Steve Howe killed in truck accident

[AgEnTsMiTh]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/base...ex.html?cnn=yes

NEW YORK (AP) -- Steve Howe, the relief pitcher whose promising career was derailed by cocaine and alcohol abuse, died Friday when his pickup truck rolled over in Coachella, Calif. He was 48.

Howe was killed at 5:55 a.m. PDT about 130 miles east of Los Angeles, said Dalyn Backes of the Riverside County coroner's office. He had been in Arizona on business and was driving back to the family home in Valencia, Calif., business partner Judy Welp said.

Toxicology tests had not yet been performed.

The hard-throwing lefty was the 1980 NL Rookie of the Year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, got the final out to clinch the 1981 World Series and was an All-Star the next year.

But for all of his success on the field, Howe was constantly troubled by addictions -- he was suspended seven times and became a symbol of the rampant cocaine problem that plagued baseball in the 1980s.

This is sad news for me. I was a major fan of his as a kid. I was 8 years old at the time he was Rookie of the Year.

[BroChaos Veteran]

i read this today, but honestly couldn't put a face to the name. then again, i never followed the dodgers much, and you're a few years older than me :p

[j.nudd]

I missed the story; what kind of drugs was he into? All I heard was he was suspended 7 times or something.

Edit: haha, I should learn to read...