America was exploding 50 years ago in the summer of 1968.
So was Frank Howard.
In the midst of the turmoil that rocked the country that summer, the Washington Senators slugger went on his own rampage. From May 12 through 18, Howard blasted 10 home runs in 20 at bats, with at least one in six consecutive games.
Howard would hit 13 home runs in 16 games, a number only equaled by Albert Belle in 1995. But what made Howard’s feat far more remarkable than Belle’s numbers — posted in the steroid era — was that Howard did his damage in the “Year of the Pitcher.”
That seaason, batters were considered defenseless — so utterly at the mercy of pitchers that baseball lowered the mound the following year to even the playing field, so to speak. This was the year of Denny McLain’s 31 wins, and Bob Gibson’s 1.12 ERA.
In the midst of that, Howard put on an unprecedented display of power.
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“I’ve been pretty lucky,” Howard told The Washington Star as the homers began to attract national attention. “I don’t think the streak has meant much to me. I’ve had a few wires but when I go to my room I like to shut I shut off my phone because I like to get my rest.”
Opposing pitchers that year would have just as soon see Howard stay in his room and get a lot more rest.
Already a feared figure at the plate, the 6-foot-7, 280-pound slugger had pitchers looking for any help they could to avoid becoming a notch in Howard’s big bat.
“We needed prayers when he was up,” Boston Red Sox pitcher Jose Santiago told reporters after being one of Howard’s victims.
The run began on Sunday, May 12, with 13,200 on hand at D.C. Stadium against the Detroit Tigers — who would go on to win the American League pennants and the World Series that year. The Senators won 6-3, and Howard bashed two home runs — one a sixth-inning shot against Mickey Lolich and the second an inning later off reliever Fred Lasher.
They had the day off Monday, then Howard hit two more against the Red Sox in Boston — one of them Washington manager Jim Lemon said may have been the hardest ball he had ever seen hit. Howard followed up the next day with a shot off Santiago.
Thursday in Cleveland — two monster shots off one of the hardest throwers of his time, Sam McDowell, with a total estimated distance traveled of over 900 feet. Friday night in Detroit, the eighth one, a homer off Joe Sparma, and then the final two of the 10 home-run stretch for the week — again the victim being Mickey Lolich, two blasts, one of them being just the second shot ever to hit the roof at Tiger Stadium — in an 8-4 Senators victory before 13,887 frightened Tigers fans.
The baseball world was shaking. Players and managers feared for their lives.
“The thing that concerns me about Howard is that he is so strong that he is going to hit one of those shots back through the box one day and I pity the pitcher who is standing in the way,” Tigers manager Mayo Smith said. “I hope it’s not one of mine.”
Howard, who had finally found a place to play steady in the field at first base, had put up some impressive power numbers in his career — he had hit 36 home runs, his career best at that point, in 1967 — but this was something no one had seen before.
Pressed to explain the home-run binge — impressive by even his power standards, he said: “Maybe I forgot to hit when I got into this league and am just learning again … I was platooning most of my years with the Dodgers, just played against left-handers and did some pinch hitting, and I guess for the first few years here I was pressing.”
Platooning early in his career — sound like someone on the Washington Nationals who had seven home runs in his first seven games this month? Matt Adams, please pick up the white courtesy phone.
Howard would have a career year, with 44 home runs, 106 RBI and a .274 average. But he would trump that the following season, when Ted Williams arrived as Senators manager and convinced Howard to be more selective at the plate. Howard hit 48 home runs and drove in 111 runs in 1969, but cut down his strikeouts from 141 to 96, increased his walks from 54 to 102 and batted .296.
Howard, as everyone knows, became a baseball icon in this city, and remains so, immortalized in a statue outside Nationals Park.
Fifty years ago in May, he helped build that statue with a historic home run rampage.
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• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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