#226 Bruce Howard - Washington Senators

Bruce Ernest Howard
Washington Senators
Pitcher

Bats:  Both  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  180
Born:  March 23, 1943, Salisbury, MD
Signed:  Signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent before 1962 season
Major League Teams:  Chicago White Sox 1963-1967; Baltimore Orioles 1968; Washington Senators 1968

After attending Villanova University, Bruce Howard pitched for six seasons in the majors, primarily with the White Sox.  A reliable starter for the White Sox, Howard had his best two seasons when he went 9-8 with a 3.47 ERA in 1965, followed by 9-5 with a 2.30 ERA in 1966.  In 120 career games, he compiled a record of 26-31 with a 3.18  ERA.  His son David Howard was an infielder with the Royals and Cardinals between 1991 and 1999.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #225
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set.  That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon.  I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.

This is the 148th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York.  My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside.  After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far.  With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298.  The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me $1.25.

The Card / Senators Team Set / Accuracy Index -10

Howard is wearing a road White Sox jersey in this photo, likely taken at the same time as the photo used for his 1968 Topps card.  He had pitched in a total of 23 big league games in 1968 - 10 with the Orioles and 13 with the Senators.  Unfortunately, Topps' prediction the Senators were looking to Howard "for lots of work in '69" didn't come to pass.

Accuracy Index:  Howard didn't play at all with the Senators in 1969 (-2), and he's wearing a White Sox jersey (-5) and hat with the logo blacked out (-3).

1969 Season
Howard played in his final major league game on September 7, 1968, with the Senators, so the statistics on the back of this card represent his total big league output.  In 1969, he pitched in nine games for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, going 1-2 with a 3.18 ERA.

1964 Topps #107

1965 Topps #41

1966 Topps #281

1967 Topps #159

1968 Topps #293

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1964 Topps #107
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6):  1964-1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1969 Topps #226
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  19 in the Beckett online database as of 2/4/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#225 Don Kissinger - Chicago Cubs / #227 Frank Johnson - San Fransisco Giants