This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/18/2014
The man with the fearsome presence and the greatest roster of multiple nicknames in baseball history - Hondo, The Capital Punisher and the Washington Monument - Frank Howard arrived in Los Angeles as a rookie in 1958 amid great expectations and didn't disappoint, earning Rookie of the Year honors only two years later after hitting .268 and clubbing 23 home runs. A basketball and football All-American at Ohio State, the 6-8, 275-lb. Howard was drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors but ultimately settled on a baseball career. Seemingly a good decision: his 382 career home runs were the eighth most by a right-handed hitter when he retired and his 237 home runs in a Washington uniform are a record for any of that city's several franchises, as are his 1969 totals of 48 HRs and 340 total bases. The iconic "Dodgers" script logo is applied in classic Dodger blue felt to the chest, with Howard's No. 25 in red felt on the front and repeated in blue on verso. Lower left front tail holds proper "Rawlings Hall of Fame" label with adjacent "48" size tag. A wash tag appears on the inside front of the tail directly adjacent to a smaller "Set 1 1958" flag tag. Just below the Rawlings tag on the front appears "Howard 58" in blue cursive stitching. Jersey exhibits game use and is largely problem free. A crisp blue marker Howard autograph appears on the right side of the front directly beneath the "Dodgers" script lettering.
Pre-certified by PSA/DNA.