Four-time MLB All-Star and legendary Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Senators outfielder Frank Howard has died at 87, the Washington Nationals announced Monday.
We are deeply saddened to share that Washington Senators legend Frank Howard has passed away at the age of 87. We join Frank’s loved ones in mourning. pic.twitter.com/PCEk13TSLs
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) October 30, 2023
Howard hit 98 home runs in his first four career seasons with the Dodgers, landing the 1960 NL Rookie of the Year Award and becoming just the fourth Dodger to ever have a 30+ home run season when he hit 31 in 1962, a year in which Howard also finished with a career-high 119 runs batted in en route to the Dodgers winning 102 games, their most since moving to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in 1955.
Howard’s success continued the next season, as well, as the Dodgers won the 1963 World Series.
Following the 1964 season, Howard was dealt from the National League powerhouse Dodgers to the lowly expansion Washington Senators. While the team struggled in his time there, Howard certainly did not. He led Washington in both home runs and RBIs in each of his seven seasons, being named to four All-Star teams along the way. His 246 home runs are the most any player hit with the Senators, and third-most in Texas Rangers (the team the Senators became) history behind Juan Gonzalez and Rafael Palmiero.
After the Senators moved to Dallas in 1972, Howard remained with the team for one final season before finishing his playing career in Detroit in 1973.
Howard spent the next three decades as a coach, with stops in Milwaukee, New York (both teams), Seattle, and Tampa. He also had two single-season managing stints. One with the Padres in 1981 and the other with the Mets in 1983.
In 2016, Howard was inducted into the Washington Nationals Ring of Honor, which celebrates players from the original Senators, the new expansion Senators, the Expos, and the Nationals.
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