Thursday, Jul 24, 2008
"One of the things that always bugged me was I would hear people say he's such a nice guy, but he can't be a good manager because he's too soft," says Howe's wife, Betty. "They figured you needed to be more in-your-face, like a Tony La Russa."
"Well, Art treats these guys as men. They are doing a man's job. He corrects them, but his philosophy is not to get in their face. He calls them in the next day if he has a problem. He's done that quite often, if he has to, and he's gotten results. People don't know about it. But he gets it done. I think they listen to him because they are treated with respect. It's hard because even though you have young players, they might be making five times as much money as you are. So you'd better be able to relate to people if you're going to last very long."
The point is not to argue against the style of La Russa, for example. The St. Louis Cardinals manager goes to war out there, every day, and he surrounds himself with a collection of smart, colorful assistant coaches who make up a formidable brain trust. La Russa thinks everything out, and then thinks it out again a few more times. It's probably safe to call him brilliant. But in his brilliance, La Russa may be too much for players. I remember the sad case of a player named Brent Gates, a young guy with a body like Gumby and a face that, well, you just have to describe as "elfin." Actually, I did describe him as "elfin" one time in print, and Gates looked that word up in a dictionary, saw that it meant "fairy," and thought I was calling him queer or something. He hated me forever after that. And yet, when La Russa decided to move Gates from second base to third, Gates actually got the word from yours truly. He looked like he was going to keel over on the spot. And though he hit .290 as a rookie, Gates is out of the game now. Many feel that La Russa was too tough on him.
That is one thing Howe has never been. The question is, can he be tough when he has to be? As his wife pointed out, his style has always been to call players in quietly, a day later, to discuss a sore subject without getting the media involved. Even so, if you are around Howe for even a few days, you know he's a man who would prefer not to make waves. He's having too good a time, just showing up for another day of baseball.
I covered Howe during seasons when he never really needed to be tough. But times are different. General manager Billy Beane has been easily the best executive in baseball the last two seasons, and has assembled a remarkable collection of talent. When I covered the A's, they had a hard time finding a single ace pitcher to anchor their rotation. Now they have Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito, a combined 56-25 this regular season and quite possibly the best collection of three starters in baseball right now, and they are all just starting out.
I think Howe probably was too nice at times, during the years I covered him, but it's hard to say for sure. All I know is that this season, when Howe benched mercurial young shortstop Miguel Tejada for not hustling and running out a ground ball, it was a different Howe than the man I watched. Howe not only yanked Tejada right out of the game, he told reporters just what he had done and why. It was a calculated risk, and it paid off beautifully. Tejada apologized to his teammates and seemed to gain a new maturity and consistency heading into the playoffs. Anyone who knows Howe knew it was not easy for him to lean on Tejada like that. He did it because he had to.
Get Salon in your mailbox!
