"The white seats are for the balls I hit up there. The yellow ones are for all the times I struck out."

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Saturday, Erica and I went to the Frank Howard Maker’s Mark appearance at Pearson’s in Glover Park [Flickr Photoset]. We had a great time listening to Hondo’s stories about his playing days, taking some photographs and getting a few things signed. Some recollections:

• Howard was extremely fond of Ted Williams. When Williams came to D.C. to manage the Senators he convinced Howard to take a strike and despite some skepticsm, it worked incredibly well. Howard’s walks increased by nearly doubled in 1969 and were up even more in 1970.
• Playing winter ball in latin America “was like going to college again” because he got to experience another culture, eat different food and learn another language. He also indicated how much he respected Latin American ballplayers.
• Howard hit into a triple play in his final MLB at-bat — a sign his time was up.
• Somebody had Howard sign a photo of one of the white seats which I thought was brilliant.
• I wish I had brought some of the Yankees yearbooks I have from the late sixties when he was a “Visiting Star” as well as the early 1990s when he was a coach with the Bronx Bombers.
• The Maker’s rep told us about a cocktail made with Diet Peach Snapple, Maker’s and one other ingrediant. We can’t remember what it is though.
• Washington is a good town for whiskey sales.
• Kentucky is no longer the top state for Maker’s sales.
• I thought it was great that the Marker’s bottles were being dipped in blue wax at the store and picked one up. I wish they had smaller bottles available so I could keep one as a souviner. I’m not going to buy 1.5 L and not open it…
• We ran into MissChatter, who shot video of the event.