April 14, 1955, 70 years ago: The New York Yankees put a black man onto the field in a regular-season game for the first time -- 6 years after the New York Giants had done so, and 8 years after the Brooklyn Dodgers became the 1st Major League Baseball team to integrate.
The pioneer is Elston Howard, a 26-year-old native of St. Louis, who had previously played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues. The Yankees are playing the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, and in the bottom of the 6th inning, Howard runs out to left field, replacing Irv Noren.
His 1st at-bat comes in the top of the 8th, and he singles home Mickey Mantle as the Yankees mount a comeback. It falls short, however, and the Red Sox win, 8-4.
Mantle went 1-for-2, with 2 walks. Ted Williams, the Red Sox' biggest star, did not play.
Howard would be the Yankees' starting left fielder through the 1959 season. In 1960, he switched positions with Yogi Berra, becoming the team's starting catcher until midway through 1967. He helped the Yankees win 9 American League Pennants, and 4 World Series: 1956, 1958, 1961 and 1962. In 1963, he became the 1st black man to be named the Most Valuable Player of the AL. (In the NL, the honor had already been received by Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella 3 times, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks twice, Frank Robinson and Maury Wills.)
Howard won 1 more Pennant, in 1967 -- with some irony, with the Red Sox, who had been the last MLB team to integrate, in 1959. Howard would be one of a few black and Hispanic players who were critical to the Sox' success in that "Impossible Dream" season.
In 1969, the Yankees named Howard the AL's 1st black coach. He would be on the staff of their 1976 Pennant winners, and their 1977 and 1978 World Champions. He died of a heart ailment in 1980, only 51 years old. Had he lived, he might have been the 1st black manager of a New York team. Instead, that honor went to Willie Randolph, a former Yankee 2nd baseman who was hired as such by the New York Mets in 2005. Going into the 2025 season, the Yankees have still never had a black manager.
In 1984, the Yankees retired Howard's Number 32, and dedicated a plaque in his memory at Yankee Stadium's Monument Park.
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April 14, 1955 was a Thursday. Back in New York, the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Giants, 10-8 at the Polo Grounds. Don Newcombe was the winning pitcher, Sal Maglie the losing one. Newcombe himself hit 2 home runs, and was also backed by homers from Roy Campanella and Carl Furillo. Jackie Robinson went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Hank Thompson and Bobby Hofman hit homers for the Giants, and Willie Mays went 1-for-4 with a walk.
The NFL was out of season. The NBA season ended 5 days earlier, when the Syracuse Nationals beat the Fort Wayne Pistons in Game 7 of the Finals.
On this night, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. This made it back-to-back Cups for the Wings, 4 in the last 7 years, and 7 overall. Without the suspended Maurice "the Rocket" Richard, the Canadiens couldn't quite get the job done. With him, they won the next 5 Cups. The Wings would not win another Cup until 1997.
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