Howe Joins Ranger Minor League Club

Steve Howe, the left-handed pitcher who was suspended from baseball last year because of drug problems, signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers Sunday.

The former Dodger will report to Oklahoma City, the Rangers’ Class-AAA affiliate. Howe, 29, has not been cleared by Commissioner Peter Ueberroth to return to the major leagues.

“People are going to have questions about me no matter what I do,” Howe said at a news conference at Arlington, Tex. “I have taken more testing and more screening in the last year than all of major league baseball has.”

Under the terms of the suspension he received in June of 1986 from the National Assn. of Professional Baseball Leagues, the governing body of minor leagues, Howe was ineligible to be signed by any team until Sunday.

Last week, Johnny Johnson, National Assn. president, lifted Howe’s suspension when John Lence, Howe’s agent, provided documented proof to support Howe’s claim that he has been free of drug use for 18 months and that he has been following a regular treatment program. Terms of Howe’s reinstatement require him to undergo testing administered by professional baseball.

Howe is expected to participate in a voluntary workout with the Rangers today, the first day of the three-day All-Star break. On Tuesday, he will go to Oklahoma City, where Howe, who has been reliever all his major league career, will join the 89ers’ starting rotation.

“We’re trying to sign a front-line left-handed pitcher,” Ranger General Manager Tom Grieve said. “If he could start, he could fill a void for us.”

Howe was the National League Rookie of the Year with the Dodgers in 1980. His major league record is 26-28 with 56 saves and a 2.56 earned-run average in 244 games.