Elston Howard's professional career began in the Negro Leagues with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1948, but the New York Yankees signed him in 1950.  After two years in the military and two years in the minors, Howard debuted in pinstripes in 1955.

Howard had learned how to be a Catcher, but with Yogi Berra in tow, he was used as a backup there.  He would receive playing time in the 1950s, either as a backup in the Outfield or occasionally at First Base.  Playing for the Yankees gave him national attention, and he was regularly named to the All-Star Games despite not having a central position.  New York won the World Series in 1956 and 1958, but by 1961, he was finally set to take up the Catcher's position on a regular basis.

Howard again helped the Yanks win the World Series in 1961 and 1962, and in 1963, when he hit a career-high 28 Home Runs, he won the American League MVP.  Howard’s nine-year streak of All-Star Games ended in 1965, and he finished his career in 1968 with two final years as a Red Sox.

He would later win two more World Series rings with the Yankees as a Coach in 1977 and 1978.

Again, did we ever say this would be fast?

We here at Notinhalloffame.com have completed our next all-time top 50, this time that of the New York Yankees.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following:

1. Sabremetric tallies while with that team, mostly WAR.

2. Traditional metrics and how they finished in their respective league overall.

3. Playoff accomplishment.

4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

Saying all of that, as.

The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in our news. They are:

1. Babe Ruth

2. Lou Gehrig

3. Mickey Mantle

4. Joe DiMaggio

5. Derek Jeter

One hell of a top five wouldn’t you say?

So which team is up next?

We are sticking with Baseball and it will be five time World Series Champion, the Cincinnati Reds

As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com thank you for your support.

It took longer than it should have for the New York Yankees but in 1955 when they finally signed their first African-American they picked a great one in Elston Howard.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com thought it would be fun to take a look at the major awards in North American team sports and see how it translates into Hall of Fame potential.

Needless to say, different awards in different sports yield hall of fame potential.  In basketball, the team sport with the least amount of players on a roster, the dividend for greatness much higher.  In baseball, it is not as much as a great individual season does not have the same impact.