Art Howe

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Arthur Henry Howe Jr. (born December 15, 1946, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is the bench coach for the Texas Rangers. During his Major League Baseball career, he played as an infielder and also spent time as a baseball scout and manager. He served as manager of three clubs: the Houston Astros (1989-93), Oakland Athletics (1996-2002), and New York Mets (2003-04), compiling a career record of 1,129 wins against 1,137 defeats (.498).

1 Playing career
2 As a coach and manager
3 External link
4 References

[edit] Playing career

Howe was a relatively old 24 years of age, when he signed his first playing contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1971. He came to the majors as a part-time player with Pittsburgh in 1974-75, before a trade to the Astros afforded him greater playing time. He played all four infield positions, mostly as a third baseman and second baseman, for Houston from 1976-82. After missing the entire 1983 season with an injury, he finished his playing career with the St. Louis Cardinals (1984-85). The righthanded hitter appeared in 891 games over all or parts of 11 seasons, compiling a lifetime batting average of .260 with 43 home runs.

[edit] 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 a winning record, but Howe was fired in favor of Terry Collins at the close of the '93 campaign. During the 1994-95 Dominican Winter League season, Howe led the Azucareros del Este to their only 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 selected to replace the high-profile Tony La Russa as manager of the Athletics for 1996. 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, and Howe and general manager Billy Beane grew estranged. At the end of 2002, despite a seven-year mark of 600-533 (.530), Howe was released from his Oakland contract to become the highly paid manager of the New York Mets.

His two years in New York proved highly unsuccessful. The Mets won only 42 percent of their games, the front office went through three general managers, and attendance at Shea Stadium fell. 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 year. Ultimately, the general manager of the club, Omar Minaya, replaced Howe with Willie Randolph, bench coach for the New York Yankees.

On October 16, 2006, he was hired as the third base coach and an infield instructor by the Philadelphia Phillies. After the Texas Rangers hired Ron Washington as their new 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 new bench coach.

Howe is married to his highschool sweetheart, Betty. They have three children and three grandchildren.

[edit] External link

Baseball-Reference.com - career managing record and playing statistics

[edit] References

The Baseball Encyclopedia

Preceded by Dave Concepción	National League Player of the Month May, 1981	Succeeded by Mike Schmidt
Preceded by Hal Lanier	Houston Astros Manager 1989-1993	Succeeded by Terry Collins
Preceded by Tony La Russa	Oakland Athletics Managers 1996-2002	Succeeded by Ken Macha
Preceded by Bobby Valentine	New York Mets Manager 2003-2004	Succeeded by Willie Randolph