Dixie Howell (howeldi01)
From BR Bullpen
Millard Howell
- Bats Left, Throws Right
- Height 6' 2", Weight 210 lb.
- Debut September 14, 1940
- Final Game April 26, 1958
- Born January 7, 1920 in Harold, KY USA
- Died March 18, 1960 in Hollywood, FL USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Dixie Howell holds two of the weirdest major league records. First, Howell's 1957 batting line is currently (2008) the all-time single-season record for most hits without a single, tied with Rick Wrona in 1994. Second, Howell holds the record for the longest time between when he first pitched in the majors and when he got his first victory. He broke in during the 1940 season, but didn't get a major league victory till 1955, when he got 8.
Dixie Howell served for the U.S. Army in France and Belgium during World War II and was a German POW for five months.
He pitched for the Indians, Reds and White Sox for six years and 19 years in the minors.
Pitched no-run, no-hit game for Minneapolis against Columbus in the American Association, August 10, 1950.
He died near the end of his baseball career at age 40 after suffering a heart attack during a spring training workout and is buried at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Wilkes-Barre PA.
Married Helen Belecki on May 24, 1941. They had four children; Carol Ann, Shirley Jean, Millard Jr., and Stephen Paul (as of 1955.)
Should not be confused with the Millard (Dixie) Howell who was a college football star and played minor league ball 1935-42.
[edit] Sources
Principal sources for Dixie Howell (howeldi01) include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs {{{WW}}} (WW), old Baseball Registers {{{BR}}} (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN {{{DAG}}} (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) {{{MORE}}} and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.
