Back in 1954, the Yankees didn’t want Elston Howard or any black players on their team.
Seven years after Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier, the Yankees were the only all-white baseball team in New York. George Weiss, the Yankee general manager, saw no reason to integrate a team that had won five straight World Series titles.
“I will never allow a black man to wear a Yankee uniform,” he supposedly declared at a cocktail party in 1952. “Boxholders from Westchester don’t want them. They would be offended to have to sit with niggers.”
The Yankees didn’t sign their first black player until 1950, after Buck O’Neil, manager of the Kansas City Monarchs, persuaded Yankee superscout Tom Greenwade to look at a young slugger from St. Louis named Elston Howard.
Thousands of black American baseball fans eagerly awaited the arrival of the first black Yankee. Said Weiss, “The Yankees will bring up a Negro as soon as one that fits the high Yankee standards is found.”
Vic Power didn’t meet those standards. The Yankees traded off the slick fielding first baseman after the 1953 season – supposedly because he was spotted driving a convertible with a white woman.
Howard, who spent two years in the army, came to spring training in St. Petersburg in 1954 with high hopes and a clean-cut image. Still, when Moose Skowron drove him to the Yankee team hotel, Howard was turned away because of his skin color.
Howard hit .351 that spring, but he was told to develop his backstop skills and his contract was sold to Toronto of the International League. Critics lashed out at the Yankee organization. Pickets popped up outside Yankee Stadium. Some black writers, notably Baltimore’s Sam Lacy, criticized Howard, calling him “naive” to believe the Yankees were seriously interested in integrating.
“All up and down Seventh Avenue in Harlem, all you could hear is, ‘I told you so,’ said the Chicago Defender.
Elston was stung by the criticism. Still, he went to Toronto, and was named the league MVP.
In 1955, at age 26, Howard made it to New York. He played three positions, batted .290 and finished second to Herb Score in the American League rookie of the year balloting.
As one who played in nine All-Star Games, 10 World Series and, in 1963, won the MVP Award, the “First Black Yankee” truly earned his plaque in Monument Park.
STATS
.348 Average in 1961
9 Straight all-star selections
.993 Career fielding pct.