the almost daily dodger - frank howard

you don't see too many frank howard cards being produced these days, and i should have made an effort sooner to acquire this one

which is from the 2022 topps rookie of the year 75th anniversary set. i had found jackie robinson's card from the set at a card show in 2023 but continued to neglect the rest of the set. then, i found three of the other four dodgers at another card show

and decided to track down howard to complete the set.

howard, who passed away one year ago today, was the dodgers' fifth rookie of the year, and the first from their time in los angeles. his 23 home runs as a rookie in 1960 cracked the league's top ten but he wouldn't lead the league in that category until he was with the washington senators in the late 1960's.

in 1993, mike piazza passed howard by hitting 35 home runs as a rookie for the dodgers. his team record stood until cody bellinger came along in 2017 and hit 39. for two years, that was also a national league record, but then along came pete alonso. for the record, corey seager, the other dodger featured in this post, hit 26 dingers as a rookie in 2016.