Steve Howe

Steven Roy Howe

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 180 lb.
• School University of Michigan
• High School Clarkston (MI) High School
• Debut April 11, 1980
• Final Game June 21, 1996
• Born March 10, 1958 in Pontiac, MI USA
• Died April 28, 2006 in Coachella, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

"The guy had electric stuff. He was a power guy who came right at people..." - Rick Honeycutt

Relief pitcher Steve Howe saved 17 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1980 and won the 1980 National League Rookie of the Year Award. He was part of a string of four consecutive Dodgers players to win the award, starting with Rick Sutcliffe in 1979, and continuing after him with Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Sax. He pitched 12 seasons in the big leagues, but he is best known for being suspended from baseball seven times for various drug offenses.

Having six prior suspensions for drug abuse, Howe was permanently banned from organized baseball on July 24, 1992, after he pleaded guilty to trying to purchase cocaine sixteen days earlier. Arbitrator George Nicolau overturned Howe's banishment the following November.

His main teammates included Pedro Guerrero (1065), Dusty Baker (950) and Ron Cey (827).

He attended the University of Michigan from 1977 to 1979, and his time there overlapped with that of Rick Leach and Jim Paciorek. The Dodgers picked him in the first round of the 1979 amateur draft and he made his big league debut less than a year later.

Howe died in a one-vehicle accident when his pickup truck overturned while he was driving in Coachella, CA. He was not wearing his seatbelt. The toxicology report determined there was methamphetamine in his system at the time of death. He was 48.

Notable Achievements

• 1980 NL Rookie of the Year Award
• NL All-Star (1982)
• Won two World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1981) and the New York Yankees (1996; he did not play in the World Series).

NL Rookie of the Year
1979	1980	1981
Rick Sutcliffe	Steve Howe	Fernando Valenzuela

Related Sites

• An article about Steve Howe's death