Major League Baseball

Howe upset with 'Moneyball' portrayal

Published Sep. 27, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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The film "Moneyball" has enjoyed positive reviews in the press and for the most part throughout Major League Baseball. Just don’t count Art Howe among the happy campers.

The former Oakland manager is peeved at his portrayal in the Brad Pitt movie based on A’s general manager Billy Beane that has grossed $20 million at theaters since its release on Sept. 23. The role of Howe, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, appears to show the skipper as not much more than a puppet to Beane, the longtime Oakland GM.

“It is very disappointing to know that you spent seven years in an organization and gave your heart and soul to it and helped them go to the postseason your last three years there and win over 100 games your last two seasons — and this is the way evidently your boss (Beane) feels about you,” Howe told SiriusXM radio.

Howe, who managed the A’s for seven seasons from 1996-2002, won two AL West division titles in Oakland and managed two 100-game winners (2000, 2002). But he told interviewers that after seeing how he was portrayed by author Michael Lewis in the 2003 best-seller by the same name, the former manager expected the worst.

“They never called me to get my slant on things as far as the movie was concerned,” Howe said of the filmmakers. “So, I mean, it’s coming from someone. I don’t know who it is, but maybe it is Hollywood to make it sell, I guess. I don’t know.

“I spent my whole career trying to build a good reputation and I think I did that but this movie certainly doesn’t help it. And it is definitely unfair and untrue. If you ask any player that ever played for me they would say that they never saw this side of me, ever.”

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