Published: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 Scanning the Majors: 5/3/06 Edition

The Sad and Sordid Life of Steve Howe

This past Friday, former Dodger reliever Steve Howe died tragically in a single car accident at the age of 48. While one wishes there was a feeling of shock upon hearing the news, the sad thing is that most just thought, “Well, that figures.” Howe’s battles with drugs and alcohol are well documented. In the 80’s, he became somewhat of a poster child for baseball’s drug problem, particularly cocaine. Howe was drafted by the Dodgers in the first round of the 1979 draft out of the University of Michigan. Spending just half a season at Double-A San Antonio, Howe won a spot in the Dodger bullpen in 1980, recording 17 saves on his way to winning the N.L Rookie of the Year award (the 2nd in a string of 4 straight Dodgers to take home the honor). Howe was an integral part in L.A. winning the 1981 World Series. Then the problems started. After the 1982 season, Howe entered a drug rehabilitation program. In late June of 1983, he was fined one month’s salary and placed on probation by the Dodgers after admitting to having a drug problem. Twice more that season, Howe would be suspended for reporting late to a game and missing a team flight. Both times, Howe admitted to having a problem. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn subsequently suspended Howe for the 1984 season. From a personal perspective, being 11 years old, it was the first time I heard about the evils of drugs and the way they could turn your icons into sand. I knew Howe was a great reliever and the Dodgers needed him. It was difficult for me to understand why someone with so much talent seemed so willing to throw it all away for something as harmful as cocaine. To me, Steve Howe was a better spokesperson for the anti-drug movement than Nancy Reagan and ALF could ever dream of being. As much as you wanted to damn him, though, you couldn’t help but root for him to get it together. It wasn’t from the selfish standpoint of hoping he could clean up and help the Dodgers. Howe epitomized everything that was wrong with drugs. Unfortunately, the evils of cocaine seemed to win out as Howe’s career was littered by suspensions and even a ban for life (that lasted one season) before he finally finished his career in 1996. Problems still followed Howe after his career was over, as he was critically injured in 1999 in a motorcycle accident in which he was charged with drunk driving. The charges were later dropped, but a couple years later he was removed as a volunteer coach for his daughter’s softball program due to alcohol issues. Recently, though, it seemed Howe had somewhat pulled his act together, avoiding any kind of trouble in the last seven years. "I just saw Steve last winter when his son was pitching against my son," former teammate and Angels manager Mike Scioscia said Friday night to the Associated Press. "Everything was looking up for him and he looked great. It makes you numb when you hear about a situation like this. He had a roller-coaster ride." When I was young, I wanted Howe to get his act together to help the Dodgers. As an adult, I hope he got his act together for the sake of his wife and children, who didn’t ask for the albatross their father’s addictions brought upon them. While it is easy to condemn Howe and dismiss him as just another stupid person who used drugs and not deserving of any sort of compassion for bringing on his own problems, his life and career illustrate how destructive drugs can be to someone who was so talented and by all accounts, a good human being. So if his real contribution to the world was not helping pitch a major league team to a World Championship, but serving as an example to not just budding athletes but people in general, then his truly will not have been a wasted life. John Scanlan can be reached at scanman_33@sbcglobal.net