Howell, along with the Jack O'Connor, the Browns player-manager, was involved in the scandal surrounding efforts to help Cleveland's Nap Lajoie win the batting title and the associated 1910 Chalmers Award over Ty Cobb in the last two games of the season, a doubleheader at Sportsman's Park.

O'Connor ordered rookie third baseman Red Corriden to station himself in shallow left field to allow what otherwise would be routine infield ground outs to be base hits.

O'Connor and Howell tried to bribe the official scorer, a woman, to change the call to a hit, offering to buy her a new wardrobe.

The resulting outcry triggered an investigation by American League president Ban Johnson, who declared Cobb the rightful winner of the batting title (though Chalmers awarded cars to both players).

At his insistence, Browns' owner Robert Hedges fired both O'Connor and Howell, and released them as players; both men were informally banned from baseball for life.