Grievance Filed on Howe’s Behalf

A day after he was suspended from baseball for the seventh time for drug- and alcohol-related problems, pitcher Steve Howe of the New York Yankees had a grievance filed in an attempt to gain reinstatement.

The Major League Baseball Players Assn. filed the grievance Tuesday with management’s Player Relations Committee. Arbitrator George Nicolau will hear the case, which according to the collective bargaining agreement must be scheduled within five days. “This suspension is without just cause within the meaning of the Basic Agreement and arbitration panel’s decisions in area of disciplinary suspensions,” the grievance said.

Commissioner Fay Vincent suspended Howe indefinitely Monday after the pitcher entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Mont., to a misdemeanor charge of attempting to buy one gram of cocaine. U.S. Magistrate Bart Erickson put off acting on Howe’s guilty plea until Aug. 18.

Howe, who faces up to one year in jail and a $100,000 fine, offered the plea under a legal mechanism called an Alford plea. Under that procedure, his lawyers said, a defendant can plead guilty to a criminal charge without admitting the government’s version of the facts.