Ex-Mets manager Art Howe released from hospital after contracting coronavirus

Mets manager Art Howe in the dugout during a game against the Expos at Shea Stadium on July 2, 2003. Credit: Newsday Staff Photographer/Kathy Kmonicek
HOUSTON — Former Mets manager Art Howe was released from a Houston hospital Sunday after a stay in intensive care because of the coronavirus.
“Relief, back in my own bedroom. It’s just sweet,” said Howe, 73, who will be isolated at home for another week or two. “It was a long five days or so. I’m finally feeling a little bit better. Still not able to eat real good, taste buds are giving me a hard time. It’s just nice to be back home and hopefully continue to progress.”
Howe confirmed to Houston’s KPRC-TV on Thursday night that he had been dealing with the illness since first feeling symptoms of COVID-19 on May 3. He went to the hospital by ambulance last Tuesday when his symptoms grew worse — chills and “total fatigue.”
“Never experienced anything like it before,” he said Thursday.
Howe compiled a 137-186 record in the 2003-04 seasons for the Mets. He managed the A’s from 1996-2002, winning 600 regular-season games and leading Oakland to the playoffs three times.
Those teams became known for general manager Billy Beane’s then-unconventional method of using sabermetrics to evaluate players. Author Michael Lewis wrote a bestselling book on the A’s called “Moneyball,” and it later was turned into a film starring Brad Pitt as Beane and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Howe.
Howe, who spent 12 seasons in the majors as an infielder, began his big league managerial career with the Astros in 1989 and led them for five seasons.