Art Howe

Arthur Henry Howe Jr. (born December 15, 1946) is a former professional baseball infielder, coach, scout, and manager. He played in the major leagues for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, and St. Louis Cardinals, and later managed the Astros, Oakland Athletics, and New York Mets, finishing with 1,129 wins and 1,137 losses.

Howe grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended Shaler Area High School. He went to the University of Wyoming on a football scholarship, but switched to baseball after injuries ended his football career. He signed his first pro contract at age 24 with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1971. After playing part-time for Pittsburgh in 1974 and 1975, he was traded to the Astros for infielder Tommy Helms on January 6, 1976.

With Houston from 1976 to 1982, he played all four infield positions, mostly third and second base. In 1977, playing only 125 games while shifting between second, shortstop, and third, he made just eight errors. On May 7, 1980, a pitch from Montreal’s Scott Sanderson fractured his jaw. In the 1980 National League West tiebreaker, he hit a third-inning home run to push Houston’s lead to 4–0 against the Dodgers, then added a two-run single in the fourth to make it 7–0; the Astros won 7–1 for their first division title.

In May 1981, he won Player of the Month, the only Astros third baseman to do so until Alex Bregman in June 2018. He missed the entire 1983 season due to injury and finished his playing career with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1984 to 1985. A right-handed hitter, he appeared in 891 games over parts of 11 seasons, batting .260 with 43 home runs.

Howe began coaching in 1986 as an assistant to Bobby Valentine with the Texas Rangers. After three seasons, he became manager of his old team, the Astros, in 1989, replacing Hal Lanier. His first season in Houston was successful, but the team rebuilt around young players like Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, leading to losing years in 1990 and 1991. The Astros improved to .500 in 1992 and a winning record in 1993, but Howe was fired after that season in favor of Terry Collins.

During the 1994–95 Dominican Winter League, he led Azucareros del Este to their first championship. After a year as a major league scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers and a 1995 stint as bench coach for the Colorado Rockies, he was hired to replace Tony La Russa as manager of the Athletics in 1996. Oakland lost three straight seasons under Howe before contending again in 1999. From 2000 to 2002, the A’s won 91, 102, and 103 games, making the American League playoffs each year, but lost every Division Series in five games—including Game 5 at home in 2000 and 2002, and blowing a two-game lead in 2001.

Howe and general manager Billy Beane grew apart, and after the 2002 season, despite a 600–533 record (.530) over seven years, Howe was let go from the final year of his Oakland contract to manage the New York Mets, signing a four-year, $9.4 million deal.

Philip Seymour Hoffman played Howe in the 2011 film Moneyball, which dramatized Beane’s use of sabermetrics. Howe was unhappy with his portrayal in both the film and the 2003 Michael Lewis book it was based on, where he was shown as a stubborn traditionalist who resisted Beane’s plans and a figurehead while Beane ran the team. Howe said he was a team player despite doubts about Beane’s methods, and the press described him as a “good company man.”

Howe’s two years with the Mets were unsuccessful. The team won only 42 percent of its games, the front office went through three general managers, and attendance at Shea Stadium dropped. He earned his 1,000th managerial win on April 20, 2003, in a 7–4 victory over the Florida Marlins. In September 2004, news of his impending firing leaked two weeks before the season ended, but he finished the year. General manager Omar Minaya replaced him with Willie Randolph. On October 16, 2006, the Philadelphia Phillies hired Howe as third base coach and infield instructor. After the Texas Rangers hired Ron Washington—a former Oakland coach under Howe—as manager, the Phillies let Howe talk to the Rangers about openings. On November 7, 2006, he became Washington’s bench coach in Texas, serving from 2007 to 2008, but his contract was not renewed after a disappointing 2008 season.

Howe is married to his high school sweetheart. They have three children and six grandchildren. Their son Matt played baseball, reaching Double-A in 2002. On May 14, 2020, Howe confirmed he was in an ICU with COVID-19. He was released from the hospital on May 17, reportedly weak but recovering.