Elston Gene Howard (February 23, 1929 – December 14, 1980) was an American professional baseball player who was a catcher and a left fielder.

In 1955, he was the first African American player on the Yankees roster, eight years after Jackie Robinson had broken MLB's color barrier in 1947.

His lifetime fielding percentage of .993 as a catcher was a major league record from 1967 to 1973, and he retired among the AL career leaders in putouts (7th, 6,447) and total chances (9th, 6,977).

Stengel used Howard as a backup catcher and occasional outfielder; he competed for playing time with Norm Siebern and Enos Slaughter.

[3] In the 1955 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, Howard hit a home run off Don Newcombe in his first at bat in the second inning of Game 1.

Howard's ground ball out to Pee Wee Reese in Game 7 ended the Series; it was the first time in six meetings the Yankees had lost to Brooklyn.

In the 1956 World Series against Brooklyn he played only in Game 7, but his solo home run off Newcombe in the fourth inning was one of four Yankee HRs in Johnny Kucks' 9–0 victory.

As the Yankees again met the Braves in the 1958 World Series, his impact did not become notable until Game 5, when he caught Red Schoendienst's sinking fly ball in the sixth inning and made a throw to catch Bill Bruton off first base for a double play, preserving a 1–0 lead.

In Game 7, his two-out RBI single scored Berra for a 3–2 lead in the eighth inning, with New York going on to a 6–2 win, completing only the second comeback by a team from a 3–1 deficit in a Series.

Despite not finding a regular position yet, he was first selected to the All-Star team in 1957, the first of nine consecutive years through 1965 in which he made the squad; he would appear in six of the games (1960–1964), including both 1961 contests.

On August 3, 1967, Howard was traded to the Boston Red Sox for Pete Magrini and a player to be named later, Ron Klimkowski.

In 1967, Howard also took over Sherm Lollar's major-league record for career fielding average; Freehan moved ahead of him in 1973.

Not known for having a strong arm, Tartabull's throw sailed high and was caught by a leaping Howard, who blocked the plate with his left foot as he came down, and swipe tagged Berry — ending the game.

[8][9][10] Howard had his last postseason highlight in the 1967 World Series against the Cardinals when his bases-loaded single in the ninth inning of Game 5 drove in two runs for a 3–0 lead.

The hit was crucial, as former teammate Maris homered in the bottom of the inning for the Cardinals before the Red Sox closed out the 3–1 win.

After Howard's coaching career ended, he became an administrative assistant with the Yankees; however, that position did not last long due to declining health.

[11] After staying a week at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, Howard died of the heart ailment at age 51 on December 14, 1980.

Red Smith, a columnist for The New York Times, reacted by writing, "The Yankees' organization lost more class on the weekend than George Steinbrenner could buy in 10 years.

Its widespread use caused the discontinuation of the practice of hitters swinging multiple bats at the same time while waiting to hit.

Howard helped two New Jersey entrepreneurs, Frank Hamilton and Vince Salvucci, to market the bat weight and lent his name to the product.