Globe Pequot / Lyons Press
Pages: 248
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Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4930-2900-6 • Paperback • January 2018 • $16.95 • (£12.99)
978-1-4930-2901-3 • eBook • January 2018 • $15.99 • (£11.99)
Arlene Howard is Elston Howard’s widow and was by his side throughout his career. Unlike many baseball wives of the day, she took an active role in supporting her husband and managing his ambition. In 2001, she teamed up with New York Post writer Ralph Wimbish to write the first edition of Elston, entitled Elston and Me.
Ralph Wimbish has been a sports editor for the New York Post for over 25 years, writing articles on a range of sports topics from baseball to golf.
"Arlene and Elston were in many ways the "First Family" of the great Yankee teams of the '50s and '60s. So much was asked of them—integrating a historically white franchise while dealing with the racial issues in a changing America—all while winning championships and forming lifelong friendships through basic goodness and kindness. Their story is an American story we all need to know better."
— Marty Appel, New York Yankees historian and author of Pinstripe Empire, Munson, and Casey Stengel
"Elston Howard played in ten World Series and was a member of nine All Star teams. And yet, from reading Arlene Howard's bittersweet memoir, her husband Elston's career was badly hurt by his becoming the first African-American to play for the New York Yankees. He had to wait too long to become a Yankee. He had to wait too long to become the starting catcher. He had to wait—in vain—to be named the Yankee manager. As he explained segregation to his five-year-old son: 'It's like a private club,' Ellie told him, 'and we aren't members.'"
— Peter Golenbock, author of Dynasty: The New York Yankees 1949-1964