Houston’s Art Howe livid over his portrayal in ‘Moneyball’

Q: How do you look back on your time in Oakland?

A: I think it was a great learning experience, and for me it was a good experience. We went from last place to first place. My last few years there, we played in the postseason, won 102 and 103 games, set an all-time record for winning streak with 20 straight wins. I’m real proud of what I helped achieve there; it certainly wasn’t a one-man deal or a two-man deal. It was the whole organization. Great pitching with (Mark) Mulder, (Tim) Hudson and (Barry) Zito and a guy named (Cory) Lidle, who was our fourth starter and had a good year for us, and Billy Koch had (44) saves for us. Miguel Tejada was MVP at shortstop. Zito was the Cy Young Award winner that year, and Koch was the Fireman of the Year. That’s where I was really disappointed with the movie also, is that none of these players got any credit.

 

Q: Carlos Pena played an interesting role, and it wasn’t even a footnote what he went on to do. Did you see stardom when you first saw him, or at least his ability to get to an All-Star level like he’s gotten to?

A: Right from the beginning. We knew he was an outstanding defensive first baseman. He’s a rookie; there’s going to be learning curves and he’s going to have to take some lumps. As we’ve actually seen throughout his career, he’s kind of a streak type hitter. He went through a funk with us and Billy decided he didn’t want him with us anymore. It kind of opened the door for one of his experiments, I guess, with Scott Hatteberg. And Scottie’s a great guy, a good teammate and a hard-nosed kid. He did a good job for us.

 

Q: Would you like to manage again?

A: Under the right circumstances, yes.

 

Q: Do you feel that this (movie and book) affects your name in baseball circles?

A: It certainly doesn’t help it the way I was portrayed. I think the book hurt me and now the movie. I want people who don’t know Art Howe – that’s the problem with the movie – I’ve spent my whole career trying to build a good reputation and be a good baseball man and someone who people like to play for and all of the above. Then in two hours, people who don’t know me – and Brad Pitt’s a big name, people are going to see his movies and all these people across the country are going to go in and get this perception of me that’s totally unfair and untruthful. So I’m very upset.

Article Appeared @http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2011/09/28/art-howe-livid-over-his-portrayal-in-moneyball/

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