After his playing days were up in 1974, Howard became a coach for Milwaukee from 1977 through 1980 before becoming a manager later on for both the San Diego Padres and New York Mets.
I have fond memories of him coaching for the Yankees in the late-80’s/early 90’s, seeing this HUGE guy out on the field making some of his younger peers look like little kids!
As a player, Howard played 16-years and hit 382 home runs, mainly for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Senators between 1958 and 1971, leading the American League in home runs twice, runs batted in once, walks once, and slugging percentage once while getting named to four straight all-star teams, while batting a very respectable .273 with 1119 RBI’s and 864 runs scored.
He was the National league Rookie of the Year in 1960 and was one of the first players to club 30 homers in each league when he hit 31 for the Dodgers in 1962 and 36 for the Senators in 1967.
If I’m not mistaken (being lazy and not double-checking), he was the second such player behind Frank Robinson, who beat him to the punch just a year earlier with his Triple Crown season for the Baltimore Orioles.
