Фрэнк Ховард: Бейсбол жұлдызының өмірі мен мансабы

American baseball player, coach, and manager (1936–2023)

Frank Oliver Howard (August 8, 1936 – October 30, 2023), nicknamed "Hondo", "the Washington Monument" and "the Capital Punisher", was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played most of his career for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Senators/Texas Rangers franchises. One of the most physically intimidating players in the sport, Howard was 6 feet (2 m) tall and weighed between , according to former Senators/Rangers trainer Bill Zeigler. Howard was named the National League's Rookie of the Year in for the Dodgers. He twice led the American League in home runs, and total bases and once each in slugging percentage, runs batted in, and walks. Howard was a four time MLB All Star. He hit 382 career home runs and was inducted into the Washington Nationals Ring of Honor after his retirement.

Frank Oliver Howard was born on August 8, 1936, in Columbus, Ohio, to John and Erma Howard, the third of six children. His father was a machinist for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and had played semi professional baseball, later on encouraging his son's interest in the game. He averaged 20.1 points and 15.3 rebounds per game in 1957, and was drafted the following year by the Philadelphia Warriors of the National Basketball Association.

Howard instead signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in 1958 for a $108,000 signing bonus ($ in current dollar terms). Howard spent the 1958 season with the Green Bay Bluejays of the Class B Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League. He led the league with 37 home runs and 119 runs batted in (RBIs). He won The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year Award. He was named the NL's Rookie of the Year after batting .268 with 23 home runs and 77 RBIs. He missed the beginning of the 1961 season due to a chipped bone in the thumb on his right hand. He became a platoon outfielder, starting 72 games and batting .296 with 15 home runs. The season ended with the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants tied for first place. In the three game pennant playoff that followed Howard had only a single in 11 at bats and struck out three times against Billy Pierce in the first game, including the final out; but he had a run and an RBI in the second contest, an 8–7 win. The Giants took the pennant in three games, but Howard ended up ninth in the MLB Most Valuable Player award voting. In , Howard's production dropped off to a .273 average, 28 homers, and 64 RBIs; but the Dodgers won the pennant, and his upper deck solo home run off Whitey Ford broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning of Game 4 of the World Series, helping Los Angeles to a 2–1 win and a sweep of the New York Yankees.

On December 4, 1964, the Dodgers traded Howard, Phil Ortega, Pete Richert, and Dick Nen to the Washington Senators for Claude Osteen, John Kennedy, and cash. Howard went from a fourth outfielder with Los Angeles to an every day player with the Senators. In 1965, his first season in Washington, he batted .289 with 21 home runs in 143 games. In 1967, Howard hit 36 home runs, third in the AL behind Harmon Killebrew and Carl Yastrzemski. During a one week stretch from May 12–18, 1968, Howard hit 10 home runs in 20 at bats. he made his first of four consecutive All Star teams that year. Beginning in 1968, Howard appeared semi regularly at first base in order to limit the wear and tear of playing the outfield daily. Ted Williams became manager of the Senators in 1969, and he helped Howard to become a more patient hitter. He encouraged Howard to lay off the first fastball he saw, and work pitchers deeper into the count, advice which resulted in Howard's walk totals nearly doubling and 45 fewer strikeouts the first year. A year later, Howard added 32 more walks to lead the AL with 132. In 1969, Howard hit 48 home runs (one behind Killebrew's league lead), 111 runs (second in the AL to Reggie Jackson), a .296 batting average, and a .574 slugging mark. The Senators had their best year ever, 86–76, but still finished far behind the Baltimore Orioles in the Eastern Division. He again led the AL with 340 total bases, the most ever by a Washington player, and added 111 RBIs; his fourth place finish in the MVP vote was the highest of his career. In , he led the AL both in home runs (44) and RBI (126); On September 2, he received three intentional walks from flamethrowing southpaw Sam McDowell—two of them to lead off an inning. McDowell moved to play second base when Howard came up to bat in the eighth inning. He came in fifth in the 1970 MVP race, and received one first place vote. Howard hit the last regular season home run for the Senators in RFK Stadium in his final at bat on September 30, 1971, off Yankees pitcher Mike Kekich. After waving to the cheering fans, Howard tossed his hat into the stands, and blew a kiss to the crowd. After the game he said, "What can a guy do to top this? A guy like me has maybe five big thrills in his lifetime. Well, this was my biggest tonight. I'll take it to the grave with me. This was Utopia. I can't do anything else like it. It's all downhill the rest of the way."

The Senators moved to Dallas/Fort Worth in , becoming the Texas Rangers. Howard hit the first ever home run for the Rangers, He platooned with Norm Cash at first base and batted .242. He was not eligible for the Tigers' 1972 postseason roster as he reported to the Tigers after the September 1 deadline. Unable to find a job in the majors in 1974, Howard signed to play in Japan's Pacific League for the Taiheiyo Club Lions. In his first at bat there he hurt his back on a swing, and never played again.

Following his retirement as a player, the Milwaukee Brewers hired Howard to manage Spokane for the 1976 season. before being named manager of the San Diego Padres before the 1981 season. The Padres finished in last place in both halves of that strike shortened season, and Howard was fired. Their 41–69 overall record was MLB's worst that season, with their .373 winning percentage the lowest in the Padres' history since they were 52–110 (.321) in their inaugural season in 1969. Howard became the third base coach with the New York Mets in 1982, where Bamberger was the manager, and took over as manager after Bamberger's resignation in June 1983. Howard managed the last 116 games of the 1983 season. The Mets finished in last place and the Mets did not retain Howard as manager. Instead, he returned as the first base coach the following season. From 2000 to 2008, he worked for the Yankees as a player development instructor. The Washington Nationals inducted Howard in their Ring of Honor in August 2016.

Howard was married twice. His first marriage was to Carol Johanski, a secretary who worked at the Green Bay Press Gazette. The couple met and married in 1958 and settled in Green Bay, Wisconsin, going on to raise six children before divorcing. In 1991, Howard married his second wife, Donna. His body is interred at National Memorial Park in Falls Church, Virginia.