Former MLB manager, Pirates player Howe hospitalized

Former Major League manager and Pirates player Art Howe has been hospitalized with COVID-19.

Howe told KPRC 2 in Houston he felt the first symptoms of the virus on May 3 and found out he was positive two days later. He went into isolation after then, and was taken to the hospital via ambulance on May 12 after his symptoms worsened.

The 73-year-old is currently in the ICU. Howe told KPRC 2 that his health is slowly improving.

Howe is a Pittsburgh native and signed a minor-league contract with the Pirates in 1971. He spent parts of two seasons with the Pirates from 1974-1975 as a utility infielder before being traded to the Astros in January, 1976.

He spent seven of his 11 years as a player with the Astros and got his start as a manager there, serving as their skipper from 1989-1993. The Astros never finished better than third place under his leadership.

He found more success as the skipper of the Athletics, where they earned three consecutive playoff berths from 2000-2002, though they never advanced past the first round.

That 2002 Athletics team is the famous "Moneyball" team, made famous by the 2003 Michael Lewis book and the 2011 Academy Award nominated movie, though many have said he was not properly portrayed in the latter. That team won 20 consecutive games, setting a new American League record which had stood for 96 years. It was recently broken by the 2017 Indians, who won 22 consecutive games.

He spent 14 seasons as a manager with the Astros, Athletics and Mets, compiling a career record of 1,129-1,137.