This is a true rarity from the heady days of the 1950's Brooklyn Dodgers of Robinson, Hodges, Reese, Snider and Campanella. Offered is a Brooklyn Dodgers warm-up jacket worn by catcher Dixie Howell during his two years with the team in 1955 and 1956. The deep blue nylon jacket has "DODGERS" sewn across the zippered front and features Howell's "54" on the left sleeve. This jacket style is known to date to this period, and Howell was the only Dodger to wear this number during the decade of the 1950s. The "Skinner" label and size "46" tag both remain in the collar, though heavily worn. Additionally, the "Milium Insulated Fabric" label still remains intact on the inner front near the zipper.
Howell played off and on for the Dodgers from 1953 to 1958, bouncing up and down from AAA--he spent all of 1954 with their Montreal AAA affiliate. In '53, he wore #9, but in 1955 and 1956 he wore #54 with the big league team. After a standout season with the Montreal Royals in 1954, Howell was employed as a player-coach with the big league Dodgers the following season. He hit .262 in 16 games, but his primary role was as the club’s bullpen catcher. The August 14, 1956, edition of the Montreal Gazette reported that after the Dodgers won the 1955 World Series, Howell was awarded a full World Series share, an indication of his status on the team.
He started his career in the early 1940s playing for AA and AAA affiliates of both Philadelphia and Brookly, and after returning from his service in WWII spent the 1946 season on the Montreal Royals with another young promising Dodgers prospect named Jackie Robinson.
It's fair to assume that since Howell stayed in the organization from 1953 until he retired in 1958, he took the offered jacket during his moves up and down. Other known examples of this style of Dodger warm-up jacket have been dated to 1953-1954, which aligns with the beginning of Howell's service with the team. The jacket shows heavy wear from use, shows some areas of separation in the seams and has one area that was repaired to the inner lining. Still an extremely presentable example of a rarely seen early 1950's Dodger warm-up jacket. Very Good to Excellent condition.