Steve Howe (baseball)
A flame-throwing lefty whose electric talent on the mound was tragically shadowed by a public, relentless battle with addiction.
1958–2006 (age 48)·American baseball player·Birthday: March 10·Baby Boomers
Biography
Steve Howe arrived in the major leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1980 not as a gradual prospect but as a sudden force. He won the National League Rookie of the Year award that season, his blistering fastball making him a crucial late-inning weapon for a team that would win the World Series the following year. For a moment, he was the future of bullpen dominance. But his story quickly became one of the most public and painful chronicles of substance abuse in sports. Suspended seven times by MLB, he became a symbol of the league's nascent drug policy, a cycle of reinstatement and relapse that saw him pitch for four teams over 12 fractured seasons. His fastball never fully lost its bite—he made an All-Star team with the Yankees in 1991—but his career was ultimately defined by its unfulfilled promise and the personal cost of his struggles, which ended with his death in a vehicle accident in 2006.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Steve was born in 1958, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Steve Was Born
The biggest hits of 1958
#1 Movie
South Pacific
Best Picture
Gigi
#1 TV Show
Gunsmoke
Steve's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1958Born
NASA founded
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Volare" — Domenico ModugnoBest Picture: Gigi
1963Started school
JFK assassinated in Dallas; Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,100Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Sugar Shack" — Jimmy Gilmer & The FireballsBest Picture: Tom Jones
1971Became a teenager
Voting age lowered to 18 in the US
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $18,100Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Joy to the World" — Three Dog NightBest Picture: The French Connection
1974Could drive
Nixon resigns the presidency
Gas: $0.53/galHome: $22,600Min wage: $2.00/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"The Way We Were" — Barbra StreisandBest Picture: The Godfather Part II
1976Could vote
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1979Turned 21
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
1988Turned 30
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1998Turned 40
Google founded; Clinton impeachment
Gas: $1.06/galHome: $107,300Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Too Close" — NextBest Picture: Shakespeare in Love
2006Died at 48
Twitter launches; Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet
Gas: $2.59/galHome: $174,700Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Bad Day" — Daniel PowterBest Picture: The Departed
Key Achievements
- Won the 1980 National League Rookie of the Year Award as a relief pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
- Earned a World Series ring with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981.
- Was selected as an American League All-Star in 1991 while pitching for the New York Yankees.
Did You Know?
He was the first player to be suspended seven times under Major League Baseball's drug policy.
Howe once saved 17 games for the Texas Rangers in 1987 despite joining the team mid-season.
His final major league appearance was in 1996, but he attempted a comeback in independent league baseball the following year.
“I just wanted the ball when the game was on the line.”
