Lee Howell

Edwin Lee Howell

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 185 lb.

• Born November 5, 1936 in Detroit, MI USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Lee Howell played in the minor leagues from 1956 to 1963, including parts of three seasons in AAA. His entire career was spent in the Boston Red Sox organization, except when he was on loan to the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association, a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate, for part of the 1960 season.

In his first season, 1956, he played for three different Class D teams: the Lexington Red Sox of the Nebraska State League, the Lafayette Red Sox of the Midwest League and the Corning Red Sox of the PONY League. Altogether, he hit .292 in 78 games. In 1957, he was with two teams, Lafayette and the Greensboro Patriots of the Carolina League, hitting .304 in 127 games. In 1958 he spent a full season with the Memphis Chickasaws of the Southern Association, batting .252 with 13 homers and 58 RBIs in 127 games. He was back with Memphis in 1959, hitting .289 in 121 games, then received a late-season promotion to the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association. That's where he was involved in a bit of a controversy, as he had to leave the team because of military service, and the Red Sox promoted another hotshot young outfielder to take his place, one Carl Yastrzemski, who had hit .377 in the Carolina League. However, when Yaz played a game on September 15th, Howell was still with the team, and the Omaha Cardinals successfully protested the game, wiping out its statistics. Howell ended up hitting .105 in his 11 games with Minneapolis that year.

As mentioned above, he was with Chattanooga for most of 1960, batting .252 in 69 games, and also played 35 games in the Eastern League with the Allentown Red Sox, batting .202, and 10 games for Minneapolis, going just 2 for 25. In 1961, he was again in the Southern Association, this time with the Macon Peaches and hit just .206 in 130 games. he did better in 1961, hitting ..262 in 96 games for the York White Roses of the Eastern League, and earning one final shot in AAA, this time with the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League. He did better than in his two previous tries, but not by much, batting .219 in 33 games. He played one final season back in the Eastern League, with the Reading Red Sox, hitting .211 in 23 games.