My personal highlight from the July CSA show was meeting baseball great Frank Howard. Though he spent the bulk of his career with the Washington Senators, where he earned the apt nickname The Capital Punisher, Howard had a number of stellar years with the Dodgers—winning Rookie of the Year honors in 1960 and helping Los Angeles sweep the New York Yankees in the 1963 World Series. In the fourth and deciding game of that series, Howard collected the Dodgers' only two hits of the game, including a monstrous solo home run. That would be the only offense the Boys in Blue would need, as Sandy Koufax shut down the Bronx Bombers, yielding just one run on six hits.
Frank couldn't have been more gracious, sharing stories about playing in the L.A. Coliseum and happily agreeing to any and all picture requests. For me, he signed both a giant 1964 Topps card as well as a baseball, on which he inscribed, "1963 W.S. Champs - L.A. Dodgers." Two great autographs.
I hope Frank comes to future CSA shows. I have plenty more Dodger items on which I'd love to have his signature.
Saw the pictures, seems like a cool guy.
ReplyDeleteYep, he's very cool. And man, he's HUGE. When I shook his hand, it was like when my three-year-old shakes mine. I felt like I had kiddie hands compared to his gigantic paws. Throwing a baseball must have been like chucking marbles for him.
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