How Brener Handled the Steve Howe Affair

During a game three weeks ago against the Astros, Steve Brener received a phone call in the Dodger Stadium press box. The message: Visit executive vice president Fred Claire’s office right away. When Brener returned he had an announcement for the media. Dodger pitcher Steve Howe had not arrived at the stadium until the sixth inning. The reliever had been stuck at his home in Agoura without a car.

As the press trooped down to the locker room after the game, Brener led the pack. He was the first one in the clubhouse, giving the players five minutes to cool off before the media invaded.

“Watch how they handle this,” one reporter said. “They’re already talking about how to handle the situation while it’s happening. You watch Brener stick with Howe and Lasorda.”

Sure enough, as the press first surrounded Howe and Lasorda, Brener was right beside them.

“Basically it’s better to have somebody down there that represents the team than to not have someone,” Brener said.

But why, some reporters wondered, did the club even mention the incident--since no one would have known that Howe was late?

“Howe came in a cab,” Brener said. “Somebody could have seen him come in late. We had to make an announcement. We feel strongly that if you’re honest, you can’t get hurt.”

Howe missed the following Sunday’s game and was unconditionally released July 2.

Howe’s drug problems the past three seasons certainly did not fit into the Dodgers’ family image. But Brener and his office never tried to block the bad news.

“Nobody volunteered anything,” said Gordon Verrell, a reporter for the Long Beach Press Telegram. “But they’re cooperative at a time like that.”