Steve Howe Gets Another Chance

Even if it opens up a hornets’ nest, the owner of the San Jose Bees is giving another crack at professional baseball to four ex-major leaguers whose problems with drug addiction ruined their careers.

The baseball careers of pitchers Steve Howe and Mike Norris, infielder Ken Reitz and infielder-outfielder Derrel Thomas may yet be saved by Harry Steve, owner of the San Jose club of the Class A California League.

While major league baseball has turned its back on the four players after their admitted problems with cocaine dependency, Steve has signed Norris, Reitz and Thomas to play for the Bees this season and is currently negotiating with Howe and his agent.

“The reason these guys find themselves out of baseball has very little to do with the way they play on the field,” said Steve. “They are all good players, but they have all had problems. I’ve taken a little heat for signing them and giving them a second chance. Now it’s up to them to make the most of the chance.”

Howe, 28, and Norris, 31, were once stars in the major leagues, but both struck out after three chances to rid themselves of cocaine dependency. Thomas, 35, and Reitz, 34, also have had documented problems with drugs that forced them out of baseball.

Steve’s interest in older players with a bad reputation started two years ago when he tried pumping new life into his sagging box office by signing Joe Charboneau to a minor league contract.

Charboneau was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1980 but earned a reputation as a super flake and found himself out of the big leagues a few years later because of a back injury.

“We thought the fact that Joe was a local boy would be a good draw for us,” Steve said. “I sent him a first class ticket and thought we had agreed to a contract. But when I went to the airport, he never showed up.”

The Bees owner tried again this season to sign Charboneau but gave up after a few weeks.

Then he was contacted by Norris’ agent. The former Oakland A’s right-hander, a 22-game winner in 1980, had run into trouble with the law because of drugs and was out of baseball. He still has a court case pending in California and was named by Commissioner Peter Ueberroth recently as one of the players who faces a 60-day suspension or payment of 5 percent of his salary to a drug program in order to play in the majors again.

Norris, runner-up for the 1980 American League Cy Young award, had finished a treatment program earlier this year and was in the process of evaluating what he was going to do. The Oakland A’s had dropped him off their roster.

Norris’ past did not faze Steve.

“I called the commissioner’s office and they said as long as I understood the commissioner’s rules involving Norris they had no objections to me signing him,” Steve said. “When we signed Norris, we started hearing from other players.”

Howe proved to be a little more elusive.

Howe, the 1980 National League Rookie of the Year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, went to work in a radio station in Montana after failing in his latest efforts to bring his drug problem under control while with the Minnesota Twins.

“I read somewhere where Howe was working a radio station in Montana,” Steve said. “I called directory assistance and got the numbers for the radio stations in the state. I found the station a few calls later, but Steve did not return my calls. Finally, his agent contacted us and we worked out an agreement.”

Howe, who has undergone rehabiliation four times for a drug problem, was not named by Ueberroth in his document because the pitcher’s problems had pre-dated the Pittsburgh drug trials. However, Steve said both he and Howe’s agent were awaiting word from the commissioner’s office before Howe signs his pact.

Under a rule instituted by Ueberroth last year minor leaguers are now subject to random drug testing, but Steve said he did not think that would be much of a problem because both Norris and Howe have drug testing clauses in their contracts. Norris’ contract allows for testing once a week while Howe can be tested at any time.

Steve has received the complete support of California League president Joseph Gagliardi.

“I don’t think there is anything the other clubs can say about it,” he said. “They (San Jose) don’t have a working agreement. If Harry wanted to sign King Kong, he can sign King Kong.”