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02-22-2003, 10:45 AM
Howdy, Mets fans ... Just thought some of y'all might like to read an article about yor new skipper as seen from way down here in Houston where we've still never really forgiven y'all for whippin' our butts in the '86 NLCS.
Art Howe really is revered in Houston still, many of us don't think he shoulda' ever been fired after the '93 season ... So it's going to be strange seeing him come to town the first time this year wearing a Metropolitans cap and jersey.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bb/1790081
Job of resurrecting Mets puts low-key Howe on center stage
By Richard Justice ... Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Long before he arrived at spring training and saw waves of fans showing up to watch the opening week of infield drills, before he ever noticed dozens of kids lining up outside the ballpark to catch a glimpse of Mike Piazza or Al Leiter, Art Howe knew life with the New York Mets would be different.
He was reminded how different countless times during the offseason as fans sought him out in airports, restaurants and other public settings to shake his hand, wish him well and say something along the lines of: "Please get the Mets going again, OK?"
He had been a big-league manager for a dozen seasons and had taken three consecutive Oakland teams to the playoffs when the Mets signed him to a four-year, $9.4 million contract last fall, but in the span of a few weeks, he was reminded his professional life had changed in more ways than he could have imagined.
Now, on a muggy day in which he has thrown a couple of rounds of batting practice, overseen an assortment of drills and gotten to know his new team better, Howe seems grateful for the attention and eager to answer the challenge.
He knows the good folks who root for New York's other baseball team might not always be so polite, but as he begins reshaping this train wreck of a club, he acknowledges his professional life has entered a different arena.
"It's the big stage," Howe said. "It's where you want to be if you win, and that's what we intend to do."
He speaks those words with such confidence and has such a track record of success that it's difficult to imagine he won't succeed, or at least move a team that went 75-86 in the right direction.
His offseason hiring created a swirl of second-guessing in New York, where reporters accused the Mets of bungling their courtship of Lou Piniella, a more popular choice who wound up with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
One tabloid welcomed Howe to town with this headline: "Howe Could They!"
Another went with: "Howe Unfortunate."
Howe, who makes his home in Houston, laughs at all of this, seems unbothered by it. This is the man his former players almost universally praise for his patience, honesty and low-key approach, a man who has helped develop a long list of young players, including Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio during five seasons in charge of the Astros, and a man who said he won't be bothered by the circus act a New York team can become.
Unlike the rebuilding programs he oversaw in Houston and Oakland, the Mets expect to win immediately.
They were beset by internal problems and underachieving players last season when they proved money can buy players, but it doesn't always buy a winner.
From the moment first baseman Mo Vaughn showed up out of shape and shortstop Rey Ordoñez began to pout and center fielder Roger Cedeño made his first defensive boo-boo and second baseman Roberto Alomar seemed only modestly interested in the whole thing, the Mets were a competitive joke, finishing 26 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East.
Management's solution was to fire manager Bobby Valentine, a tightly wound man who seemed to enjoy stirring the pot, and to hire Howe, who they hope will be favorably compared to Yankees manager Joe Torre.
Always unafraid to spend money, the Mets appear to have spent it wisely this winter, luring 242-game winner Tom Glavine from Atlanta and signing two other prominent free agents -- former Yankees middle reliever Mike Stanton and outfielder Cliff Floyd, who played with three teams last summer.
In Stanton and Glavine, the Mets have the only two big-league teammates who have been in the playoffs every year since 1991, so they at least know the level of professionalism has been upgraded.
Now, their success will depend on Vaughn's ability to stay in shape and rebound from a season in which he hit 35 points below his career average at .259.
Vaughn showed up lighter than last season and has said all the right things, including: "Everybody feels embarrassed. Everybody is hurt. Everybody as a whole organization doesn't like what happened to us."
Vaughn, perhaps more than any other Met, was put off by Valentine's subtle public jabs, and if he can ever again be the dominant player he once was, it'll be under Howe's steady hand.
Alomar is a similar story. He's arguably the best second basemen of this generation of players, but his .266 batting average last season was 38 points below his career average.
If Alomar and Vaughn bounce back, if shortstop Jose Reyes, 19, is as good as advertised and if the Mets can squeeze another productive season from Piazza, 34, the Mets should have a solid lineup.
There's fewer questions about the pitching staff. Glavine will be at the top of a rotation that also has Leiter, Steve Trachsel and Pedro Astacio and could be the best in the NL East, including Atlanta's.
Perhaps the bigger questions concern how the Mets handle the disappointments. What if Vaughn and Alomar don't have productive seasons? What if Cedeño can't play center? What if Reyes is being rushed?
Then Howe will have to earn his money and hold things together in a city were the talk shows, tabloids and boos have eaten up more than a few good men.
"I understand that," he said. "I look across the city and see Joe (Torre). He's got the same kind of temperament as I do. You've just got to concentrate on your job and not get caught up with all the other stuff. I know it's probably easier said than done, and I haven't really done it yet. But I'm going to do my best. My job is to keep everybody going in the right direction, keep everybody on an even keel.
"I think a manager has to be somebody who's consistent. The players can't wonder who's showing up today, what's he going to do today. Is he going to bounce off the wall? They have to know I want them to succeed and am going to try to put them in a position to succeed. We're in it together. This is a team sport, and that starts from the top down."
Because he's the polar opposite of Valentine, the Mets believe Howe will do fine.
"In his first meeting with the players, Art said, `I don't have all the answers,' " said Mets general manager Steve Phillips, who had a strained relationship with Valentine. "He told them, `If you have thoughts or ideas, bring them on. I'm glad to consider everything.'
"He's looking for a team effort, not only in the results, but in the process. It's a new environment. When you have a bad year like that, creating a new environment is important."
Howe, 56, took the long road to the big stage. He'd given up on the idea of a career in baseball and was playing semipro games and working at Westinghouse in his hometown of Pittsburgh when a friend convinced him to attend a tryout camp.
He remembers being almost embarrassed to attend because he was 23 and knew scouts were focused on high school-age kids. But to his surprise, he was given a contract, and by 1976, was in the big leagues to stay after being traded to the Astros.
He spent six seasons in Houston, helped the Astros make their first two playoff appearances, and by the time he retired after spending the 1985 season with the Cardinals, he'd had a nice major-league career.
Four years later, after working as a coach for the Rangers and a scout for the Dodgers, he was hired to manager the Astros and oversaw an overhaul of the roster that led them from 97 losses in 1991 to an 85-77 finish in 1993.
That's when new owner Drayton McLane fired him and hired Terry Collins. Howe spent a season with the Rockies, then was hired by the A's, where he spent seven seasons.
A decade later, his firing by the Astros still touches raw nerves.
"The only thing I was disappointed about is I felt we were going forward," Howe said. "I felt like I'd be the guy to get us to a championship. I kind of took the hit. We lost 97 games one year when we totally started from scratch with the kids. I thought I made some nice moves for the organization moving people into positions where they really excelled and became stars. We were on the right path.
"The bottom line was there were two teams that won over 100 games that year -- the Braves and Giants. Our owner just didn't understand why we didn't win 100, too."
Howe won in Oakland despite a low payroll and constant roster shuffling. His A's also lost in the first round of the playoffs three straight years, and friends say he'd become increasingly frustrated by the franchise's financial limitations. He essentially was broke when his playing career ended because of poor investments made by a former agent, and until signing with the Mets, had never had much financial security.
When the A's agreed to release him from his contract, Howe got a salary to match his accomplishments. Now, life could hardly be better. His son, Matt, recently was married, and daughter Stephanie delivered his first grandchild, a little girl he's working hard to spoil.
He's part of an organization that has made him feel like family since day one, so all that's needed to finish this picture is a World Series ring.
"That's a pretty good team in there," Howe said, motioning toward the clubhouse. "I let them know in our first meeting that I think they're pretty good. We don't have to take a back seat to anybody. But we can't just expect it to happen. We have to work hard in our drills. At the same time, let's have some fun out there."
Art Howe really is revered in Houston still, many of us don't think he shoulda' ever been fired after the '93 season ... So it's going to be strange seeing him come to town the first time this year wearing a Metropolitans cap and jersey.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bb/1790081
Job of resurrecting Mets puts low-key Howe on center stage
By Richard Justice ... Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Long before he arrived at spring training and saw waves of fans showing up to watch the opening week of infield drills, before he ever noticed dozens of kids lining up outside the ballpark to catch a glimpse of Mike Piazza or Al Leiter, Art Howe knew life with the New York Mets would be different.
He was reminded how different countless times during the offseason as fans sought him out in airports, restaurants and other public settings to shake his hand, wish him well and say something along the lines of: "Please get the Mets going again, OK?"
He had been a big-league manager for a dozen seasons and had taken three consecutive Oakland teams to the playoffs when the Mets signed him to a four-year, $9.4 million contract last fall, but in the span of a few weeks, he was reminded his professional life had changed in more ways than he could have imagined.
Now, on a muggy day in which he has thrown a couple of rounds of batting practice, overseen an assortment of drills and gotten to know his new team better, Howe seems grateful for the attention and eager to answer the challenge.
He knows the good folks who root for New York's other baseball team might not always be so polite, but as he begins reshaping this train wreck of a club, he acknowledges his professional life has entered a different arena.
"It's the big stage," Howe said. "It's where you want to be if you win, and that's what we intend to do."
He speaks those words with such confidence and has such a track record of success that it's difficult to imagine he won't succeed, or at least move a team that went 75-86 in the right direction.
His offseason hiring created a swirl of second-guessing in New York, where reporters accused the Mets of bungling their courtship of Lou Piniella, a more popular choice who wound up with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
One tabloid welcomed Howe to town with this headline: "Howe Could They!"
Another went with: "Howe Unfortunate."
Howe, who makes his home in Houston, laughs at all of this, seems unbothered by it. This is the man his former players almost universally praise for his patience, honesty and low-key approach, a man who has helped develop a long list of young players, including Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio during five seasons in charge of the Astros, and a man who said he won't be bothered by the circus act a New York team can become.
Unlike the rebuilding programs he oversaw in Houston and Oakland, the Mets expect to win immediately.
They were beset by internal problems and underachieving players last season when they proved money can buy players, but it doesn't always buy a winner.
From the moment first baseman Mo Vaughn showed up out of shape and shortstop Rey Ordoñez began to pout and center fielder Roger Cedeño made his first defensive boo-boo and second baseman Roberto Alomar seemed only modestly interested in the whole thing, the Mets were a competitive joke, finishing 26 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East.
Management's solution was to fire manager Bobby Valentine, a tightly wound man who seemed to enjoy stirring the pot, and to hire Howe, who they hope will be favorably compared to Yankees manager Joe Torre.
Always unafraid to spend money, the Mets appear to have spent it wisely this winter, luring 242-game winner Tom Glavine from Atlanta and signing two other prominent free agents -- former Yankees middle reliever Mike Stanton and outfielder Cliff Floyd, who played with three teams last summer.
In Stanton and Glavine, the Mets have the only two big-league teammates who have been in the playoffs every year since 1991, so they at least know the level of professionalism has been upgraded.
Now, their success will depend on Vaughn's ability to stay in shape and rebound from a season in which he hit 35 points below his career average at .259.
Vaughn showed up lighter than last season and has said all the right things, including: "Everybody feels embarrassed. Everybody is hurt. Everybody as a whole organization doesn't like what happened to us."
Vaughn, perhaps more than any other Met, was put off by Valentine's subtle public jabs, and if he can ever again be the dominant player he once was, it'll be under Howe's steady hand.
Alomar is a similar story. He's arguably the best second basemen of this generation of players, but his .266 batting average last season was 38 points below his career average.
If Alomar and Vaughn bounce back, if shortstop Jose Reyes, 19, is as good as advertised and if the Mets can squeeze another productive season from Piazza, 34, the Mets should have a solid lineup.
There's fewer questions about the pitching staff. Glavine will be at the top of a rotation that also has Leiter, Steve Trachsel and Pedro Astacio and could be the best in the NL East, including Atlanta's.
Perhaps the bigger questions concern how the Mets handle the disappointments. What if Vaughn and Alomar don't have productive seasons? What if Cedeño can't play center? What if Reyes is being rushed?
Then Howe will have to earn his money and hold things together in a city were the talk shows, tabloids and boos have eaten up more than a few good men.
"I understand that," he said. "I look across the city and see Joe (Torre). He's got the same kind of temperament as I do. You've just got to concentrate on your job and not get caught up with all the other stuff. I know it's probably easier said than done, and I haven't really done it yet. But I'm going to do my best. My job is to keep everybody going in the right direction, keep everybody on an even keel.
"I think a manager has to be somebody who's consistent. The players can't wonder who's showing up today, what's he going to do today. Is he going to bounce off the wall? They have to know I want them to succeed and am going to try to put them in a position to succeed. We're in it together. This is a team sport, and that starts from the top down."
Because he's the polar opposite of Valentine, the Mets believe Howe will do fine.
"In his first meeting with the players, Art said, `I don't have all the answers,' " said Mets general manager Steve Phillips, who had a strained relationship with Valentine. "He told them, `If you have thoughts or ideas, bring them on. I'm glad to consider everything.'
"He's looking for a team effort, not only in the results, but in the process. It's a new environment. When you have a bad year like that, creating a new environment is important."
Howe, 56, took the long road to the big stage. He'd given up on the idea of a career in baseball and was playing semipro games and working at Westinghouse in his hometown of Pittsburgh when a friend convinced him to attend a tryout camp.
He remembers being almost embarrassed to attend because he was 23 and knew scouts were focused on high school-age kids. But to his surprise, he was given a contract, and by 1976, was in the big leagues to stay after being traded to the Astros.
He spent six seasons in Houston, helped the Astros make their first two playoff appearances, and by the time he retired after spending the 1985 season with the Cardinals, he'd had a nice major-league career.
Four years later, after working as a coach for the Rangers and a scout for the Dodgers, he was hired to manager the Astros and oversaw an overhaul of the roster that led them from 97 losses in 1991 to an 85-77 finish in 1993.
That's when new owner Drayton McLane fired him and hired Terry Collins. Howe spent a season with the Rockies, then was hired by the A's, where he spent seven seasons.
A decade later, his firing by the Astros still touches raw nerves.
"The only thing I was disappointed about is I felt we were going forward," Howe said. "I felt like I'd be the guy to get us to a championship. I kind of took the hit. We lost 97 games one year when we totally started from scratch with the kids. I thought I made some nice moves for the organization moving people into positions where they really excelled and became stars. We were on the right path.
"The bottom line was there were two teams that won over 100 games that year -- the Braves and Giants. Our owner just didn't understand why we didn't win 100, too."
Howe won in Oakland despite a low payroll and constant roster shuffling. His A's also lost in the first round of the playoffs three straight years, and friends say he'd become increasingly frustrated by the franchise's financial limitations. He essentially was broke when his playing career ended because of poor investments made by a former agent, and until signing with the Mets, had never had much financial security.
When the A's agreed to release him from his contract, Howe got a salary to match his accomplishments. Now, life could hardly be better. His son, Matt, recently was married, and daughter Stephanie delivered his first grandchild, a little girl he's working hard to spoil.
He's part of an organization that has made him feel like family since day one, so all that's needed to finish this picture is a World Series ring.
"That's a pretty good team in there," Howe said, motioning toward the clubhouse. "I let them know in our first meeting that I think they're pretty good. We don't have to take a back seat to anybody. But we can't just expect it to happen. We have to work hard in our drills. At the same time, let's have some fun out there."