Frank Howard, four-time All-Star and Washington Senators legend, dies at 87

Former All-Star outfielder/first baseman Frank Howard died on Monday morning at the age of 87, the Texas Rangers announced in a statement.

Howard appeared in parts of 16 big-league seasons, amassing a career slash line of .273/.352/.499 (142 OPS+) with 382 home runs and 1,119 runs batted in. He led the majors in home runs in 1968, and he later finished second (while still topping the American League) in that category behind Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench in 1970. It was during that 1968 season that he set an active record for the most home runs in a week by launching 10 over the course of 20 at-bats. 

“I wish I had more weeks like that, I might have made a couple of bucks in the game of baseball,” Howard told MLB.com about that stretch in 2018.

Overall, Howard’s contributions were worth an estimated 37.6 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference’s calculations.

The 6-foot-7 Howard, who had played both basketball and baseball at Ohio State University, was also drafted by the NBA’s Philadelphia Warriors in 1958. He chose instead to pursue a professional baseball career with the Dodgers. It proved to be a wise decision, as he won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1960 with Los Angeles and then earned Most Valuable Player Award consideration in 1962. 

Howard remained with the Dodgers until the winter of 1964, when he was shipped to the Washington Senators as part of a seven-player deal. From there, Howard established himself as one of the top sluggers in the Senators’ short-lived history. In seven seasons before the franchise relocated to become the Texas Rangers, he averaged 34 home runs and 96 RBI to go with a 156 OPS+. 

All four of Howard’s All-Star Game appearances came as a Senator, and he finished top-10 in MVP balloting three times, including twice in the top five. Predictably, Howard made the move with the Senators to Texas ahead of Opening Day 1972. He then homered in his first official at-bat as a Rangers player, thereboy recording the first hit in Arlington Stadium history. 

According to Howard’s SABR biography, he later said of his new fan base: “We’re aware you can’t peddle a poor product to the public. It’s nice to think that these people’s first memory of major league baseball might be my home run, but I really hope that their memory is the win.”

Howard was very much in the twilight of his career by the time the Senators became the Rangers. He was sold off to the Detroit Tigers in August 1972 and would appear in 99 more games before retiring. Howard became a coach afterward, eventually serving as a manager with both the San Diego Padres (for 110 games) and, a couple years later, the New York Mets (for 116 games). He finished that aspect of his career with a 41.2% winning percentage.

Howard would continue to coach, spending time with the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and even the Tampa Bay Rays. He would eventually move into a player development role with the Yankees as the final act of a baseball career that included more than 40 years as an on-field figure.

The Rangers’ press release noted that Howard was the “oldest living expansion Washington Senator at the time of his passing.”