Los Angeles Dodgers Howard instead signed with the
Los Angeles Dodgers organization in 1958 for a $108,000
signing bonus (). Howard spent the 1958 season with the
Green Bay Bluejays of the
Class B Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League. He led the league with 37
home runs and 119
runs batted in (RBIs). He won
The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year Award. He was named the NL's
Rookie of the Year after
batting .268 with 23
home runs and 77 RBIs. He missed the beginning of the 1961 season due to a chipped bone in the thumb on his right hand. He became a
platoon outfielder, starting 72 games and batting .296 with 15 home runs. The season ended with the Dodgers and
San Francisco Giants tied for first place. In the three-game pennant playoff that followed, Howard had only a single in 11 at-bats, and
struck out three times against
Billy Pierce in the first game, including the final out. However he had a run and an RBI in the second contest, an 8–7 win. The Giants took the pennant in three games, but Howard ended up ninth in the
MLB Most Valuable Player award voting. In , Howard's production dropped off to a .273 average, 28 homers, and 64 RBIs, but the Dodgers won the pennant, and his upper-deck solo home run off
Whitey Ford broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning of Game 4 of the
World Series, helping Los Angeles to a 2–1 win and a sweep of the
New York Yankees.
Washington Senators On December 4, 1964, the Dodgers traded Howard,
Phil Ortega,
Pete Richert, and
Dick Nen to the
Washington Senators for
Claude Osteen,
John Kennedy, and cash. Howard went from a
fourth outfielder with Los Angeles to an every-day player with the Senators. In 1965, his first season in Washington, he batted .289 with 21 home runs in 143 games. In 1967, Howard hit 36 home runs, third in the AL behind
Harmon Killebrew and
Carl Yastrzemski. During a one-week stretch from May 12–18, 1968, Howard hit 10 home runs in 20 at bats. he made his first of four consecutive
All-Star teams that year. Beginning in 1968, Howard appeared semi-regularly at
first base in order to limit the wear and tear of playing the outfield daily.
Ted Williams became manager of the Senators in 1969 and helped Howard to become a more patient hitter. He encouraged Howard to lay off the first
fastball he saw, and work pitchers deeper into the count, advice which resulted in Howard's walk totals nearly doubling and 45 fewer strikeouts the first year. A year later, Howard added 32 more walks to lead the AL with 132. In 1969, Howard hit 48 home runs (one behind Killebrew's league lead) and had 111 runs (second in the AL to
Reggie Jackson), a .296 batting average, and a .574 slugging mark. The Senators had their best year ever, 86–76, but still finished far behind the
Baltimore Orioles in the Eastern Division. He again led the AL with 340 total bases, the most ever by a Washington player, and added 111 RBIs; his fourth-place finish in the MVP vote was the highest of his career. In , he led the AL both in home runs (44) and RBIs (126); On September 2, he received three
intentional walks from flamethrowing southpaw
Sam McDowell—two of them to lead off an inning. McDowell moved to play
second base when Howard came up to bat in the eighth inning. He came in fifth in the 1970 MVP race, and received one first-place vote. Howard hit the last regular-season home run for the Senators in
RFK Stadium in his final at bat on September 30, 1971, off Yankees pitcher
Mike Kekich. After waving to the cheering fans, Howard tossed his hat into the stands, and blew a kiss to the crowd. After the game he said, "What can a guy do to top this? A guy like me has maybe five big thrills in his lifetime. Well, this was my biggest tonight. I'll take it to the grave with me. This was Utopia. I can't do anything else like it. It's all downhill the rest of the way."
Later career The Senators moved to
Dallas/Fort Worth in , becoming the
Texas Rangers. Howard hit the first ever home run for the Rangers, He platooned with
Norm Cash at first base and batted .242. He was not eligible for the Tigers'
1972 postseason roster as he reported to the Tigers after the September 1 deadline. Unable to find a job in the majors in 1974, Howard signed to play in Japan's
Pacific League for the
Taiheiyo Club Lions. In his first at bat there he hurt his back on a swing, and never played again.
As manager and coach Following his retirement as a player, the
Milwaukee Brewers hired Howard to manage Spokane for the 1976 season. before being named manager of the
San Diego Padres prior to the
1981 season. The Padres finished in last place in both halves of
that strike-shortened season, and Howard was fired. Their 41–69 overall record was MLB's worst that season, with their .373 winning percentage the lowest in the Padres' history since they were 52–110 (.321) in their inaugural season in
1969. Howard became the first base coach with the
New York Mets in 1982, where Bamberger was the manager, and took over as manager after Bamberger's resignation in June 1983. Howard managed the last 116 games of the 1983 season. The Mets finished in last place and the Mets did not retain Howard as manager. Instead, he returned as the first base coach the following season. From 2000 to 2008, he worked for the Yankees as a player development instructor. The
Washington Nationals inducted Howard in their Ring of Honor in August 2016. ==Personal life==