What years did Elston Howard play?

Elston Howard played in Major League Baseball from 1955 to 1968.

Was Elston Howard a pitcher?

No. Elston Howard was a position player (Catcher).

How many home runs did Elston Howard hit?

Elston Howard hit 168 career home runs with 1491 hits.

Elston Howard

Catcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1955-1968)

AVG .274

HR 168

RBI 775

H 1,491

OPS .748

PIV 6,426

Position: Catcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'2" / 196 lb
Born: 2/23/1929 in St. Louis, MO, USA
Died: 12/14/1980 in New York, NY, USA
MLB Debut: 1955-04-14
Last Game: 1968-09-29
Awards: 9× All-Star · MVP · 2× Gold Glove · Babe Ruth Award

Full name: Elston Gene Howard

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Negro Leagues Career Statistics

Batting

PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
377.0	352.0	55.0	108.0	24.0	7.0	8.0	68.0	23.0	2.0	4.0	.307	.353	.483	.836

Negro Leagues (season totals). Additive Retrosheet-digitized totals for seasons not already in the logs above; they are not summed into the career line. No team/league breakdown is available, and coverage may be partial.

Negro Leagues Season-by-Season Batting

Season	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1949	255.0	233.0	33.0	76.0	18.0	4.0	5.0	48.0	21.0	2.0	3.0	.326	.384	.502	.886
Listed seasons · 1	255	233	33	76	18	4	5	48	21	2	3	.326	—	—	—

Career Batting Statistics

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
1,625	5,443	635	1,491	223	53	168	775	10	376	786	.274	.321	.427	.748	6,426

Career AVG .274 vs. league average .252 across their career seasons — +8.6% above league average.

Career OBP .321 vs. league average .319 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career SLG .427 vs. league average .380 across their career seasons — +12.3% above league average.

Career OPS .748 vs. league average .700 across their career seasons — +6.9% above league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1948	KCM	NAL	20	80	16	20	5	3	1	13	1	3	0	.250	.263 (-5%)	.340 (-16%)	.379 (+12%)	.719 (-1%)	-65.9
1955	NYA	AL	97	279	33	81	8	7	10	43	0	20	36	.290	.258 (+12%)	.332 (+1%)	.393 (+21%)	.726 (+12%)	502.7
1956	NYA	AL	98	290	35	76	8	3	5	34	0	21	30	.262	.258 (+1%)	.331 (-6%)	.397 (-9%)	.728 (-7%)	-370.8
1957	NYA	AL	110	356	33	90	13	4	8	44	2	16	43	.253	.257 (-2%)	.323 (-13%)	.391 (-3%)	.715 (-7%)	-502.9
1958	NYA	AL	103	376	45	118	19	5	11	66	1	22	60	.314	.257 (+22%)	.324 (+7%)	.394 (+21%)	.719 (+15%)	944.5
1959	NYA	AL	125	443	59	121	24	6	18	73	0	20	57	.273	.256 (+6%)	.323 (-5%)	.392 (+21%)	.715 (+9%)	567.5
1960	NYA	AL	107	323	29	79	11	3	6	39	3	28	43	.245	.255 (-4%)	.323 (-8%)	.387 (-9%)	.711 (-9%)	-506.5
1961	NYA	AL	129	446	64	155	17	5	21	77	0	28	65	.348	.258 (+35%)	.328 (+18%)	.399 (+38%)	.727 (+29%)	2430.4
1962	NYA	AL	136	494	63	138	23	5	21	91	1	31	76	.279	.257 (+8%)	.326 (-3%)	.393 (+20%)	.719 (+10%)	721.4
1963	NYA	AL	135	487	75	140	21	6	28	85	0	35	68	.287	.246 (+17%)	.308 (+11%)	.371 (+42%)	.680 (+28%)	2390.9
1964	NYA	AL	150	550	63	172	27	3	15	84	1	48	73	.313	.250 (+25%)	.312 (+19%)	.377 (+20%)	.690 (+20%)	2155.8
1965	NYA	AL	110	391	38	91	15	1	9	45	0	24	65	.233	.245 (-5%)	.310 (-11%)	.371 (-7%)	.682 (-9%)	-552.5
1966	NYA	AL	126	410	38	105	19	2	6	35	0	37	65	.256	.248 (+3%)	.309 (+2%)	.376 (-5%)	.685 (-2%)	-88.3
1967	NYA	AL	66	199	13	39	6	0	3	17	0	12	36	.196	.242 (-19%)	.306 (-20%)	.357 (-24%)	.663 (-22%)	-659.7
1967	BOS	AL	42	116	9	17	3	0	1	11	0	9	24	.147	.242 (-40%)	.306 (-31%)	.357 (-45%)	.663 (-38%)	-659.7
1968	BOS	AL	71	203	22	49	4	0	5	18	1	22	45	.241	.236 (+2%)	.298 (+6%)	.340 (-2%)	.638 (+2%)	125.7
Career · 16 seasons			1,625	5,443	635	1,491	223	53	168	775	10	376	786	.274	—	—	—	—	6,433

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
61	197	29	48	8	1	6	21	13	37	.244

Playoff Batting by Year

Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1967	WS	BOS	7	18	0	2	0	0	0	1	1	2	.111
1964	WS	NYA	7	24	5	7	1	0	0	2	4	6	.292
1963	WS	NYA	4	15	0	5	0	0	0	1	0	3	.333
1962	WS	NYA	6	21	1	3	1	0	0	1	1	4	.143
1961	WS	NYA	5	20	5	5	3	0	1	1	2	3	.250
1960	WS	NYA	5	13	4	6	1	1	1	4	1	4	.462
1958	WS	NYA	6	18	4	4	0	0	0	2	1	4	.222
1957	WS	NYA	6	11	2	3	0	0	1	3	1	3	.273
1956	WS	NYA	1	5	1	2	1	0	1	1	0	0	.400
1955	WS	NYA	7	26	3	5	0	0	1	3	1	8	.192
1948	ALC	KCM	7	26	4	6	1	0	1	2	1	0	.231

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1688 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	864	2706	300	741	58	380	.274
Away	823	2925	359	813	114	438	.278

Pitching — Home / Away

Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	1	0.0	0	0	0	0	—

Last 10 Games — Batting

Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO
1968-09-29	BOS	NYY	L	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1968-09-27	BOS	NYY	W	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1968-09-11	BOS	OAK	L	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1968-09-08	BOS	LAA	L	3	0	1	0	0	1	0
1968-08-25	BOS	BAL	L	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
1968-08-24	BOS	BAL	L	4	1	1	1	1	0	2
1968-08-22	BOS	CLE	L	3	0	0	0	0	0	1
1968-08-21	BOS	CLE	L	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
1968-08-20	BOS	CLE	L	3	0	1	0	0	0	1
1968-08-19	BOS	CLE	W	4	0	1	0	1	0	1

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1B	85	79	734	44	8	70
C	1138	1066	6447	479	51	87
OF	285	249	415	18	12	3

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1948	KCM	OF	20	20	24	0	3	0
1955	NYA	C	9	4	23	3	0	2
1955	NYA	OF	75	65	124	10	3	3
1956	NYA	C	26	19	108	14	0	5
1956	NYA	OF	65	51	97	2	1	0
1957	NYA	1B	2	1	20	3	0	1
1957	NYA	C	32	26	178	11	3	4
1957	NYA	OF	71	66	68	5	3	0
1958	NYA	1B	5	5	38	2	0	5
1958	NYA	C	67	64	355	26	1	8
1958	NYA	OF	24	23	54	1	1	0
1959	NYA	1B	50	48	444	26	7	39
1959	NYA	C	43	41	221	23	2	2
1959	NYA	OF	28	23	47	0	1	0
1960	NYA	C	91	80	410	40	6	9
1960	NYA	OF	1	0	0	0	0	0
1961	NYA	1B	9	9	90	4	1	12
1961	NYA	C	111	106	635	43	5	4
1962	NYA	C	129	124	713	44	4	12
1963	NYA	C	132	128	786	51	5	8
1964	NYA	C	146	141	939	67	2	9
1965	NYA	1B	5	3	29	1	0	2
1965	NYA	C	95	93	614	43	6	6
1965	NYA	OF	1	1	1	0	0	0
1966	NYA	1B	13	13	112	8	0	11
1966	NYA	C	100	98	553	44	9	6
1967	NYA	1B	1	0	1	0	0	0
1967	NYA	C	48	47	289	26	5	4
1967	BOS	C	41	33	246	14	1	5
1968	BOS	C	68	62	377	30	2	3

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position	Games
Catcher	1138
First Base	85
Left Field	247
Right Field	42

Awards & Honors

Year	Award	Notes
1964	Gold Glove	C
1964	TSN All-Star	C
1963	Gold Glove	C
1963	Most Valuable Player
1963	TSN All-Star	C
1961	TSN All-Star	C
1958	Babe Ruth Award	C

Award Voting History

Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1967	Most Valuable Player	AL	17th	7.0	280	0
1964	Most Valuable Player	AL	3rd	124.0	280	0
1963	Most Valuable Player	AL	1st	248.0	280	15
1961	Most Valuable Player	AL	10th	30.0	280	0
1958	Most Valuable Player	AL	17th	9.0	336	0

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Elston Howard (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Frequently Asked Questions about Elston Howard

What years did Elston Howard play?: Elston Howard played in Major League Baseball from 1955 to 1968.
Was Elston Howard a pitcher?: No. Elston Howard was a position player (Catcher).
How many home runs did Elston Howard hit?: Elston Howard hit 168 career home runs with 1491 hits.