Steve Howe Hospitalized With Blood Clot on Lung : Baseball: Illness interrupts comeback with Class A Salinas Spurs of the California League.

Former Dodgers relief ace Steve Howe, in the middle of another baseball comeback, has been hospitalized with a blood clot in his lung.

Howe’s condition was upgraded to satisfactory and he was transferred from the critical care unit to the regular nursing area Monday afternoon, said Frankie Edwards, director of public relations at Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center.

June Snow, administrative assistant at the hospital, said after Howe was hospitalized that he was receiving an anticoagulant in an attempt to dissolve the clot.

Howe was pitching for the Salinas Spurs of the Class A California League. Howe, 0-1, hadn’t allowed an earned run in nine innings while striking out 10 and walking two.

“Everything depends on if the anticoagulant works,” Salinas General Manager John Jonas told the Antelope Valley Press. “Surgery may be required if it doesn’t.”

If surgery is required, Howe’s career “may be on the line,” Jonas said.

Howe, 32, was taken to the hospital Saturday afternoon and admitted in serious condition. He was in Antelope Valley to speak to junior high students about the dangers of drug use.

Howe, the National League rookie of the year in 1980, faced a series of suspensions for cocaine use, the first in 1983.

Doctors have refused to comment if Howe’s current ailment had any connection with his previous drug use.

Howe was released by the Dodgers in 1985. In 1986, Howe attempted a comeback with the San Jose Bees of the California League, and then signed with the Texas Rangers. Texas paid a $250,000 penalty in order to promote Howe to its major-league roster in spite of Howe’s lifetime ban.

Howe later violated his Texas contract on a non-drug-related matter and was released.

Howe published his autobiography, “Between the Lines,” in 1989. He has been an active speaker on the dangers of drug use.