, and the Washington Monument) in a city where you played less than half of your career, you must have made a huge impact. The 6’7″, 250 lb. outfielder and first baseman did just that during his 1965-1971 seasons in the District of Columbia.
The last four seasons in DC were all-star seasons for Howard.
In terms of his athleticism, he played basketball and baseball at Ohio State. Another slick 6’7″ player, Aaron Judge, is the modern day comp of Frank Howard.
Maybe not a Hall of Famer, but…
Although Howard was not a hall of fame player, he had several HOF-caliber seasons. He also accomplished some very cool things:
- Named NL rookie of the year in 1960.
- In his fourth full season, he won a World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963.
- In the fourth and final game of that World Series, he belted a critical HR off lefty Whitey Ford in the 5th inning which helped the Dodgers complete the sweep, 2-1.
- Hit the last HR in Senators history on September 30, 1971, which was the final Senators game at RFK Stadium.
- Clubbed the first HR in Texas Rangers history in 1972.
- Crushed 10 homers in 20 at-bats during the week of May 12-18, 1968. Still an MLB record for weekly dingers.
From First to Worst
In 1965, Howard was traded from the Dodgers to the Washington Senators. During a three-year stretch from 1968-70, Frank hit 44, 48, and 44 home runs. He won the MLB homer crown in two of those three seasons. Only a former Senator (Harmon Killebrew) hit one more long ball than Howard in 1969.
Teddy Ballgame, Meet the Washington Monument
In his first year playing for Ted Williams in 1969, Howard doubled his walks to over 100 and cut down significantly on his strikeouts. In the same season Frank Howard recorded the most hits of his career (175) and batted .296.
The memories of Frank Howard the player helped fill the 33-year void of professional baseball in Washington, DC. The memories of Frank Howard the coach and the man will last forever.
