Howard Albert Maple (July 20, 1903 – November 9, 1970) was an American

professional athlete In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought lar ...

. He played for the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) in 1930 and for the Washington Senators of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB) in 1932. He was a college athlete at then-

Oregon State Agricultural College Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

Biography

Maple played college football and

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the Oregon State Aggies (now the

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

). As a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, he led the team to an overall 16–7–1 record for the seasons of 1926 through 1928, and was named a 1928 All-American. Maple is the university's only alumnus to play in both the NFL and MLB. He was inducted to the

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

in 1981, and the athletics hall of fame at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degree ...

in 1990. In 1930, Maple played in eight games for the

of the NFL. The NFL's website lists him as a wingback. Maple played in minor league baseball from 1930 through 1935, appearing in over 400 minor league games. Listed at and , he batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Maple appeared 44 major league games, all with the 1932 Washington Senators. He posted a .244

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average i ...

(10-for-41) with seven

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

s. His best offensive game came on August 31, when he went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored against pitcher Sam Gray, as the Senators defeated the St. Louis Browns, 7–6. Maple appeared in 41 games defensively, all as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catcher ...

, handling 39

total chances In baseball statistics, total chances (TC), also called ''chances offered'', represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is the sum of putouts plus assists plus errors. ''Chances accepted'' refers to the total ...

without an

error An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistic ...

for a 1.000

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

. Maple was born in 1903 in

Adrian, Missouri Adrian is a city in northern Bates County, Missouri, U.S. It is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The population was 1,677 at the 2010 census. History Adrian was platted in 1880 when the Missouri Pacific Railroad was extended to that po ...

, and graduated from Peoria High School in Illinois. He coached basketball, football, and baseball at

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

from the early 1930s through 1941. During World War II, he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. He worked in several jobs after the war, and went on to manage the

Oregon State Fair The Oregon State Fair is the official state fair of the U.S. state of Oregon. It takes place every August–September at the Oregon State Fairgrounds located in north Salem, the state capital, as it has almost every year since 1862. In 2006, resp ...

from 1957 to 1967. He was married, and had one daughter and a

foster son Fosterage, the practice of a family bringing up a child not their own, differs from adoption in that the child's parents, not the foster-parents, remain the acknowledged parents. In many modern western societies foster care can be organised by t ...

. Maple died in 1970 in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

, and is interred in Salem, Oregon.

References

External links

*, o
Baseball AlmanacBaseball and Football Players: Played Major League Baseball & National Football League
at

Baseball Almanac Baseball Almanac is an interactive baseball encyclopedia with over 500,000 pages of baseball facts, research, awards, records, feats, lists, notable quotations, baseball movie ratings, and statistics. Its goal is to preserve the history of baseba ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maple, Howard 1903 births 1970 deaths People from Adrian, Missouri Oregon State Beavers baseball players Oregon State Beavers football players Chicago Cardinals players American football running backs Major League Baseball catchers Baseball players from Oregon Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Bloomington Cubs players Chattanooga Lookouts players Harrisburg Senators players Albany Senators players Keokuk Indians players Rock Island Islanders players United States Army personnel of World War II

Biography

See also

References

External links