Time to go and add the great Elston Howard to my long-running 1963 Fleer extension set, giving the eventual 1963 A.L. MVP a card in this iconic set:
After putting in some time in the Negro Leagues, he
would eventually break the Yankees' color-barrier in 1955, immediately
showing he belonged, with a .290 batting average and 10 homers in only
97 games, driving in 43 runs and scoring 33.
Two seasons later
he would make his first All-Star team, the first of nine straight
seasons doing so, and of course in 1963 would also be named the A.L. MVP
when he hit 28 home runs with 85 RBIs while hitting .287, taking home
the first of two straight Gold Gloves for his work behind the plate.
After a nice 14-year career as a player, finishing up his playing days
as a member of the Boston Red Sox, he returned to the Bronx as a coach,
a position he would hold for the next ten years until his untimely
death from heart disease in 1980.
Four years later the Yankees would retire Howard's #32 in 1984, and
I was actually at that ceremony as a young teen-aged kid of 15.
Incredible to think that was already over 40 years ago.
