MLB / Players

Elston Howard

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 2 in · 196 lb

BornFebruary 23, 1929 · St. Louis, MO, USA

MLB debutApril 14, 1955

Final gameSeptember 29, 1968

Seasons15 (1948–1968)

Kansas City Monarchs 1948; New York Yankees 1955–1966; Boston Red Sox 1967; New York Yankees 1967; Boston Red Sox 1968

Percentile snapshot

1964 season — qualified batters

150

43.6

607

46.8

550

48.9

27.7

172

79.8

23.4

46.8

RBI

70.2

52.1

57.4

8.5

72.3

.313

90.4

OBP

.371

80.9

SLG

.455

62.8

OPS

.825

70.2

wRC+

128.8

71.3

OPS+

129.0

73.4

wOBA

.364

69.1

sWAR

5.5

of 95 qualified 1964 batters (min 508 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

104.7

51.7

OPS+

108.6

59.5

sWAR

30.9

96.7

wRC+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; OPS+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1948	20	84	80	16	20	5	3	1	13	3	0	1	0	.250	.286	.425	.711	84.6	88.5	.324	0.0
1955	97	305	279	33	81	8	7	10	43	20	36	0	0	.290	.336	.477	.812	113.8	120.9	.362	1.2
1956	98	316	290	35	76	8	3	5	34	21	30	0	1	.262	.312	.362	.674	75.7	82.7	.304	0.0
1957	110	380	356	33	90	13	4	8	44	16	43	2	5	.253	.283	.379	.663	74.5	83.1	.294	0.0
1958	103	406	376	45	118	19	5	11	66	22	60	1	1	.314	.348	.479	.827	127.5	131.3	.363	3.1
1959	125	474	443	59	121	24	6	18	73	20	57	0	1	.273	.306	.476	.783	111.4	116.6	.343	2.0
1960	107	361	323	29	79	11	3	6	39	28	43	3	0	.245	.298	.353	.651	73.1	81.2	.289	0.8
1961	129	482	446	64	155	17	5	21	77	28	65	0	3	.348	.387	.549	.936	152.3	155.4	.409	5.6
1962	136	538	494	63	138	23	5	21	91	31	76	1	1	.279	.318	.474	.791	112.0	115.2	.347	3.7
1963	135	531	487	75	140	21	6	28	85	35	68	0	0	.287	.342	.528	.869	143.7	143.2	.379	5.8
1964	150	607	550	63	172	27	3	15	84	48	73	1	1	.313	.371	.455	.825	128.8	129.0	.364	5.5
1965	110	418	391	38	91	15	1	9	45	24	65	0	0	.233	.278	.345	.623	74.5	77.8	.283	0.9
1966	126	451	410	38	105	19	2	6	35	37	65	0	0	.256	.317	.356	.673	93.2	96.9	.301	2.0
1967	108	345	315	22	56	9	0	4	28	21	60	0	0	.178	.233	.244	.478	29.8	41.7	.219	-0.9
1968	71	229	203	22	49	4	0	5	18	22	45	1	1	.241	.317	.335	.652	86.2	92.6	.297	1.1

Career totals

1,625

5,927

5,443

635

1,491

223

168

RBI

775

376

786

.2739

OBP

.3211

SLG

.4270

OPS

.7481

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB
1962-08-19	NYY @ ATH Gameday	6	4	4	0	1	2	8	12
1960-04-24	BAL @ NYY Gameday	5	2	3	0	2	1	5	10
1962-06-03	NYY @ LAA Gameday	4	2	3	1	0	2	4	10
1963-05-04	NYY @ MIN Gameday	4	2	3	1	0	2	2	10
1963-08-18	NYY @ CWS Gameday	4	2	4	1	0	1	2	8

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1948-04-30	KCM @ IC Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1948-05-01	KCM @ MEM Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1948-05-02	KCM @ MEM Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1948-05-06	MEM @ KCM Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1948-05-07	KCM @ MEM Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

2× Gold Glove1× Most Valuable Player9× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.