David Howard is in a familiar place. Two months into the 2019 HBL season and the 39 year old is hitting .401 and leading the entire HBL in batting average in search of his tenth North League batting title. Howard had battered Bay City pitching on June the fourth to the tune of three hits and two bases on balls leaving him with 2,999 career hits, just one shy of the magical 3,000 mark heading into the second game of the series on June 5.
All 12,000 Bullfrog faithful we on their feet as Howard approached the plate in the bottom of the first and all were disappointed when he popped up to shallow center field. The same thing happened with the crowd in the bottom of the fourth as Howard again popped up to the Lake Monsters centerfielder. "As I approached the plate in the bottom of the sixth I said to myself 'don't make them(the fans) wait any longer, let's just get this over with," Howard would explain after the game. "I've never tried to hit a ball as hard as I tried to hit that pitch but I only nipped the top of it." The ball would spin past a lunging Ryan Ross and die in the grass between the mound and the second baseman Craig Bingman. Howard, not watching the ball sprinted down the line as he has in every at bat for 20 years made it to the first base bag without a play but hitting the bag awkwardly. He fell to the ground and the crowd went wild. "I wasn't sure if they were cheering for the hit," Howard said with a smile "or they were cheering cause I got hurt."
Howard now has at least two weeks to reflect on his career accomplishments as that is the minimum amount of time he will be out of the Davenport lineup to recover from the sprained ankle he suffered on the milestone hit. "I always dreamed of being carried off the field...but not like that."
Howard is considered the most decorated position player in the history of the Heartland Baseball League. Along with his nine batting titles he has seven Best Hitter Awards, seven Best Fielder Awards, 16 Silver Slugger Awards, and has made 15 HBL All-Star teams. He is at the top of several hitting leaderboards including number one OB%(.489) and WAR(167.9). He is second in career batting average by just one point at .364 as well as second in OPS(1.055) and bases on balls(1974). He is the seventh member of the 3000 hit club along with Lee Welch(3607), Clark West(3343), Ken Meyer(3128), Greg O'Finegan(3119), Artie Wall(3031), and former Davenport teammate Toby Stell(3019). Howard has displayed an amazing knowledge of the strike zone over his career striking out just 719 times in over 10,000 plate appearances. In 2006 he struck out an amazing nine times while drawing 114 bases on balls in 579 plate appearances.
One thing Howard has not been able to add to his resume is an HBL Championship. Howard's rookie season was the first season ever in the history of the Davenport Bullfrogs. During his 20 year career the Bullfrogs have never won the North title and they made it to the playoffs just three times losing to Oshkosh in the LCS each time. He struggled at the plate in 2003 and 2011 but in 2010 he was named the LCS MVP despite his team losing the series in four games. For that series Howard hit .571 with three homers, nine RBI, six runs, five walks, and zero strikeouts in 19 trips to the plate.
