Art Howe
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "For". Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox baseball biography Arthur Henry Howe Jr. (born December 15, 1946)> is an American former professional baseball infielder, coach, scout, and manager, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates (Template:Baseball year–Template:Baseball year), Houston Astros (Template:Baseball year–Template:Baseball year), and St. Louis Cardinals (Template:Baseball year–Template:Baseball year). Howe managed the Astros (Template:Baseball year–Template:Baseball year), Oakland Athletics (Template:Baseball year–Template:Baseball year), and New York Mets (Template:Baseball year–Template:Baseball year), compiling a career managerial record of 1,129 wins and 1,137 losses.[1]
Playing career
Howe was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attended Shaler Area High School. After graduating he attended the University of Wyoming on a college football scholarship, but played baseball after injuries ended his football career.[2] He signed his first playing contract, aged 24, with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1971. He came to the major leagues as a part-time player with Pittsburgh in 1974–75, before a trade to the Astros for infielder Tommy Helms on January 6, 1976. He played all four infield positions, mostly as a third baseman and second baseman, for Houston from 1976 to 1982. While playing in only 125 games in 1977, and alternating among 2B, SS, and 3B, Howe committed just eight errors. On May 7, 1980, he suffered a fractured jaw when hit by a pitch from Expos pitcher Scott Sanderson.[3] In the 1980 National League West tie-breaker game, he hit a home run in the third inning to increase the lead of the Astros to 4-0 against the Dodgers. He later hit a two-run single in the fourth to make it 7–0. Five innings later, the Astros won 7–1 to clinch their first division title in franchise history.
In May 1981 he won the Player of the Month Award, the only Astros third baseman to win it until Alex Bregman in June 2018.[4] After missing the entire 1983 season with an injury, he finished his playing career with the St. Louis Cardinals (1984–85). The right-handed hitter appeared in 891 games over all or parts of 11 seasons, compiling a lifetime batting average of .260 with 43 home runs.[5]
As a coach and manager
In 1986, Howe began his coaching career as an aide to Bobby Valentine with the Texas Rangers. After three seasons, he was hired by his old team, the Astros, as manager for 1989, succeeding Hal Lanier. Howe enjoyed a successful first season in Houston, but the team was rebuilding with young players such as Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, and suffered losing years in 1990–91. In 1992 and 1993, the Astros improved to .500 and then to a winning record, but Howe was fired in favor of Terry Collins at the close of the '93 campaign.[6] During the 1994–95 Dominican Winter League season, Howe led the Azucareros del Este to their first championship.
After a year as a major league scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers and spending 1995 as bench coach for the Colorado Rockies, Howe was chosen to replace future Hall of Famer Tony La Russa as manager of the Athletics for 1996.[7] The A's suffered through three losing seasons under Howe before, in 1999, they returned to contention. In 2000, 2001 and 2002, the A's won 91, 102 and 103 games respectively and made the American League playoffs in each season. But they did not win a playoff series, losing each time in the Division Series in five games. This included losing Game 5 at home in 2000 and 2002 and blowing a two game lead in the 2001 series. Gradually, Howe and general manager Billy Beane grew estranged. At the end of 2002, despite a seven-year record of 600–533 (.530), Howe was released from the final year of his Oakland contract to become the manager of the New York Mets, signing a four-year contract worth $9.4 million.[8]
Philip Seymour Hoffman portrayed Howe in the 2011 film Moneyball, which dramatized Beane's tactics of using sabermetrics to select players. Howe said he was unhappy with his portrayal in both the film and the 2003 Michael Lewis book it was based on, as a stubborn traditionalist who refused to follow Beane's plans and a figurehead who submitted while Beane ran the A's from the clubhouse. Howe described himself as a team player despite his lingering doubts about Beane's methods. Howe was described in the press as a "good company man."[9][10]
Howe's two years in New York were unsuccessful. The Mets won only 42 percent of their games, the front office went through three general managers, and attendance at Shea Stadium fell. Howe won his 1,000th game as manager on April 20, 2003, in a 7–4 victory against the Florida Marlins.[11] In September 2004, word of Howe's impending firing was leaked to the media two weeks before the season ended, but he was allowed to finish the season.[12] Ultimately, general manager Omar Minaya replaced Howe with Willie Randolph, bench coach for the New York Yankees.[13]
On October 16, 2006, the Philadelphia Phillies hired Howe as the third base coach and an infield instructor.[14] After the Texas Rangers hired Ron Washington, a former coach under Howe in Oakland, as their manager, the Phillies gave Howe permission to speak with the Rangers about any openings in the organization. On November 7, 2006, Howe was hired by the Rangers as Washington's bench coach. He served two years in that role (2007–08) but his contract was not renewed at the end of the Rangers' disappointing 2008 season.[15]
Managerial record
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| HOU | 1989 | 162 | 86 | 76 | Template:Winpct | 3rd in NL West | – | – | – | |
| HOU | 1990 | 162 | 75 | 87 | Template:Winpct | 4th in NL West | – | – | – | |
| HOU | 1991 | 162 | 65 | 97 | Template:Winpct | 6th in NL West | – | – | – | |
| HOU | 1992 | 162 | 81 | 81 | Template:Winpct | 4th in NL West | – | – | – | |
| HOU | 1993 | 162 | 85 | 77 | Template:Winpct | 3rd in NL West | – | – | – | |
| HOU total | 810 | 392 | 418 | Template:Winpct | 0 | 0 | – | |||
| OAK | 1996 | 162 | 78 | 84 | Template:Winpct | 3rd in AL West | – | – | – | |
| OAK | 1997 | 162 | 65 | 97 | Template:Winpct | 4th in AL West | – | – | – | |
| OAK | 1998 | 162 | 74 | 88 | Template:Winpct | 4th in AL West | – | – | – | |
| OAK | 1999 | 162 | 87 | 75 | Template:Winpct | 2nd in AL West | – | – | – | |
| OAK | 2000 | 161 | 91 | 70 | Template:Winpct | 1st in AL West | 2 | 3 | Template:Winpct | Lost ALDS (NYY) |
| OAK | 2001 | 162 | 102 | 60 | Template:Winpct | 2nd in AL West | 2 | 3 | Template:Winpct | Lost ALDS (NYY) |
| OAK | 2002 | 162 | 103 | 59 | Template:Winpct | 1st in AL West | 2 | 3 | Template:Winpct | Lost ALDS (MIN) |
| OAK total | 1,133 | 600 | 533 | Template:Winpct | 6 | 9 | Template:Winpct | |||
| NYM | 2003 | 161 | 66 | 95 | Template:Winpct | 5th in NL East | – | – | – | |
| NYM | 2004 | 162 | 71 | 91 | Template:Winpct | 4th in NL East | – | – | – | |
| NYM total | 323 | 137 | 186 | Template:Winpct | 0 | 0 | – | |||
| Total[1] | 2,266 | 1,129 | 1,137 | Template:Winpct | 6 | 9 | Template:Winpct | |||
Personal life
Howe is married to his high school sweetheart.[16] They have three children and six grandchildren. Their son Matt played baseball, reaching Double-A in 2002.[17][18]
On May 14, 2020, Howe confirmed that he was in an ICU suffering from COVID-19.[19] On May 17, he was released from the hospital, and sent home, reportedly "weak, but on the mend".[20]
See also
Script error: No such module "Portal".
- Houston Astros award winners and league leaders
- List of Major League Baseball managers with most career wins
References
External links
- Career statistics from Script error: No such module "String".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Template:PAGENAMEBASE managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.comTemplate:EditAtWikidata
Template:S-start-collapsible
|- style="text-align: center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:30%;" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
Template:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check
| style="width: 40%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| National League Player of the Month
May 1981 Template:S-ttl/check
| style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
|- |- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:30%;" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
Template:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check
| style="width: 40%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| Houston Astros longest hitting streak
1981—2000
(with Luis Gonzalez, 1997—2000) Template:S-ttl/check
| style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
|- Template:S-sports |- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:30%;" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
Template:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check
| style="width: 40%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| Texas Rangers batting coach
1985—1988 Template:S-ttl/check
| style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
|- |- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:30%;" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
Template:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check
| style="width: 40%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| Texas Rangers batting coach
1995 Template:S-ttl/check
| style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
|- |- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align:center;"
|style="width:30%;" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
Template:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check
| style="width: 40%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| Texas Rangers bench coach
2007—2008 Template:S-ttl/check
| style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Template:Houston Astros managers Template:Athletics managers Template:New York Mets managers Template:China 2013 World Baseball Classic roster
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Pages with script errors
- Pages with broken file links
- 1946 births
- Living people
- Major League Baseball third basemen
- Major League Baseball second basemen
- Pittsburgh Pirates players
- Houston Astros players
- St. Louis Cardinals players
- Houston Astros managers
- Oakland Athletics managers
- New York Mets managers
- Caribbean Series managers
- Major League Baseball bench coaches
- Major League Baseball hitting coaches
- Baseball players from Pittsburgh
- Charleston Charlies players
- Texas Rangers coaches
- Colorado Rockies (baseball) coaches
- Los Angeles Dodgers scouts
- Wyoming Cowboys baseball players
- American expatriate baseball people in the Dominican Republic