Howe: Dodgers Pulled Him From Rehab

Former relief pitcher Steve Howe may be out of baseball, but he’s right back in the middle of controversy.

Howe, whose years in Los Angeles were plagued by drug problems, claimed Thursday in a nationally televised interview that the Dodgers took him out of a rehabilitation center in 1983 because they needed him on the mound. But Al Campanis, then the Dodgers’ general manager, says Howe’s version is inaccurate.

“In 1983, I was in a rehabilitation center and we were in a pennant race with Atlanta that year, and I was pulled out early because we were in a pennant race,” Howe said on ESPN’s “Up Close” program. “. . . It’s what I wanted. I was still sick. I didn’t want to be in there . . . I was happy to get out of there.”

From his home in Orange County, Campanis disputed Howe.

“I don’t remember anything like that happening,” Campanis said. “We never took him out of anything early. . . . Steve Howe was always saying things that weren’t true. He is a funny guy.”