Crime in Sports - #104 - Dumb, Dishonest & Dead - The Energeticness Of Steve Howe

Episode Date: January 29, 2018

This week, we have an extra long episode because of the sheer volume of idiocy, as we again head down a corridor of crazy with a man who could not stop destroying his own life, and seemed to enjoy watching it crumble. He was given more opportunities than anybody we've ever heard of, but sweet, sweet cocaine had just too much of a hold on him. His behavior was stupid, are his failures are legendary. This a big one!!Win a World Series, do as much cocaine as as a human can ingest, then do even more cocaine with Steve Howe!!Check us out, every Tuesday. We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!!Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie WhismanDonate at...patreon.com/crimeinsports or with paypal.com using our email: [e-mail] all the CIS & STM merch at crimeinsports.threadless.comFor Tickets To Upcoming Live Shows...BOSTON:Feb 18 Crime In Sports:https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1589056?_ga=2.84751449.1576137293.1510029131-53581790.1510029128&__utma=1.876925325.1510029128.1510029128.1510029128.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1510029128&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1510029128.1.1.utmcsr=yahoo|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=255437192Small Town Murder https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1589061?_ga=2.53771112.1576137293.1510029131-53581790.1510029128&__utma=1.876925325.1510029128.1510029128.1510029128.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1510029128&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1510029128.1.1.utmcsr=yahoo|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=255437192DETROIT: Feb 16Stand Up Show w/ Dan Cummins https://www.ticketweb.com/event/dan-cummins-james-pietragallo-the-magic-bag-tickets/7823825?pl=magicbagCheck out or site: truecrimecomedyteam.comAll web support by Web and Writerwebandwriter.com or Facebook.com/webandwriterContact us on...twitter.com/[e-mail]/Crimeinsportsinstagram.com/crimeinsports   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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strange, dark, and mysterious stories on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, and welcome back to Crime and Sports. Yay! Yay, yay, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I am Jimmy Westman.

Thank you folks so much for joining us on another just star-studded edition of Crime and Sports. Fuck yeah. I always say exciting. I was trying to use the words at like a network television. Like TV movie would use as an answer in the 80s. Star studded edition. Star studded edition.

Thank you, folks. Thank you, folks. Before we get started, thank you guys so much for your iTunes reviews this week. Holy shit. Tremendous. Again, guys, you keep the train going forward. You keep the water out of the boat. That's real.

Basically, there's water coming in the boat. You guys, every iTunes review is like a bucket, another bucket. You're pushing the water out. You're the water out of the boat. That's real. Basically, there's water coming in the boat. You guys, every iTunes review is like a bucket. Another bucket. You're pushing the water out. You're pushing it out. It helps us on the business end. It's not our fault. Just say you're following instructions, following directions. Give us five stars. It's iTunes and their funky goddamn algorithm. It is not

us, I promise you. It is not for our egos. But if you want to help our egos even more, you can go to crimeinsports.threadless.com and you can buy shirts with shit that we say on them. So that's good for our ego right there. All your crime and sports and small town murder merchandise, you can get a baby onesie that says you, sir, may fuck off on it and people have bought them.

So I'm telling you guys, get on that and take those wonderful shirts and sweatshirts and bath mats even and take your shower curtain and take them to Laugh Boston in Boston on February the 18th and get your tickets for a live crime and sports podcast at 4 p.m. at Laugh Boston. The 1 p.m. show is Small Town Murder, so go to that also. Can't go to the 7 o'clock Small Town Murder because it's sold out. But come to the crime and sports. It's not stand up it is this podcast right in front of you and i'll tell you one thing about crime and sports it's way better live than it is here yeah it is we have a ball live there's going to be visuals you get to see all the craziness we're talking about and everything it's a really good time so get your tickets now ticket links will be in the show description yes uh for all of our dates and all of that. Also, get out there anyway just to impress the fucking venue.

By the way, you better hurry up and get tickets. Yeah, because it's coming up. February 18th. It's almost gone. It's not far away, and the tickets are selling, and we want to sell it out. Help us make a good showing. We're going all the way to the East Coast. Do that.

Might as well plug March 25th. Small Town Murder podcast is going to be live in Phoenix, Arizona, our hometown. So get those tickets as well. If you want to see a really funny live podcast, that is the way to go about it. And that's a fun venue that we've worked comedy at a million times. And now we're going to try it out for podcasts and see how that works. Besides all of that, one other last thing here. Coming back this week, you're listening on Tuesday, it will be out Friday.

Friday of this week, P.S. I Hate This Movie will be coming back, the podcast, with myself and my wife, Sarah Hunt. And she's really funny, and I am angry, angry, angry through this whole thing. Imagine you force me to watch a movie I hate. You guys, I hate good movies where you guys are like, that's a great movie, and I hate it, and I have a lot to say about it. Imagine it's a shit movie. Imagine it's a Katherine Heigl movie, and imagine what I have to say. Don't imagine. Just listen to the show, and then you don't have to imagine shit.

You don't have to watch the movies even. Just listen, and I'll rip apart people you've heard of, and it's fun, and Sarah's very organized and hilarious, and it's a good time. We have a lot of fun, so listen to that this week. But never mind all of that shit, Jimmy. We have a mountain of fuckery in front of us today. All right. Just up, this is a forest of the knickery that we have here. Oh my God, the self-destruction.

Yeah. Just the, I can't even explain. This guy's life is the equivalent of watching a man walk normally up to a flight of stairs. Okay? He's on the top. Yeah. Downstairs. He walks up to them normally looking like a perfectly normal human being and fine.

And as he gets to the stairs, he throws himself head first down it, breaking his own neck. That's this guy's entire existence. That right there is the best way to explain this fucking idiot. He's a moron. Let's talk about him. A lot of fun. Stephen Roy Howe. No.

Steve Howe. You haven't heard of Steve Howe? Is he a hockey player? No, he is not. That's Gordie Howe. Jesus Christ. I just thought maybe he was his son. And Flipper Anderson is not a dolphin.

Steve Howe is, you grew up with this guy, man. Really? He's an 80s, 90s guy. Okay. And was constantly, yeah, on SportsCenter constantly for his complete disastrous fuckery. I don't know. Not on the field. On the field, he's fine.

Off the field, oh boy, what a disaster, man. Holy shit. This is one where we often do, we often do, we play asshole or idiot. Yeah. Where we're like, is this guy more of an asshole, more of an idiot? If you're a new listener, that's kind of what we do. We're like, asshole or idiot? This guy, 100% idiot.

All right. 100% idiot. Just a complete moron. I'm in. And it's a lot of fun. Let's listen to a man destroy his life, shall we? Okay. Go from the peak to the fucking valley.

He's not married. Or married. He's not. I'm sure he's not married to Gordie Howe. But he's not related to him at all? I think Howe is a pretty standard name. That's a pretty common last name. H-O-W-E, I suppose.

It's pretty common. Maybe he is somewhere down the line. It didn't come out in hockey, though. OK. He's born March 10th, 1958. OK. In Pontiac, Michigan. OK.

So they play hockey there. Yeah. They play hockey there. That's hockey town. It is. Speaking of Pontiac, Michigan, we'll be iniac, Michigan. So they play hockey there. They play hockey there. That's hockey town. It is. Speaking of Pontiac, Michigan, we'll be in Detroit, Michigan, February the 16th with Dan Cummins doing stand-up for The Early Show and a live podcast for The Late Show. Best of luck getting early show tickets.

You're going to have to find them on StubHub. Yeah, good luck with that. But the second show is a hybrid time suck, small-town murder thing. Never mind that. It'll be fun. This is Pontiac, Michigan. Pontiac, Michigan. He's born in 1958 be fun. This is Pontiac, Michigan. Pontiac, Michigan. He's born in 1958.

Nice. This is a very typical family he's born to. Very typical Michigan 50s, 60s family. He's got parents named Virgil and Barbara. All right. Very old-timey names. This is Virgil and Barbara. He's got three younger brothers and a younger sister.

Virgin Barb. Virgin Barb. That's what they go by. Three younger brothers and a younger sister. He's the oldest of five. Oh, Jesus. Okay, he's the oldest. They all look up to him. Lots of responsibility. And lots of responsibility. And they all, he's the guy who's going to do something with himself

because he always has that in him. He's got a charisma to him. He's got an athleticism to him. He's got a certain something where you're like, he's going somewhere this kid. Certain I don't know what. Yeah, certain poor shit. So both his parents worked at the GM, this kid. Certain I don't know what. Certain, yeah, certain horseshit. So both his parents worked at the GM plant. Okay.

So they're both auto workers. So this is very, I live in Pontiac. This is very Michigan. Yeah, everybody's parents worked at the auto plant. And you went outside and you played baseball with your friends and all that sort of thing. His father, Virgil, was actually, when he was younger, was a good pitcher. And there's a lot of, Virgil will say throughout his life, and the other kids back it up, I don't know how they would know this,

but that Virgil and Barbara got married very young and had kids very young. Everybody says that Virgil could have went and played some kind of pro ball, maybe not majors, but could have been something. He could have played semi-pro or minors or something, but gave that all up because he got married and had kids and got a job at the auto plant. Very typical, like a 50s.

Getting up on his dreams and just taking the easy route. It's like a John Cougar Mellencamp song if you played it backwards. You know what I mean? It didn't quite work out the way they wanted it to. That's basically what happened here, I feel like. It's that sort of thing. So he always has this thing, Virgil, that he wanted to play baseball, and he feels like

that was left behind. He left that behind, and so he always wants that piece of him is missing, and he tries to fill it with Steve. That's what he tries to do here. Steve starts really, really getting hardcore into baseball at nine years old. And by the way, Virgil was a decent pitcher also, and that's what he tries to do here. Steve starts really, really getting hardcore into baseball at nine years old. Okay.

And by the way, Virgil was a decent pitcher also, and that's what Steve is. He's a pitcher. Okay. He's a lefty also, which comes in. That means a lot because you'll wonder why. As we're going through this story, you're like, why are people signing him? Why does he keep getting jobs? Right.

Because he's left-handed. And they need that back then. If he was left-handed and they need that back down if he was right-handed this episode would be a half hour long it literally would be a half hour long it's going to be two hours because the extra hour and a half is literally just because he can throw with his left hand instead of his right hand the only reason why perfect it's the fact you can pitch forever as a lefty look how many shitty left-handed pitchers are 45 years old, and they come in and pitch to one batter. That's their guy that they do, and they survive forever. My friend, Rod Beck, who was a pitcher after he had all sorts of arms trouble, surgeries, and reconstructions, he couldn't pitch anymore.

He was like 36, and he was going, you know what? He goes, I have two chances here. I can either learn to throw left-handed. He goes, I don't think that's going to work, or I can start throwing a knuckleball. He goes, he actually considered throwing a knuckleball and trying to make a comeback. Literally, I went outside in the yard with him and got hit in the shins 30 times with errant knuckleballs, because he was like, I'm going to give this shit a shot.

And then he died. He should have drawn a target on a wall and just did that shit instead. That's all. That would have been much easier on your shins. Come on outside. Okay. Here, I'm a major league pitcher. Let me whip this at you. Let me throw this at you in a way where I don't

know where it's going, by the way, because I have a weird grip on it. It's coming. Fuck. Here it is. Picture me in a backyard in Phoenix, Arizona trying to catch knuckleballs from a guy with 287 career saves. Oh, by the way, at dusk.

I was literally in the dark. He's got a spotlight out there. He's like, yeah, that'll work. I'm like, I can't see still. That'll do. Oh, God, I'm so lucky. Let me shine this in your face. I'm so lucky I have teeth in my mouth right now

because that could have been very, very dangerous. But this kid here, he starts playing left-handed, hardcore into it at nine years old, But this kid here, he starts playing left-handed, hardcore into it at nine years old. Yeah. So into it that him and this is very like 60s Michigan, like 60s Midwest type of thing. Him and 20 other kids from the neighborhood constructed a field on top of a hill. Wow.

They like made a field. They went and built it. They went and built like a sandlot field. If you build it, they will come. They will come on Dubuque Street in Clarkston, Michigan. They built a fucking field on a hill. They built the sandlot field. I love it. Which is awesome.

Kids now wouldn't do that at all. They'd be like, there's no field? Oh, well, that's cool. Even if there was a field, they'd all be standing on the side of it, dicking around on their phones. That's all they'd be doing, scrolling. Who wants to pitch? I don't know. I'm on Snapchat right now. Let me snap me snap this person look at this new filter today

this is amazing christ almighty can you imagine i mean i got this makes me sound old as fuck but i can't imagine going to my little league coach and being like yeah i got a new filter on my thing he would have backhanded me told me to hustle look i'm a puppy dog yeah he would have said hustle yeah get out there run faggot yeah that's what he would have said to me probably in those times that's probably what he would have said and i would have shrugged and went okay i'm gonna run out there that's the thing that's it yeah i guess i'm a faggot i'm gonna run out there that's what would happen that's the thing yeah his shoulder slumped okay i guess i am uh younger brother chris said of of him quote i don't think it's accurate to say my father was trying to make steve into something dad couldn't be but that's not to

say that steve didn't try too hard to please him he tried to please my father more than anyone else and he had a hard time pleasing virgil virgil was tough on him as the oldest and uh he later on he he resents virgil and doesn't have the uh just doesn't doesn't like his father very much later on, has bad things to say about him. But his whole life, he tried to please him. And then once he got out of the house and realized that it's impossible to please him, he's like, fuck that guy. Basically, I don't need his bullshit. His younger brother, Jeff, said, quote, You can't remember a day. You can't remember a day go by when I was young that we didn't play ball every single day.

That is a terrible sentence, by the way. That's a grown man speaking. That's not how those words are supposed to go together. You can't remember a day go by when I was young that we didn't play ball every single day. Did you just get hit in the head with a baseball and wander off the field and they're like stuck a microphone in space? Can't didn't. You can't put those together. He goes, I can't remember the days when I didn't have a day of the ball and a day of the ball.

They're like, all right, we'll print that. That sounds great. Print it. A wrap. That's a wrap. So, yeah, he grows up, and he's like the stud baseball player of the neighborhood, too. He throws hard as shit, and he throws very hard from a very young age. If you have a kid who's throwing 90-plus left-handed, You are screwed if you're not a major league hitter, basically.

So they were just – he's playing ball. He ends up going to Clarkston High School to play his high school ball. He's all state there. So, I mean, he dominates at Clarkston High. His dad is proud of him playing here because this is unfulfilling. This is fulfilling his dad's unfulfilled things. His brother, Jeff, said that since he gave up being an athlete to pay the bills and all that, he said, quote, I've heard it from everybody. Anytime I meet one of my dad's friends, they tell me what a phenomenal athlete he was.

Had he pursued it and not had kids, he would have been a pro ballplayer. So that's what the kids say. I mean, who knows if that's horseshit. Hey, your dad was a hell of a ballplayer, kid. I mean, it's one of those things. He would have been the next Babe Ruth. So that's what the kids say. I mean, who knows if that's horse shit. Hey, your dad was a hell of a ball player, kid. I mean, it's one of those things. He would have been the next Babe Ruth. Hey, your dad was mediocre, kid. I don't know.

I hit him all the time. I take him right up the middle. I didn't give a shit. He threw garbage up there. So Steve is so good. You can see that happening, too. Ask your dad about that home run I hit. Ask your dad about that.

Ask your dad about his 648 ERA he had in his senior year. Ask him that. He was garbage, that happening. Ask your dad about that home run I hit. Ask your dad about that. Ask your dad about his 648 ERA he had in his senior year. Ask him that. He was garbage, that guy. Barely stayed on the team. Yeah, you and your mother are the best thing that ever happened to that guy. That's right, I'm telling you. She'd count his blessings he wasn't let down. Wasn't keep going in baseball and be a failure because he would have been a failure.

Let me tell you right now, huge failure. Huge. Meanwhile, can you get him for me? I want to sell him some Tupperware. If that guy's a piece of shit and isn't an athlete, then your dad was much worse. Much, much worse. Steve's so good that he plays for the varsity team in the ninth grade.

They call him up to varsity. In baseball, that's impressive if you're 14 and you can play with 17 year olds right it's a big difference in size and speed and that's three years at that time in your formative years three years is enormous dude i remember when i was in senior league which is like right after little league little leagues till 12 senior league is 13 and it's 13 to 16 jesus and i always where my birthday fell i always played a year older than i was so like when i was 12 i was really 11 when i played as a 13 year old I was really 11. When I played as a 13-year-old, I was really 12. So I was 12 and I'm playing against 16-year-olds. And I didn't even hit my growth spurt until I was 16.

So I was like a short, fat kid. Right. Or 14. And these kids are like, they have beards and mustaches and shit. And I'm like, this is frightening. Like these kids are huge. And truly, they legitimately drove to practice. They're grown men.

No, there was kids driving in that shaved that morning that were 230 pounds and I'm 12. They're in the trunk to get their shit out. Yeah, and I got to go up and hit against this guy. I'm like, this is frightening. This kid's going to kill me. Like, it was scary shit. So I give him a lot of credit for that here. When he was in the ninth grade, they were playing against a rival Lake Orion High School

and their best pitcher, the ace of the squad who was a senior, gave up two runs in the first inning and then had the bases loaded. So the manager comes and brings Steve in. Pulls him and puts in Steve. He brings the lefty in because there's a lefty batter. And the coach says, quote, he struck out the sides with the bases loaded. That showed his composure and competitiveness. From that time on, I knew he had a pitcher.

You bet. Yeah, you go in there, that's white knuckle time with bases loaded. How old? 14? 14. 14. Unbelievable. Nobody out, bases loaded, and he just strikes out the sides and says, all right, that's that.

Now, he told a lot of friends, he told a lot of people that he didn't do drugs or alcohol as a teenager in high school. Okay. Apparently, he said all of his friends did, but he laid off because mainly it was mostly weed that everybody was smoking. And he said that he thought pot might take the edge off his athletic skills because he knew he was really good. And he didn't like drinking at the time because he said alcohol reminded him of his dad because his dad was a big drinker. And he didn't like his dad. He would go from the auto plant to the bar and put down a few pops and come home shit-faced and say, How'd you pitch tonight, kid?

And all that shit. How'd you pitch, faggot? Let me tell you a story about when I was a player. And you go, Oh, fuck. Jesus Christ, dad. I struck out the side with the bases loaded. No outs, dad. That's what I did.

That's great. Listen, I'll tell you about a time I did that three times in the same inning. That's great, faggot. Let me tell you a better story. That's what he would say. Sorry we're saying that. We won't say that anymore. It's literally. That's great, faggot. Let me tell you a better story. That's what he would say. Sorry we're saying that. We won't say that anymore. It's literally.

It's what guys did then. Yeah, this is a guy in the early 80s and 70s what they're saying to a loser. It's not us, so there you go. So that's not offensive, we're telling you right now. So now Jeff and Chris said that they admitted their father was a drinker, but they said it didn't influence the kids or affect the family. Jeff said, quote, my dad hardly ever had a beer at home. Yeah, because he went to the bar after the plant and then came home, stumbled in at 8 o'clock, smacked his wife around and told his kids to pitch better.

So that's what happened there. He said they were talking about, his one brother was talking about the culture of Michigan 60s, blue collar. You know, kids would go to school. They'd play sports. Parents worked long hours. They'd put in overtime afterwards. And then he said fathers would go to the bar at the end of the day to relax and have a few drinks with the guys from the plant. That was just what they did.

And so he was saying it wasn't an aberrant alcoholic behavior back then. It was just that's what the guys did. You went, everybody, you coming for a taste afterwards? Everybody had to. That was the thing. Or else you were what? A faggot. There you go.

Thank you. Everything you did that was outside of whatever an older person was telling you to do back then made you a faggot. There was nothing else to do. And you wonder why Kid Rock's famous. There you go. There you go. There you go. So as for with drugs, his brother Chris said there was drugs around with kids. He said, quote, when we were in high school, there was a lot of pressure, a lot of marijuana, a lot of cocaine.

But that was in suburbia Michigan. It was prevalent. But Steve was a jock. He never touched any of that stuff until he went to the University of Michigan. Oh. And then later, as we're going to talk about uh now between 74 and 76 when he's pitching for cranston yeah he's just dominates the shit out of everybody he's just crushing it and a high school player who's ready to be a major leaguer they're so far above and bounce you can see talent yeah when you and he

throws 96 miles an hour left-handed just because because somebody's good at something, you've got to be able to discern. As soon as you see somebody that's legitimately talented, you know the difference. Wow. Yeah, that's a different thing. And baseball especially. You can watch two guys pitch and then watch a major league pitcher pitch. You don't even have to watch it. Listen.

Listen to the pop of the glove. It is so much different than anything you could do or I could do or anything it's just a different thing pop you're like oh shit that thing had some force behind my kid's a swimmer and uh his coach one of the coaches on the team is a is an olympic athlete he's terrific he's unbelievably great at at swimming and the guy takes his shirt off and he is he's cut up like a fucking Olympic athlete. It's ridiculous. The swim moms you watch

there's a difference between a dude that looks decent with his shirt off and an Olympic athlete. And an Olympic athlete. You can see swim moms shift on their vagina when a swim athlete. It's a different level of thing. But this fucker and as good as he is at swimming because Michael Phelps lives here in Phoenix, he swam with Phelps, and there is a difference between Phelps swimming and the—

Yes. They swam together, and Phelps was just way ahead of him. That's what I mean. And Phelps isn't even swimming right now. No, it doesn't matter. And that's talent. That's what I'm saying. There's a difference between talent and being really good at something.

When you're left-handed and you throw 96 miles an hour, that's another level of something. Because there's kids out there, if you can throw 85 in high school, you can get over on that. You can get by. But then when someone comes in and throws 96, you're like, whoa, that's a difference. What the shit is that? That's a difference between throwing a bullet and shooting it. I mean, that's just a big, huge difference there. At one point during that time, he actually faces Kirk Gibson. Oh, really?

Who is the future Dodgers World Series hero, and really Tigers World Series hero of 1984. Hero all around. Kirk Gibson. Everybody likes Kirk Gibson. Mustache-growing hero, too. Oh, God. He grows a mustache like nobody else. He's a hero.

I could see him with, like, six years old, just big mustache, walrus push broom, kicking. He's a handsome son of a bitch, too. Not an ugly man. He's a hero. I could see him with like six years old, just big mustache, walrus push broom, kicking. He's a handsome son of a bitch too. Kicking, man. Not an ugly man. He's a rugged son of a bitch. He's a ruggedly handsome man.

He's a man's man. All right, faggot. That's enough. Sorry. All right, that's the last one, I swear. I was just doing it

to get you to say it. I know what you were doing. You had to do it. We had to bait. We had to and you guys knew it was coming. I was trying so hard

with Phelps and my kids to coach. I know where you were going. I know. I tried to ignore it and then I said, nope, it was coming. I was trying so hard with Phelps and my kids to coach. I know where you were going. I know. I tried to ignore it, and then I said, nope, it's coming. I baited you. It's on a tee.

All right, go on. You baited me once again. I could drop it again, and I won't. See what'll happen? I queer baited you. That's right. So his high school coach said of him, quote, statistically, he was phenomenal. So he was just killing it. In his final two seasons in high school, he was phenomenal yeah so he was just killing it in his final two

seasons in high school he was 24 and 1 wow 24 and 1 the one game he lost he lost one to nothing oh and was pissed about it that's fucking that's the offense not doing their goddamn job he did his yeah he gave up one run that's not bad you score two for me please some bases you fuckers god damn it so 24 and 1 you might imagine there's some bases, you fuckers. God damn it. So 24-1. You might imagine there's some interest in him from colleges, from the majors, from baseball, from the draft, from everything. He chooses college. A wise choice, actually, shockingly enough, later on in his life, as we'll find out. And he goes to the University of Michigan.

University of Michigan, as we know, is a big school. I know nothing about their baseball program because no one knows anything about college baseball because it's terrible. Also, because who gives a shit? You're not wearing that fucking yellow hat. That helmet, that football helmet is fucking incredible. It's classic. It's a dope helmet. I like that navy blue.

But it's not what's on their baseball hat, I imagine. No, and it's an M on their bat. Also, too, it's just college baseball is awful. They use aluminum bats. You watch a game, it's just a ping, ping, ping. What am I watching? And why can't you hit a home run with that, you fuckers? No, nobody can.

No. Terrible. Terrible. What a dumb bat. Stupid shit. So 1977, University of Michigan. Right away, he comes in as a freshman, lighten it up. 13 games pitched, 11 started.

He's a starter back then. He'll be a reliever later. He goes 9-3 with a 1.87 ERA. Wow. 92, 91 innings pitched, 73 hits, 58 strikeouts, 18 base on balls in 92 innings. That's fantastic. And a.99 whip. Wow.

Killing it. I mean, that's a great, just a terrific, that's control. That's a pitcher. He's 18 years old, and he's got 58 strikeouts, 18 walks. I mean, that's amazing. That's more than two to one as an 18-year-old. That's control. Everyone's going to be looking at him for that, you know?

Working the count. Oh, man, that's great. He's a control pitcher that can throw that hard. That is a lefty, too. And that is gold, worth his weight in gold. That is a lefty, too. And it is gold. Worth his weight in gold.

Now, he goes into he goes to Alaska over the summer to play summer ball to Anchorage, Alaska, while he's at the University of Michigan. Yeah. And he meets a young woman named Cindy. Now, he meets Cindy and he's there. And he Alaska in Alaska. She's in a local Alaska girl. She's 17 years old. He's 19 years old. He's a college boy. Out's there. In Alaska. In Alaska. She's a local Alaska girl. She's 17 years old. He's 19 years old.

He's a college boy. She wants the fuck out of there. I would say so. And here's some athletic kids from the mainland coming over. And Jesus, you can get me out of here. I've eaten nothing but caribou for the last five years. Help me, please. My breath smells like salmon. All your breath never goes away.

It's coming from my pores. It's coming out of my pores. It's like onions, garlic, and booze. Fuck. He says, at first, he called her, quote, a little blonde teeny bopper, bouncing around drinking Kool-Aid, he said. What? He said that she seemed attractively rambunctious.

That's creepy. That's creepy. He's only 19. I get it. If he was 24, I would would have said i want him and put away at 19 fine borderline creepy one more year he's still a teenager i'll let it go i'll let it fucking go right now if he failed a grade he'd still be in high school it's fine it's fine uh how about if you're gonna call her that stuff though dude don't try to finger her no no no keep your fingers in your in your pockets there

uh so they hung out around anchorage and he fingered her and he fingered her all over the place he fingered her in juno he fingered her in sitka fingered her in yukon territory he was really all over the place with it mount mckinley right on the top of the mountain build her up good. They would do not typical date shit. They would go do crazy stuff like they would race cars. What? At one point, they raced high-performance cars throughout Anchorage against each other. Wow.

That was a date. That's fucking weird. Hey, I'll race you. What is this, the fucking Bachelor? What are they doing? It's like Fast and Furious. This is how Vin diesel finds a date hey you want to grab a car and we'll go race them around all right and they get in the car and they

go i'm sorry i tried to mumble more that's that's the that's the least emotive and and pronunciative i could be uh it's the best it's the worst i can enunciate i can't do it any worse than that so i apologize to vin diesel for not making him mush-mouthed enough as he actually is. Lucky for him, he can carry fucking nine movies. How did he do that? Because all he does is sweat from his bald head and drive. That's the whole thing. That's amazing.

Whenever there's a line for him, it's like, That's his line. What a stupid fucking movie. I don't know. i can't believe people they still are i know and they're making it dumber and dumber and they have a woman in the movie who is an open out and about lesbian and people still go to watch it to tug to her she doesn't want you she wants i don't think that's about what she wants at that point if they're tugging but they're still like fantasizing that they could get her like women don't think that's about what she wants at that point, if they're tugging. But they're still fantasizing that they could get her.

Oh, like women don't watch gay dudes and fantasize. Yeah, you're right. Tom Cruise has great movies. Tom Cruise and Hugh Jackman and fucking all these other guys. Give me a goddamn break. Please. They diddle to openly gay guys. I don't care.

You're right. They like it all. We have been nothing but offensive today, and we appreciate that. Thank you. Sorry. Everyone for hanging in there. Sorry for everybody. It's okay. It's going to be fine. I'll tell you that. They like it all. We have been nothing but offensive today, and we appreciate that. Thank you. Sorry. Everyone for hanging in there. Sorry for everybody. It's okay.

It's going to be fine. I'll tell you that. Sorry for your feelings. Hey, this is not offensive, okay? It's not. We said so, God damn it. We said so. Yeah, so at one point when they were racing throughout the city, she crashed into a curb

and bent the axle of her car. Wow. And so after that, they didn't do that anymore. But they hung out for three weeks racing around fucking Anchorage in cars and doing stupid shit, a 19-year-old and a 17-year-old. And at that point, they got engaged. Wow. She was still in high school.

She's a senior in high school. This is Alaska. Yeah. If I was her father, I would have shot him and told everyone I thought it was a grizzly. Fuck that. There was a grizzly next to my daughter. Oh, it was a blonde kid from Michigan? Looked like a grizzly to me.

Same thing. Took him down. Sorry. You don't even have to say that. Just shoot him, drag him into the woods, say, grizzly must have got him. I don't know. Gunshot wound, maybe a hunter. You could have shot him from a helicopter and called him a wolf.

It's the 70s in Alaska. Do you think anyone would have found him? He would have been picked apart by animals in three days? Put him in a fucking, one of those water-capable planes. Done. And drop his ass out in the ocean. Get out of here. So that would have been my course of action.

But the father doesn't. The father lets them become engaged, apparently. 1978, he pitches 15 games, 12 started, 11-3 record, 174 ERA, 98.1 innings pitch, 71 hits, 92 strikeouts, 27 walks with even one whip. That is killing it. That is just awesome. His college roommate, Tony Paxton, said, quote, he knew what he needed to do. You could tell he had a lot of confidence in himself, and he exhibited it. He walked up to the mound.

There's no way you're going to get a hit off of me. Wow. So that was like his whole thing. He's a swagger. He has has a swagger to him and you kind of have to cocky you kind of have to and that's why he's a good relief pitcher later on you have to have a gunslinger yeah you gotta be that cold guy that comes in and then forgets about it the next day right and just like it never fucking happened you have to be able to shrug it off five minutes later who's the fat yankee that was that guy, basically? The fat guy with the fucking Fu Manchu mustache.

David Wells? Yes. Yeah. Bang. You nailed it. Yeah, yeah. He was a starter. That same guy.

Well, he was just like a partying drunk kind of. But he'd just wander in looking like shit and just go up there cold as ice and pitch. That's it. That's what you got to be. Well, he was a starter, though. Was he? Yeah, he was a starter. I thought he was a reliever.

No, Wells is a starter. He threw a fucking perfect game. Well, he was a starter, though. Was he? Yeah, he was a starter. I thought he was a reliever. No, Wells is a starter. He threw a fucking perfect game. Well, now I don't fucking know what I'm doing. He threw a perfecto in 98, man. Come on. What are we doing here? Wells is fantastic. And a crazy nutcase, too.

So also, he said that, Paxton said that Howe was confident on the mound, but super humble off the mound. He said he didn't flaunt his stardom at all. He said he was protective over his friends. He wasn't like, you know, you guys aren't good enough for me anymore. He had the same friends and did the same things and wasn't a jerk-off, basically. He wasn't a prima donna asshole, which is surprising for crime and sports, honestly. I just end up here.

It really is. Stand-up guy. It's not normal for us. I've got to be honest. But the arrogance fucking fits right in. That fits right in, the confidence and the arrogance. 1979, he 13 games pitched, 11 started, 7-2 record, 178 ERA, 75 innings pitched, 64 hits, 46 strikeouts, 16 walks. Crushing it again.

Just awesome. He's an All-American. The sporting news names of an All-American. Wow. So, yeah, he was All-Big Ten twice in college. Okay. And he's the winningest pitcher in University of Michigan history at that point. Is All-Big Ten at the end of the year award or is that like a weekly thing?

No, that's like an All-American. Okay. At the end of the year. Yeah, All-Pro or all whatever. Twice. Yeah, twice All-Big Ten and then he's the winningest pitcher in University of Michigan history. Really? Yeah, when he's done.

And that lasts for a while, too. Yeah, he was fantastic there. But he had his own, as we'll see here, Coach Moby Benedict, by the way, is his name. Moby Benedict. I like that name. That sounds like a coach. Coach Moby. Coach Moby says, Steve was a follower

more than anything else. Certainly not on the ball field. Give him the baseball and he became a fierce competitor. Off the field, he was not a leader. The guys would say, let's go and he'd go. So he's a follower off the field. Where are we going? And this is in college, he starts getting into partying a little bit. And he'll

later on kind of say it started later, but everyone says he started drinking in college, started dabbling in a little bit of cocaine in college, which he fucking loves cocaine. He loves it. Like, I can't. He loves it more than anyone else we've covered, I feel like. Maybe Eddie Johnson.

I don't think anyone loved it as much as Eddie Johnson. Eddie Johnson was the little Geico money thing with the eyes just looking for cocaine it was that was what you talked about but this is uh the beloved cocaine he finds it's his love affair of his life uh but that doesn't affect this now uh he's about to be drafted the june 5th 1979 is the amateur baseball draft got it and he is a hot commodity. Oh, I'm sure. Hot prospect. Drafted by the L.A. Dodgers in their first round. Really?

In baseball, it's a big deal, first round, because there's like 75 rounds back then. So that's first round. You're really up high. Not bad at all. 16th pick of the first round. And what year was he drafted? 79. And they stunk then, yes?

No, they were good. They were in the World Series the year before. This was a top-tier team, the Dodgers. And then they would go in 81 again later to the World Series. Right, but they were in the end of the draft. So one of the best teams in the majors picked him. Yeah, because there wasn't 30 teams back then. So, yeah, they pick him.

They're looking at him. And No. 1 that year overall pick was a guy named Al Chambers, picked by the Mariners. Played about three years with a.208 average with Seattle. That's the number one overall pick. Wow. Number three pick? This is an interesting one.

Number three pick is Jay Schrader. You know who Jay Schrader is? The Redskins and Raiders quarterback? Yeah. Number three overall pick is Jay Schrader. How about that? Out of high school. Same guy?

Same guy. Out of high school. Yeah, that's number three overall pick. That happens a lot. They drafted out of high school. He was drafted out of high school. Same guy? Just same guy. Out of high school? Yeah, that's number three overall pick. That happens a lot. They drafted out of high school. He was drafted out of high school, chose to go to college instead, and ended up playing football and being bald and weird looking and didn't look like a football player. He's still fucking ugly.

I'm sure he's still bald. If he was bald in the 80s, he's bald now. He was not a handsome guy. No, no, no, no. He was a hideous dude. And a terrible quarterback. Yeah, not really good. He was good for like

two minutes and then he got awful after that. But right after that, he marries Cindy. So got to lock that down. He's got a nice Alaskan wife there. Takes her back to the States. Gets her some clothes. Takes all the pelts off of her and everything else that she might have been wearing there. Dresses her up like she's from the mainland.

Takes that Davy Crockett hat off her. Yeah, you know she's just covered in, yeah, she had lice and ticks and shit from living in the forest. He had to clean her up a little bit. Give her a tick bath. He did. He had to. He had to de-louse her and tick her, tick bath her up.

Threw that powder on her. Like in the 40s. De-louse is hilarious. What a word. Like what we did after we bombed the Japanese. Threw powder on everybody. There. Now you don't have bugs anymore.

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So, 1979 season, the Dodgers send him to the San Antonio Dodgers, which is double A. If they put you in double A right away, they expect you to be in the majors soon. Normally, you'd go low rookie ball, high rookie ball.

Double A is where the real prospects are. Triple A is like a holding area. Either you're going up there just for a minute to be ready for the big team. Or you're waiting on somebody to be injured. That or you're over the hill. Like there's guys that, Rod told me about this, there's guys that they call 4A

guys that weren't good enough for the majors but were just hanging, like AAA, they were kind of, they were called 4A guys. They couldn't hang on to the majors, they'd keep bumping back down. Guys like that. AA is where they put the hard prospects. AA is where the best pitching is. AA is where the hardest pitching is. That's where they're putting their big prospects against other big prospects to see how it

goes. That year, he does fine in the Texas League. He throws 13 games, starts all 13, five complete games. Back then, you pitched a whole fucking game. Holy shit. We've covered. Some of these guys have thrown insane amounts of innings. Yeah.

He throws five complete games, one shutout, goes six and two with a 313 ERA, 95 innings pitched, 78 hits. That's terrific. 57 strikeouts, 22 walks. Can't ask for more than that from a rookie pitcher in AA. Looks good to me. His team went 69-62 that year, but none of that shit matters. 1980 also. Some interesting things here.

Let's talk about a guy named Mike Hernandez. He owns Camino Real Chevrolet in Monterey Park in California. He would help. This is back when ballplayers didn't make a lot of money, all of them. Some of them would need, like, jobs in the offseason and shit. Like, if you weren't a big star, you didn't make a ton of money in the 70s. This is toward 80 where the salaries are starting to go up. But he had a habit of he would help young ballplayers with loans for their cars.

If they didn't have credit, some of them were, you know, it came from nowhere. They never bought anything before. He would help them. He would even give them part-time jobs in the offseason if they needed it. Something else that floats around dealerships a lot is a lot of cocaine. A lot of cocaine. Restaurants and dealerships and that sort of thing. is a lot of cocaine.

A lot of cocaine. Restaurants and dealerships and that sort of thing. So, yeah, he says about this, quote, about Steve, quote, Manny Mota, who's a famous ball player, brought this kid in. He needs a car, he told me. Pretty soon, Hal was selling cars for Hernandez. Holy shit. He was selling cars for him in the offseason.

That's amazing. He was just selling cars. It's funny. And this guy says, quote, with me and Steve, it quickly became a father-son relationship son relationship the second year i kicked a guy out of here that somehow in my mind i felt was a drug pusher turned out i was right i got very upset and scolded steve and cindy i told him how can you even be walking around with this guy i don't think steve was ready to be making the kind of money he was making i think he got into bad company not only outside of Dodger Stadium, but inside also. That'll do it. That'll do it. Yeah, he was he'd come in and, you know, he got such a mentor

relationship with this guy, but yeah, I guess he was bringing some Coke dealer around the car dealership. He's like, you can't fucking bring Coke dealer around. You can't bring that guy here. But he does anyway, and it doesn't matter. He makes the major leagues in 1980, makes the Dodgers, so, I mean, he's, at that point, how do you tell him anything?

You know what I mean? He's in the majors. Whatever I'm doing is clearly the right thing. Yeah, and that's the thing. And what Jeff says about him, his brother kind of, this is more for later on, but it's really relevant here. He said, quote, he said that it wasn't an easy transition for him to go to the major leagues. And he says, quote, think about that. You're a kid that goes from having nothing to having millions of dollars.

It changed him for a number of years. I would imagine it would. From nothing to everything? Fuck yeah. That's the thing. And more than that, it was more about he's in L.A. now. And he's now liking the lifestyle of partying. The second biggest market in the world.

Hangs out with famous people. Yeah, it's an easy place to get lost in la when it comes to that kind of shit but it's the easiest place to find some fucking scummy behavior that's the deal too uh yeah cindy and the two of them he and cindy moved to marina del rey oh uh yeah so they're they're killing it yeah they're killing it they moved to marina del reyancy people around there. Yeah, his friend said, quote, LA is a media city. TV, movies.

Steve was invited into those circles, into the Los Angeles celebrity stardom circle. Not just baseball. Actors, directors, producers, fast movers, the whole world. Getting invited into those circles can be a very heady experience for a 22-year-old kid. Holy shit. He was a somebody very much sought after. That's crazy. It is, because back then, you think about the Dodgers, they had gone to the World Series just those years.

They were huge in L.A. Farm boy from Michigan. Yeah, man, an auto worker's kid that built a fucking sandlot on a hill, and now he's hanging out with movie stars. That's a lot to handle. He's hanging out with people that are going to be in the movie Sandlot. That are going to be in the Sandlot, yeah, that are going to write the thing. This is nuts. Maybe that's what it is. He's hanging out with people that are going to be in the movie Sandlot. That are going to be in the Sandlot. Yeah, that are going to write the thing.

This is nuts. Maybe that's what it is. He told them about that. Next thing you know, it's a movie. They owe him some royalties now. So the 80s season, he's with the Dodgers. That's Tommy Lasorda managing. If you grew up in the 80s and 90s, you might remember him from the Slim Fast commercials.

The baseball manager who was fat and then got slightly less fat. Pretty fat, though, still. Pretty fat. Pretty fat always. I love this. Sassorda is one of those Italian manager people. Look in the majors right now. Look down the list. There's like three Italian baseball players in the entire thing. Now look at the managers list. It's half of them.

For some reason, Italians make great managers for baseball. I don't know what it is, but we're fucking phenomenal at it. Look at Italians. There's so many rings. Who knows? I don't know what it is, but they're terrific. Joe Torre, it's amazing.

I love Torre. Yeah, about Mike Socia here. I don't think he's Italian, but this team here with the Dodgers, they had Mike Socia. This is Rick Sutcliffe, Dusty Baker, Reggie Smith, who's probably the baddest-ass-looking motherfucker I've ever seen. Dusty Baker played there? Fuck yeah. Dusty Baker was on those teams.

Dude, Dusty Baker and Reggie Smith look like the two scariest men ever. They look like if you owed someone money, they would come to your door and turn you upside down. Dusty Baker still looks like that. He does. No, he's tough, too. I've heard a lot of stories about him. I'm sure.

He had a physical confrontation with Barry Bonds, and Bonds was roiding. I was going to say, he had to control that fucking jughead. Well, he did. Apparently, from what I heard, my inside info there, he was mad at Barry for dogging something in the field and brought him in the office, and he said that office was shaking for a while. Oh, I'll bet. He said Barry came out with his tail between

his legs. Let's just say that. Fucking Dusty wasn't taking his shit from him. That's the kind of guy. That was at 50 years old. He didn't give a shit. He had a 30-year-old guy on roids, and he was like, I will fuck you up in this office. And Reggie Smith just looks like the meanest. He looks like what white people are afraid of.

Like that black man is very angry, and he looks like he's going to say something about it. That's what he looks like. Reggie Smith, the name alone strikes fear. Yeah, and I loved his stance the way he'd stand back in the box, like out to the side and lunge at shit. I just loved Reggie Smith's whole style. Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, and Fernando Valenzuela's rookie season also here. There's a guy named Steve Wagner who was a teammate of his at Michigan. It was another pitcher.

They stayed friends outside of college, and he moved to California too with Steve. And when Steve and Cindy went to spring training in Florida, Wagner was like their house sitter and all that type of shit. He says about Steve, quote, I could see a change in him when he got to California. Steve had been a star in college, but he had never experienced anything like the pressure someone so young had to face. Everybody being on him all the time, everybody wanting a favor.

There was always somebody wanting something, and Steve could never say he couldn't do it. I think he's the kind of guy who can help everybody else deal with their problems and not be able to deal with his own. He was never one to admit it. He could put on a good show about it. He could solve everybody's problems but his own. But his own. And he wouldn't turn anybody down. He's never said no. And no one says he's an asshole. That's the other thing. Everybody's like, I love

that guy. Yeah, he's a great guy. Everybody. That's a problem. He's just a fucking disaster to himself and his family. That's it. But I mean, no one hates him. He's not a dickhead. He sounds a little bit like you, I gotta be honest. He can't turn anybody down. But, I mean, no one hates him. He's not a dickhead. He sounds a little bit like you, I've got to be honest. He can't turn anybody down. But his life's a disaster.

You don't know how often I tell Jimmy, you guys are great and we love you to death. Jimmy really, really wants to. And I feel like this, and we've never talked about this. I feel like because I do the research and stuff like that, I feel like you really want to interact with the listeners. I got to go further. Yeah, because you're trying to like, I got to do something too. I'm not a fucking, you know, I'm a fucking man. I'm a part of this.

I'm a part of this. I want to compete. I'm smart. I can do stuff. I can do stuff. I'm smart. So, yeah, I feel like it's that. And I tell Jimmy all the time, Jimmy, you got to have a moat, brother.

I tell him you have to have a moat of some kind. Otherwise, it's going to engulf you. They're going to take you over and overrun you. Blow the moat, Jimmy. And this guy needs a moat also, I feel like. Steve Howe needs a moat. So let's see how it worked out and see if your future is the same. Now, he claims at one point that he first did coke one night in new york city

yeah after pitching for the mets not true though we know he did in college but uh yeah he said he first did in new york uh pitching for the mets and this might have been first time he did good coke or party i don't know whatever but uh he said a woman offered him a hit and uh he thought it might be okay for him because, quote, it reminded me of all the Ritalin I had done as a kid. What? He's super hyperactive and has been on Ritalin since he was like 12 years old, since it was invented in 1970. But they're kind of different.

Yeah. It's a different thing. Yeah. But he said, yeah, he's excited. He said, but you just said you didn't do drugs or alcohol as a kid, and he repeated that he hadn't. He said Ritalin was a medication. It's not a drug.

Yes. Well, he said he was. His parents gave it to him. It wasn't like he went out and sought it and snorted it off the back of the toilet bowl. I got it. But it's still a drug. It's still a drug. You're still on something.

Right. And lots of people said he was super into coke in college. So I think this just sounds like a better story. I came like an innocent kid out of college college went to the big city one night big apple and some beautiful woman offered me a hit and just i thought it'd be fine because it was just it just sounds like such you know hayseed just but it was like his millionth time doing it and he did it off her assholes that's the difference that's the difference and it was he said he he sought out a black girl

just to see the contrast. That's the thing. Just to make sure he got it all. Just to make sure he got it all. And he rubbed lotion all over her ass just to make sure there was no chalk dried skin there. And after he was done with that, he pitched 59 games for the Dodgers in the 1980

season. All in a row in the same day. Same day. It was 59 straight games. 59 Dodgers in the 1980 season. All in a row in the same day. All in a row, same day. It was 59 straight games. 59 header. And then he quit. That was it. 59 straight days he pitched, and then he retired from baseball. He's done.

He starts no games. He's a reliever in the majors, and he'll always be a reliever. Seven and nine record, which for reliever records are fleeting because you come in in weird situations. It can change daily based on nothing you did. You might come down by three runs. Yeah, you have no idea. You might. Yeah, exactly. 17 saves, which back then was a lot.

Why do they keep track of that stupid stat? The ERA is important. No, I mean, no. Wins and losses. Oh, wins and losses is so stupid. At that point, it's so dumb. Wins and losses is even stupid for a starter. All I want to know is wins when you're a closer.

Yeah, saves. How many times? How many blown saves do I want to know as a closer? I want to know your saves because you come in in a bunch of three-run games. I want to know how many blown saves you have. And as a pitcher, I want to know your ERA. I want to know your strikeouts to walks. And I want to know your hits to innings pitch.

And I want to know your whip. Outside of that, that tells me who you are. I don't need to know wins. I don't care. If all those are good, it doesn't matter if you're 2-20. It's not your fault. That's everybody else, too. Exactly.

So he has a great year that year. Like I said, 17 saves, 266 ERA in the majors, 83 hits in 84.2 innings pitched. So that's still, they're even. 39 strikeouts, 22 walks, 1.2 whip. Team goes 92-71. He wins NL Rookie of the Year. Really? Rookie of the Year.

The guy. There's only two of them. There's only two. NL and AL. He's the NL Rookie of the Year. That's amazing. Which, I mean, for a pitcher, he came in and really was a big stopper for them. Before the Rookie of the Year press conference,

this is when he says that cocaine became a crutch for him. This is it. This is it. He said this is the first time he, quote, really used cocaine. Before he just did it to party, you know, fooled around. He wasn't using it. Yeah. He said, but he hadn't needed cocaine to do anything.

There you go. He just went out and partied with it at night. He said this point, he said he still never needed anything to pitch at this point. He was very focused and revved up on the mound. So he said at that point, any coke would have just made him, he would have been throwing the ball in the 14th row of the stands. He would have been too jacked up. But now he can't.

Now if he doesn't use it, he's throwing it in the 14th row. Well, now what he says is the idea of speaking into 50 microphones at a press conference crippled him. Really? He said he was nauseous and he couldn't do it. He just couldn't do it. He just wasn't used to that kind of scrutiny. Yeah.

Because it's the national media. You won Rookie of the Year. Everyone looks at you. And he had no, he didn't know what to do. And so what he did, he says, quote, other people may be willing to look like a dick from time to time, but not me. He didn't want to go out and look like a dick, basically. So coke.

Yep. Yep. Yep. So what he did is he ducked into the men's room, and it was a place called Little Joe's where Tommy Lasorda would hold these press conferences and things like that. And he went in there and did a bunch of Coke. Yeah. And then he said he went out in there and was calm and poised and felt great about himself and said, wow, Coke makes me just a well-spoken.

I'm a dynamite guy. I'm dapper when I'm on Coke. The dynamism is coming from me, boy. I'm just, man, I am practically fucking on fire. I'm Liberace on Coke. Look at me. Ha, charisma pouring off of me. That's what happens here.

He realizes then that Coke is a goddamn good little crutch he can use. Now, 1981 season for the Dodgers is pretty goddamn interesting. April 9th of that year, Jerry Reese, the pitcher, he pulls a muscle, and so they give rookie at this year, because last year he just came up for a little bit, rookie pitcher Fernando Valenzuela his first starting job. How about that? And we all know who Fernando is, not if you're not a baseball fan. Look him up.

He looks like a dude who would be trimming your trees at your house. And I mean that, no insult. It's only because, not because he's Mexican, because his body type does not look like. Doesn't look like athlete. No, at all. It doesn't say I make money off of what my body can do. It says, are you going to finish that Chipotle? Right.

Like, that's what it says. The only way he's an athlete is at an eating competition. It says, I use lard in my fucking tortillas. That's what it says. That's when you look at him. Straight lard. Yeah, it's his first major league start, and he has a five-hit shutout. Jesus.

Fernando does. And this is the beginning of Fernando-mania. All right. This is the year where he goes on that huge tear, and every mexican on earth becomes a dodger fan and it still lasted to this day they hang on to this day this is so hilarious every mexican person you see with a dodger hat this is why they love him this this is what happened right here they have a son named fernando absolutely they do too uh now so fernando mania is running wild yeah uh like hulka mania except fatter and less blonde.

Running wild across the country, or Southern California anyway. Things are going well. At least Orange County. At least Orange County. You still like it. I was going to say, maybe Riverside. It'll get out there, I would say. Now, Steve, he's figured out that he likes to snort coke and just likes to snort it everywhere, all the time.

He loves cocaine. He snorts it on the team bus. Oh, boy. He snorts it during games in the bullpen. He snorts in the bullpen. He doesn't give a fuck. This is like Marvin Barnes drinking on the bench here and shit. That's what this is.

This is unbelievable. He's literally snorting coke in the bullpen. I'm up, coach. All right. Shit. Get the glove. Come on. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Where's my? Let's go. Come on. Come on. Come on. Ten warm-up pitches.

Let's do this. I got to go. I got to go. I got to warm up my legs. I got to go. My kick up. My's my glove? Let's go. Come on. Come on. Come on. Ten warm-up pitches. Let's do this. I got to go. I got to go. I got to warm up my legs. I got to go. I got to go. Kick up. I got to kick up.

I think I'm pulling my shoulder. I'm going to pull my shoulder in. I'm going to get my hand over the top because I really want that curveball to be over the top. Over the top. And then you get the spin on it. And then it really tumbles. You know what I mean?

It really tumbles. Over the top. Over the top. Over the top. Over the top. Over the top. It really crumbles. It tumbles.

It crashes. It crashes. That's how I need it. Catcher's like, okay. Yeah. He's putting his glove on. You're right here, pal. So June

12th, a strike is called. Baseball strike in response to the owners wanting to get back some of the things that they've lost over the last few years of the players. That's the thing. You can disagree with me if you want. I am never on the owner's side of the strike. Ever. I'm never on the side of the guy

The guy didn't do it. Athletes make a bunch of money. That's fine. Right. They don't have $5 billion they got from their dad to buy a fucking team. I'm not on their side. They have to do it. They have to do it.

Fuck you. How do you walk after the game? Fine. Out of your luxury box. That guy's limping. Go fuck yourself. And then when your hips go bad, climbing all those stairs up to your suite, you have plenty of money to get new ones.

It's fine. This fucking poor guy doesn't. So the owners, they lost on the issue of free agency. That was the big deal here. Wasn't Bo Jackson fucking destitute for a little bit after he left? I don't think he was destitute. I feel like he was pretty fucking broke. I hope not.

That'd be a shame. That's my point, though. They didn't say it in the documentary. Yeah. But I don't know. But Al Davis is killing it. Especially back then, though. 1981.

These guys didn't make shit. Nothing. I mean, there was a couple guys that made a million dollars, but your average salary was like 50 grand or something or 45 grand, which isn't nothing but- Sacrifice your body. Yeah. If you hurt yourself and you're broken down and you can't go do construction work to make that same amount of money when you're done. What are you supposed to fucking do?

Sell cars or auto parts or some shit. Yeah, so they're all negotiating here, the owners and the union leaders. The owners are demanding compensation when they lose a free agent to another team. They're saying, you signed one of my players. I want compensation from you.

Yeah, because they're just trying to make it so you don't sign free agents and that's just a way to keep the players better because you'd have to give something up i mean i like that in terms of loyalty to teams because it's a bummer when you start to love somebody and then they dip to go get more money that's right if that if that person is that good and deserves that money then your fucking team should pay on i just always say look at it like you right you right now listening at your job, doing whatever you do. If

somebody offers you way more money at another company to do the same job, are you loyal because the people there like you at your other job? Are you like, fuck that. I'm worried about my family and I'm worried about my future. I'm not worried about... I wouldn't give a fuck if there was 50 people

outside my building going, Jimmy in accounting is the best. Yeah, and loyalty is great. Loyalty to fans and all that's great, but I'll tell you what right fucking now. We're super loyal to you guys. If somebody offered us $50 million to go sit and do something that you guys all hated, you'd never hear from us again.

We'd be fucking gone. Gone. Gone. I need three. That's it. Gone. Three million is mine. Never. You go, what happened to crime and sports? We wouldn't even give you a fucking explanation.

Do you understand that? We wouldn't even put out a sorry. I will delete so many social media accounts. You will never fucking hear from us again, and we're loyal to you. Right. And I give a shit about you. That's what I mean. So I 100% get it when players leave.

Worry about your family. That's all you... I mean, Christ almighty. Outside get it when players leave. Worry about your family. I mean, Christ almighty, outside of your family, who do you have loyalty to? Your friends maybe, but not an owner of a baseball team. And what friends? Or a bunch of fans. We're different. We talk to you guys. Back then, those people, they watched on TV and that was it.

And what friends are you going to be loyal to? I got $50 million. I can go find new friends. I'll be all right. Yeah, yeah. Not for nothing, but the friends I have now are just going to fuck up the? I got $50 million. I can go find new friends. I'll be all right. Yeah, yeah. Not for nothing, but the friends I have now are just going to fuck up the car that I bought. Exactly. Exactly.

So the compensation question was what they wanted to do was a player who was selected from the signing team's roster, they would have 12 protected players, and the players said no, any form of compensation would undermine free agency agency because it would. Anyway, after they have this big meeting on June 12th and Union Chief Marvin Miller comes

out and said, we have accomplished nothing. The strike is on. All right. So the strike is on in the middle of the season here. It goes from June 12th to August 10th. Right. 706 games total, which is 38% of the schedule, was canceled. The players strike June 16th, right in the beginning of the players strike.

The Cubs are sold. William Wrigley III announces the sale of the Cubs to the Tribune Company. By the way, the Tribune Company just sold it to the Ricketts for, what, $5 billion? Really? $5 billion, like two years ago. This is 1981. Do you know what Wrigley sold the Cubs to the Tribetts for what, $5 billion? Really? $5 billion like two years ago. This is 1981. Do you know what Wrigley sold the Cubs to the Tribune Company for? No. $5 billion in 35

years it's worth. $20 million. Wow. They bought it for $20 million and sold it for $5 billion. That's a hell of a return. That is fucking insane. That's a crazy turn. That is insanity. That is a great business deal.

So whenever you hear, if you ever hear the Tribune company bitching that their revenues aren't great for newspapers. Go fuck yourselves. Tell them to dip into their $5 billion they got with the Cubs, assholes. Whatever the hell it was. An estimated $146 million were lost in player salaries, ticket sales, broadcast revenues, and concession revenues. The players lost $4 million a week in salaries. The owners suffered a total loss of $72 million. Fuck them.

That's the other thing. Whenever there's a strike, they lose a ton because they're the ones. They're losing tons of money. Don't lose anything, really. But hear me out. No, they lose a ton because they're the ones. They're losing tons of money. Don't lose anything, really. But hear me out. The $72 million that they're losing, that would have been cheaper to just agree to what they're doing. That's true.

My point is that it's not about the money for them. It's not. It's not about cheapness. It's about you won't tell me. A bunch of fucking 25-year-old black guys aren't going to tell me how to fucking spend my money. My rich old ass. You won't tell me what to do. That my daddy gave me this team. How fucking dare you tell me.

That's why I think all sports are rigged, by the way. Here's a conspiracy theory. Oh, I like this. Here's why I think sports are rigged in general. And I'll still watch. I don't care anyway, because who knows. But you think a bunch of billionaires and fucking high-level gamblers and everything else are going to let everything ride on the outcome of what some 23-year-old fucking Dominican kid does? Shit, no.

They'd shoot that kid and throw him in a fucking river if they wanted to get rid of him. Bullshit. I think that it's rigged just because the last five years we've had some of the greatest games ever played. That happens. In terms of competition and story and the outcome. Yeah, it's all bullshit. They've just some of the greatest games ever played. That happens. In terms of competition and story and the outcome. Yeah, it's all bullshit. They've just been fucking crazy. And you can't, they just can't happen the way they fucking have.

There's never been an NFL Super Bowl that ended the way last year's did, ever. Listen to me. There's never been a deficit overcome like that. And that tells me that fucking somebody like Tom Brady's handsome face. Want to know why wrestling matches are good? No. Because you can fucking plan the ending. What if we'd had a match and everything was even and then at the end it was super even?

You can plan that. That's what I mean. Otherwise, if it was real, it's boring. Also, Pete Carroll is never going to throw the ball on fucking second and three. Second and goal when you got Marshawn Lynch. On YouTube, I will never tout conspiracies, but on YouTube, there is a frontline PBS documentary, not some weirdo YouTube thing from 1982 that the NFL buried.

And it talks about how Super Bowl III, the one with Joe Namath saying, I guarantee, was rigged as fuck. And how every one of these games is rigged. For sure. And tons of gamblers and mob guys and all these guys that are telling you exactly how it's done, why it's done, and how it's all bullshit. It's on YouTube. Find it. Anyway.

It's for sure rigged. It's so rigged. It's got to be. So rigged. But still, every one of them except for the one the Broncos won. Those are all rigged. That would happen. Yeah.

86, 90, 2007, and 2011 were okay, too, from what I remember, if I remember correctly. Those are all right. Those are fucking legit games. Those are fine. So season resumes on August 10th, 81. Yes. Dodgers go total of 63-47. Steve, 41 games, 5-3, 8 saves, 250 ERA, 54 innings, pitch, 51 hits, 32 strikeouts, 18 walks, 127 whip.

The Dodgers, they go to the playoffs that year in the Division Series. They're down 2-0 against Houston in the series, two games to none, and they rally back to beat the Astros. They go to Montreal. Oh, boy. The Expos were in the NL Championship, which is amazing. Yeah. Montreal here. They were down 2-1 to Montreal in the Championship Series and came back and won the series.

They don't even exist anymore. No, they don't. They are the Nationals now. They won that series, too, on coming back. And they had the ugliest logo and jersey. I love that logo. Do you really? I love that fucking hat.

I hate it so much. I love it, dude. I love that hat. It's a dope ass hat. Really? I wore one. I have a fucking Expos hat I wore for logo and jersey. I love that logo. Do you really? I love that fucking M. I hate it so much. I love it, dude. I love that hat. It's a dope ass. Really? I wore one. I have a fucking Expos hat I wore for a long time. What are those circles?

What's the fucking logo? No, the M's okay. It's the red, white, and blue M. No, it's worse than that. The red, blue, or the white, and blue M. Hold on, hold on. Never mind. Just keep going.

I'm going to Google it and try to figure out what I'm looking at. So for the next few minutes, Jimmy will not be paying attention to anything I'm saying. No, I'm just typing Montreal X. They go to the World Series that year. Really? Against the Yankees. Of course. That year, which, goddammit, this was the last time the Yankees were good in my childhood.

I was too young to remember this. I was like two years old, so I don't remember this at all, obviously. And then they were terrible for 15 fucking years, my whole childhood. So anytime anybody says, oh, you're a Yankee fan, you must be bandwagon. Fuck you, they suck my whole life. We'll talk about, he was on these teams, as we'll talk about the 90 teams, 91 teams that were the worst things

ever, we'll talk about them. So they go down 2-0 to the Yankees in this series and end up coming back and winning the next three to make it 3-2. And on October 28, 1981, Game 6 of the World Series, LA's up 3-2. Pedro Guerrero drives in five runs for the Dodgers, and they beat the Yankees 9-2 and win the World Series. Amazing.

Pedro Guerrero, if you do not know, we will cover him someday. He's one of the stupidest people I've ever heard of. He had some sort of big trial for embezzlement or some money crime. And his defense was, I am too stupid to do that. That's some shit I would do. He had his lawyer say that he can barely tie his shoes and make his bed. And he's way too stupid to put together a financial scam. That's awesome. Which is awesome.

They say ignorance is not, you know, exception to the law. He tried it. So Steve has a win in the World Series, too. He pitches seven innings total in the World Series, so they brought him in a lot. Valenzuela wins the Cy Young Award, which is he becomes the first rookie to win the Cy Young Award that year. Which is crazy.

Not bad. Has anybody done that since? Not that I can think of. Rookies? I don't think they have. Rookies winning the Cy Young. Did Clemens do it? Or Doc?

Did Doc Gooden do it? Oh, that's possible. Doc might have done it in 85 because he was a machine in 85. Anyway, so they go on. They win the World Series here. So now he's on top of the world. Now he's a goddamn World Series champ in L.A. Imagine how much coke he's doing.

Imagine how much coke he's doing. Holy shit. Oh, wow. So 82 season with the Dodgers. Again, 66 games. He goes 7-5, 13 saves, 208 ERA, 99 innings pitched, 87 hits, 49 strikeouts, 17 walks. Team goes 88 and 74. Come in second place.

Steve, some of the salary stuff is spotty for back then, but from this year, Steve made $100,000 this year. Which doesn't sound like a lot for a ball player, but in 82, $100,000 was a lot more. Whatever. So he makes $100,000. He's a World Series champion. He's doing great. Everybody?

Grace. Grace. This is Grace, everybody, right here. Here she is. Here she is, folks. Now, after this season, the team is tipped off by Hernandez, his buddy at the car dealership there. The team is tipped off about his drug problem. He says, please help this guy. He doesn't do it like to tell on him to be a dick.

He does it like he needs help. Will you help this guy? He didn't do it like to tell on him to be a dick. He does it like he needs help. Will you help this guy? He didn't know who else to turn to. Maybe he'll listen to the Dodgers. Maybe if Tommy Lasorda tells him to stop doing coke, he'll stop doing coke. Also, this is your livelihood. Maybe those are the people that should tell you. That's the thing here.

So he said, quote, the Dodgers were very concerned, but they didn't do anything until Steve himself. I don't know. Maybe he was forced until he went to drug center for the first time uh that's then and he goes to rehab for cocaine this is his first rehab everybody not the last by any stretch boy uh first rehab he enters his first rehab this is like amazing here him entering his first rehab is like the first time you know gordon ramsey threw something in a frying pan. This is something right here. We're witnessing the birth of something, you know?

The first time Emeril said boom. Exactly. We're witnessing it here. So he spends five and a half weeks at the Meadows, which is in Arizona somewhere. I don't know where. Have you heard of this place? I think that's Wickenburg. Is that Wickenburg?

I think so. It might be Tucson. It says it's in the Arizona desert. Okay. It's probably Wickenburg. One of the – it sounds like Wickenburg. Five and a half weeks there be Tucson. It says it's in the Arizona desert. Okay, it's probably Wickenburg. One of the, yeah, sounds like Wickenburg. Five and a half weeks there, though. My Christ.

That's quite a bit. That's too much time. That seems like just, you'd just be like. That seems overkill. I just want to get out of here and do some coke now. Fuck, I was ready two weeks ago. That's more than 28 days. I was ready two weeks ago.

Now I just want more coke. She said, Cindy, his wife said, quote, no one really understood cocaine in those days. The Dodgers sent him to rehabilitate for 28 days, and they thought that he was cured. They just wanted him back. They were being total silver-haired middle-aged white men about this. They were like, yeah, yeah, no, he gets in the thing, and then he's back, and now he's fine. We just need him on the field. We don't care.

Jesus. Knock that coke out of that kid. No problem. He's a little five pounds overweight. Let's get him on the treadmill, and he's fine to that kid. No problem. You know, like he's a little five pounds overweight. Let's get him on the treadmill and he's fine to pitch again. No problem. So April of 1983, April 27th, 1983 is at the end.

It's the first month of the season. He is bragging about rehab to the media like I am good now. No. He is fixed. He said, quote, what I did probably saved my career. He's telling everybody how he's good now. No. He is fixed. He said, quote, what I did probably saved my career. He's telling everybody how he's good now. And man, that cocaine, boy, I'll tell you, that was weird for a minute. But now I'm 25 and I got it all together and everything's fine. May 17th, 83, he reenters rehab.

This time care unit in hospital, care unit hospital in orange california unbelievable so uh everything's fine saved my career fucking do anything three weeks later right back in rehab no problem fantastic taylor swift is soaring high her every move captured in the news cycle and devoured by her devoted fans she She's broken billboard records and made Grammys history, not to mention becoming a billionaire in the process. But along the way, Taylor has had to wage war, first by taking on a very powerful, very famous manager, Scooter Braun, and then by going up against the biggest live events company, Ticketmaster. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wondery's show Business Wars. We go deep

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or Wondery app. And now back to the show. Listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. And now back to the show. Hey, everybody. Just going to take a quick break from the show to tell you a little bit more about Blue Apron. Blueapron.com. You should know by now that Blue Apron is the leading meal kit delivery service in the entire United States.

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So he's in rehab while the daughter's born. Yeah. Her name is Chelsea Lee, and we'll hear from her later, obviously. Now, June 29, 1983, he's activated by the Dodgers because they just want him back. They're, shit, we got a pennant race here. Let's go do this shit. He's activated. He's fined one month's salary, which now is $53,867 this year, which is quite a bit.

That's a hefty amount. He's placed on probation by the Dodgers after he admits his drug problem. Yeah. Tommy Lasorda said, quote, I tell him it's against the law and it's harmful to your body. He'd say to me, you're right, you're right. Then he'd go out and do it more. This is old Guinea coming

up. It's against the law and it's harmful to your body. He's like, get the fuck out of here, fat man. Don't have a fucking plate of fucking chicken Parmesan. Leave me alone, fat boy. You know that's what he said. Get your manicotti breath out of my face. So July 15th, 1983. This was June 29th this happened.

So he's on like double secret fucking. Double secret super probation. Super like, yeah, sensitive nitroglycerin probation don't touch it uh july 15th 83 16 days later he arrives an hour and a half after the game has started oh sweet fuck what not an hour and a half late for the game an hour and a half after it's it's like the sixth inning and he rolls up like he's about to do the seventh inning stretch and sing take me out to the ball we good what i? What did I miss? What did I miss? Everything good here?

How we doing? We winning? What's happening? When do we start? Fucking hour and a half ago. He's suspended two days by the Dodgers. So they're not laying down the law. They want him pitching.

They're being very silver haired. And this is the whole way that this guy thinks it's okay to do this shit. He gets away with it. And they end up reinstating him the next day. Yeah. They give him a drug test the next day. He passes it. So they reinstate him uh he'll now from now on he'll be taking two drug tests a week for the team okay because there's a couple rehabs into this whole thing already now by

september of 83 uh hernandez the car guy said quote he was taking two drug tests a week with the dodgers i forced him to tell them i want to take it three times. See, he could con them. The stuff only lasts 72 hours, and it only lasts that much bloodstream. He said so he could take a test on Friday, then dope and not take another test until Monday, and it wouldn't show anything. He took three tests a week for a long time, and everything was going fine, and then all of a sudden he disappeared. And we'll talk about that. We'll talk about that. He misses a team flight to Atlanta and is suspended indefinitely by the Dodgers

for what they call cocaine dependency. He goes into rehab again. The other thing, too, here, he refused to take a drug test when they confronted him about it. Why'd you miss a flight? No reason. Why are you sweaty? No reason. Take a drug test. Fuck no. I think you're on coke.

72 hours, I'll take one. How about Monday? What is it, Thursday, Friday? Let's talk about Monday here. He goes into substance rehabilitation. The Dodgers vice president, Fred Clare, who I have just a tinge of a feeling that his hair might be silver. Just a touch. It might be.

A little bit. He says, quote, Howe was unable to give satisfactory reasons for his failure to call the Dodger office to explain the circumstances. How was asked to take a urinalysis test to detect the presence of prohibited substances? But he refused to take the test. Yeah. So we had to suspend him for indefinitely now. And by the way, that Expos jersey is fucking horrific. I like that jersey.

That one's ugly. That's ugly as fuck. Look at the baby blue ones from the early 80s. Those are dope. I wasn't watching baseball then. Those are dope as fuck. That's a great fuck. Look at the baby blue ones from the early 80s. Those are dope. I wasn't watching baseball then. Those are dope as fuck. That's a great jersey. God damn it, those are sweet.

Crisp with that baby blue and it pops. Exposed across the check. It looks like a fucking Rangers jersey. All the jerseys were ugly in the 90s. That's awful. They had to reconstitute them. That's what I remember. Yeah, those are ugly as shit.

That's what I remember. That's when they disbanded the team. The baby blue shit, I wasn't even born yet. Neither was I, but they were cool as shit. I've seen footage. It was awesome. I can deal with that. That's fine.

I have a twins jersey of that color. Like that one? Yeah, Burt Blyleven. Oh, like that? The baby blue? Baby blue V-neck Burt Blyleven twins jersey. That's sick. It's sick as shit.

Hey, people in Minnesota. I got your back. So, anyway, so yeah, he's refused to take the test. He's being a dickhead to the team. He's suspended now. During this whole time, by the way, it comes out later that, you know, Dave Stewart is, pitcher, mean-looking black dude. He was apparently running distraction and covering for Howell.

He would do coke in the clubhouse. They're apparently covering each other's asses doing coke. You go out there, run distraction, talk to them. Well, I'll do lines in the clubhouse and then we'll switch. That's what they were doing. Literally seen steve nope he's not in there he sure is shitting in that bathroom snorting in the stall i'll tell you that much right now i think he's out in right field steve stewart played for the the dodgers oh yeah and the a's too correct yeah that's right he got around yeah he got around dave stewart so uh tommy lasorda said quote i

didn't know what steve's problem was before he admitted it the first time, but I had suspicions. He'd always have an excuse for being late. I'd tell him, you sleep with dogs, you're going to wake up with fleas. He'd seem all right for a time, and then boom, he'd have problems again. Well, yeah, you're giving him fucking old-timey fucking sayings. Hey, what are you doing? Fixing, finding another lesson. Hey, it's against the law and bad for your body.

If you lie down with dogs, you're going to wind up with fleas. Gee, I'll change my life now. Thanks for that wonderful counsel. Thank God you told me that shit. Fucking stupid cliche. You smoke, you're going to wind up with fleas. Gee, I'll change my life now. Thanks for that wonderful counsel. Thank God you told me that shit. Fucking stupid cliche. You smoke, you're going to get lung cancer. Really? All right.

That's fucking news to me. You're a fountain of cliches, sir. Now I'll be much better and fix my entire life. This is great. A stitch in time saves nine. Go fuck yourself, Tommy. Hey, Tommy. Hey, Tommy.

Stick your head up your fucking ass, Tommy. How do you like that? What do you think, Tommy Lasorda Tommy. Stick your head up your fucking ass, Tommy. How do you like that, huh? What do you think, Tommy Lasorda, you feckin' fuck you? Ah, that's wonderful. I could take a good look at a bull's ass if I stuck my head up there. Is that how it goes? I want to see Tommy Lasorda fuck up old cliches. That would be great, yeah.

See him like Tommy boy fucking, yeah, like you were doing. So that season, anyway, he did pitch on the field somehow. Somehow managed to get in 46 games in between all these rehabs and suspensions and everything. And all the coke. Call his coke. He had 18 saves. 144 ERA. Jesus.

Give this guy more coke. Yeah. Pitch, 68.2 innings. Pitched 55 hits, 52 strikeouts. Yeah. And 12 walks and a whip under one. Not bad. Team goes 91-71 and makes the playoffs. This was the year where the NLCS was the Cubs and the Padres,

and the Cubs were about to go to the World Series, and Leon Durham let it go through his legs. This was the original Bill Buckner. Oh, really? He did a worse thing than Buckner, yeah. How is that going to be worse than Buckner? Well, Buckner, when he did it, I believe the game was tied. So it wasn't like if he picked that up, stepped on the bag, the game was over. They just went to extra innings.

This was the last out of the game to go to the World Series. And it was a ground ball to first base. All he had to do was pick it up, step on the bag. Cubs are in the World Series. He instead lets it go right through his legs, the Padres rally, and go to the World Series to lose to the Tigers, with Kurt Gibson having some more heroics there. So a complete disaster for everybody this season.

He makes $325,000 this year. Steve Howe does. I don't like the Cubs winning, by the way. I've decided I am not happy that they have won. I could see that. It was great for the city. It's great. It's whatever.

Everybody's parties. But fucking no. They're not fucking losers anymore. Yeah, it's not as fun. It's not the same. I don't root for them anymore. Well, it's their identity. It's tough here.

Yeah. It's gone now. It was great when they were over 100 years without a goddamn, without anything. Yeah, yeah. Fucking losers. Later on, late in this season in 84 the commissioner's office started an investigation now this isn't good uh how's lawyer advised him to sit out the rest of the season his narcotics anonymous sponsor confirmed that he was under the

direction of a physician but not in a rehab clinic when he disappeared uh his attorney roy bell says this is the best quote one thing i can tell you is Steve is not on narcotics. I can't afford to have Steve stressed out by any more of the fans, media, and pressure. I don't think he can take the emotional strain. But he's definitely not on narcotics. Don't think that for a second. Thank you for that statement. And who paid you, sir?

One thing I can tell you is that Steve is not on narcotics. So he's on coke then? Thank you. December 15, 1983, Commissioner Bowie K Coon suspends him for one year. Wow. One year suspension. This goes along with, we've discussed this mass suspension before in the Willie Mays Akins episode.

I think it's episode 26, and that is the origins of the Mexican pimp who was a real person and came up to Willie Mays. Real life man. Yeah. Approached Willie Mays Aikens in a Mexican hotel and asked him, how is it you've come to arrive here? After he was robbed by a hooker. Yeah. While he had two guns pointed at him, poured him a glass of scotch. What the fuck happened to you, dude?

In Spanish. You used to have a ring. You had a ring. So Howe is one of the four players suspended for a year. It is Willie Wilson, Steve Howe, Jerry Martin, and Willie Mays-Aikens, as we discussed before. He will not be paid during his suspension, but he will be allowed – the Dodgers will be allowed to, quote,

advance funds for family necessities as well as for costs of medical treatment not covered by insurance. So he can get paid. So they can pay him if they want to keep him. If they want to keep him in their good graces. They say, Kuhn says, I think there's a message in today's decision. We take the drug problem seriously. We're going to do what is

reasonably necessary to protect our game. We're going to do not anything it takes. We're going to do what's reasonably necessary if it's not that hard. And if it doesn't fuck anything up. We're going to do anything that we can within reasonable as long as it's not an inconvenience. We don't have to leave the office.

Yeah, you know how it is. And also, too, between 11 and 1, because I like to take a long lunch. So if we can do that. I like to do like a steak or like a pork chop, something hearty for lunch, because I don't eat breakfast. Something that can really just hold me all day. I don't get out of the office until 7, 8. I eat a late dinner, so I really need to do that.

You may not eat dinner at all. Sometimes it happens. I need protein. So he says all this. I think that's hilarious. Also, they say that in November of that year, Kuhn says that Howe was tested three times and was positive on all three of them for cocaine. Kuhn says, quote, we are satisfied that these results are accurate and the results had not

been disputed by Mr. Howe's representatives. So fuck it. Now, fuck it. Now, fuck it. Dodger President Peter O'Malley says he agrees with Kuhn's decision, but he also added that he expects Howe to be back on the mound in 85. He says, quote, we respect the commissioner's decision, and we will certainly abide by it. And quite frankly, I agree with it.

Baseball and illegal drugs are incompatible, and we will not tolerate the use of these drugs by any of our employees. However, Steve Howe You knew a but was coming there. However, Steve Howe has the complete support of the Dodger organization and his rehabilitation program.

We will do everything possible to hasten the day when Steve can join his teammates. How crazy is that? Wow, that's silver. That's silver. I will zero tolerance. But Steve's a great man. One exception.

And one other thing. Nobody say a word about all the steroids. No, no, no. He said, quote, I am optimistic Steve will be pitching again in 1985, but he is responsible for his actions, and it will be up to him to prove that he's capable of returning. His attorney, House attorney, called the ruling a turn-of-the-century knee-jerk reaction, he called it. Turn-of-the-century.

Turn-of-the-century. He said, quote, I don't think you should punish someone who has a disease. Now, he right then— Wait, what? Addiction, being addiction, which, fine fine that's great stop doing coke stop stop with the guy i don't care how much coke you do but they care someone that has a disease so james by that logic if you go out and you're an alcoholic and you get behind the wheel of a car we can't punish you for that james you could punish the action what they're saying is he did

nothing but the cocaine he didn't do coke coke and then murder all of his teammates. He just did cocaine. If you're drunk and you just drive and you don't hurt anybody, that's technically – I agree. You should not be punished. I agree. It's a slippery slope here. It's a slippery slope.

I don't – Ah, Christ. It's hilarious. It's ridiculous here. Now, he goes and he's under the care of a doctor now. It's a nationally recognized drug expert named Dr. Forrest Tennant. He said that he's confident Howe would make it back. Right away, you can tell he's full of shit because he's like, he'll beat this.

He'll be right back. Any good doctor would be like, I don't know, hopefully. I mean, everybody's different. Yeah, he says, quote, we are going to be trying some new approaches with Steve for what is a very difficult problem. This is not a hopeless situation. He had a negative urine test today and considerable progress is being made. Since this morning when he had coke and it says he's coming down a little bit now. Jesus Christ.

He's been clean for eight hours. Oh, man, their GM there, Campana, said, quote, we're behind Steve and we're not going to trade him. We'll do everything possible to help him. We consider him part're behind Steve and we're not going to trade him. We'll do everything possible to help him. We consider him part of the family and we're not going to desert him. He throws 95 miles an hour left-handed. He puts lefties down like that. I love how he's a part of the family. If he threw 86 and right-handed, wouldn't probably be as close as if a family member at that point, I assume.

I don't know. That's as silver as it can be holy shit uh so they said they're not going to desert him uh the house are forced to file for bankruptcy a week later because they're a hundred thousand dollars because they're deserted they're deserted so thank you that's silver right there we will not desert him and we're gonna desert him unless it benefits us next year his house going to be foreclosed on. Not my problem. He's our friend.

Not my problem. He's a brother. He appeals the decision. In May of 84, he makes a grievance settlement agreeing not to play in 1984 as part of the settlement. We have an in their own words on this. In their own words, quote, On this, in their own words, quote, my doctor, my therapist, and fellow members of my recovery program have urged me to take more time before subjecting myself to the high emotions and stress of a pennant race. That's it.

Also, my creditors strongly encourage me to pay my bill. Also, they won't let me play. That's the other thing. I'm not allowed. There's two things. It's everyone telling me it's bad for me, and they won't let me even if I want to. The combination of those. Really that's amazing uh may 15th 84 cindy howe uh files for divorce of course she does never becomes final though never because and i mean never becomes fine she's like last week just keep filing keep filing never follow through what the fuck this

is uh she said when she confronted him after a four-day binge. He basically disappeared from the house for four days. Yeah. This was the first time in 84 that he, this becomes his ML later on. Really? She said, you send him out for a carton of milk, he doesn't come home for three days. He's out doing coke. He comes back with no milk.

No milk and lots of coke. No coke left, just some on his face. So what he did is he threw it back in her face and said, quote, maybe if you wouldn't be so demanding, I wouldn't have to stay out. Maybe if you weren't such a bitch all the time. That's what he said. Maybe if you wouldn't be so demanding, I wouldn't have to stay out of the house all the time. Well, maybe if you were there, she wouldn't have to demand you be there. Come on. And around and around we go.

And around and around and around. So the 84 season, he's suspended. He undergoes more drug counseling and rehabilitation again uh says he's gonna get back he's gonna get back 85 season dodgers sign him to a one-year deal yeah so they're ready to take a chance on him right before spring training uh cindy realized uh basically that if she couldn't go to the games with him she couldn't count on him coming back from the games she said said, quote, I couldn't even send him to the grocery store. It might be three days until he got back with the food.

Apparently he would come back with the food, but not for three days. It's all spoiled. Sorry, guys. She said, quote, once after Steve received $1,400 for a speaking engagement, he promptly disappeared. She awoke to find him returned and crouched in the backyard vomiting in the grass oh boy uh she said she got him indoors but he collapsed into a fetal position twitching and fucking making noises so she got him into a private hospital for 10 days to knock that out of his system there's a lot of relapses here he came back home puking and she's

like why is it i sent you to get yogurt. You didn't even put it in the fridge. Here it is. It's all hot. This was right before spring training, 85, after he just signed a deal. Opening our mid-spring training, they ask him about it, and he says, quote, drugs are right where they belong, in the past. I'm good now. A month ago, I was a mess.

Now, I'm fine. What do you think, Jimmy? He's fine, right? This is the end of the story? I cleaned up all that puke with my Toro. Fine. And I'm fine now. My Toro.

Now I'm good. That year, he pitches 19 games with the Dodgers up until June. June 23rd, 1985. Remember, he's good now, Jimmy. Good, he's so good. June 23rd, he shows up three hours late for a game against Houston, claiming Cindy had mistakenly taken the car keys. What?

She took my car keys. I had to be late. There's no cabs or rides. There's no way for me to get here. I couldn't have gone out in the street and went, I'm Steve Howe, I pitch for the Dodgers. Can you take me there? Call your Coke dealer.

He'll give you a ride. Just go, hey, need a ride to Dodger Stadium. They'll take you. Your Coke dealer will take you there. Just say, I need an eight ball and a ride to the stadium. You're fine. He is fined $300 by the Dodgers. That's it.

Wow, that's a parking ticket nowadays. Not bad at all, right? That's sweet of them. Right. Considering what this behavior means, they're like, let's just pretend it's not Coke and say that it's just that. June 26 26 1985 this is you know three days later uh he gives up a home run to steve garvey in a loss to the padres after the game he comes into tommy lasorda's office and burst into tears uh lasorda said quote he just came in and said i want to go someplace

else i can't handle this he said he had not been involved in cocaine. He was just depressed at the way things were going. And he just thought it would be best for him and his family to get somewhere where these things wouldn't happen. My fuck. Wow. So he is a fucking mess right now. But remember. He's good.

He's good now. He's so good now. Not cocaine. Here's the thing, though. Depression follows you. Oh, yeah. No matter where you go, sir. It doesn't change.

You can't leave that shit in LA. No, no. I'll leave it. I'll pack that up and I'll put it in storage and I won't have it. So that was June 26th. June 30th, 1985, just doesn't show up for a game in Atlanta. Jesus. Just doesn't show up for a game versus Atlanta at all.

So July 1st, 1985, the very next day, he's placed on the restricted list after the team determined he was, quote, incapable of handling his assignment, I would say. He didn't show up for the game against the Braves, and they gave him drug tests later when he came back, finally, and they came back negative, but he knows how long it'll take. So he's placed

on the restricted list by the National League for three days at the Dodgers' request, and then they figure out what they're going to do. They have three days to figure it out. And two days later, they release him. That's what we figured out. He's not so much a member of the family anymore. We're not concerned about him anymore.

We're going to be there for him. And he said he wanted to leave, though. He said that's what he wanted. He says, quote, it came down to fight or flight. Certain people in this town had a lack of understanding toward me and the situation I chose the flight instead of the fight. Okay. Fair enough. So he's released by the Dodgers in July.

August 12th, signed by the Twins. Oh. Because we need them. Everyone needs a lefty. This is the thing. It's August. It's the fucking playoff stretch. You need a lefty in the pen and he's good.

They're like, if we can just tape him up, put scotch tape on him, send him out there and get two months out of him, we might be able to make the playoffs. That's literally what they're thinking. The president of the Twins said, quote, Minnesotans are very forgiving people. They like to root for underdogs, for people who have made mistakes and are trying to overcome them. That's one reason I gave him the opportunity. Oh, yeah, also because he's 90 fucking five throwing mile an hour lefty. That's the other reason. Also, every town has Coke in it, and he's going to find it.

Oh, he'll find it. Is that snow or Coke? I'll find it. I'll figure it out. Fans welcomed him warmly, apparently. He received a standing ovation the first time he came to the mound. Wow. The Metrodome, they tried to welcome him.

Like, hey, buddy, we'll fix you back up. We hear you're good at this. We hear you're good, and we just want you to do good for us. He throws 13 games with the Twins with a 6.16 ERA. He's not too good. Whoops-a-daisy. They're like, shit, maybe we made a mistake there. This guy, they hit him all day.

Yeah, I would say. September 12, 1985, he goes on Nightline and talks to Ted Koppel. What? This is in the middle of the season. September 12, when he's on the Twins, goes to talk to Ted Koppel about drugs and baseball. Wow. He says in their own words, quote, life in general and people and places and things and success a lot of times are people's problems. At least it was for me.

My sole existence of what I did in life was what I did on the ball field. Then nothing else matters and you don't feel like you're going to be able to perform up to your capabilities and someone gives you an avenue to deaden that pain, you're going to do what you can so that people are going to like you and accept you. Fair enough. Yeah. I was nervous and I did drugs so I felt more confident.

No shit. I think at the beginning of the statement was nouns are people's problems. He said people, places, and things are people's problems. Everything's problems. Now, that's that, and things are people's problems. Everything's problems. Now, that show, September 12th, that was. The next day, he disappears for a whole weekend. Awesome. Team knows it's coke.

Yeah. They know it's coke. They call it a, quote, temporary relapse, as we'll get into here. His mother, oh, Barb, Barb, Barb. His mom, Barb, is the shit. We're going to talk to Barb so much. She's a fucking pistol, this lady. She says, quote, nobody ever told him cocaine was bad.

Three years ago, it was a fun thing. It was Hollywood. It was California. Hey, let's do cocaine. It's party time. It's only been, what, the last year and a half that everybody's realized how evil it was. Oh, she's a dummy. Yeah, she is a dummy.

But people really didn't think coke had much negative effect back then. Fuck, yeah. Coke, well, that was the 70s. By the 80s, they knew. Like 1979, people were like, this is great. It's just a fun thing. It's not addictive. It's great.

Non-addictive. People would say it's non-addictive back then. They're like, it's not addictive. It's just this fun thing. Okay. Oh, that's awesome. September 17th, he pops back up again and meets with the Twins officials, and they come to a mutual agreement that they're going to release him. That he should play some more cells.

Yeah, and he goes and enters rehab again here, obviously. Now, Howe's lawyer and his friend here, Jim Hawkins, said, quote, it's bad to have memories dragged up, except by a professional counselor. They recall not only what you saw and heard, but what you felt. In this case, they can be extremely negative emotions. Maybe it was bringing up these emotions on the TV program that led to his relapse. Okay. Fair enough. I could see that.

So anyway, released all that. He admits he's got a cocaine problem, tells everyone that coke was why he left. Also says now he's got an alcohol problem, too. Oh, boy. This has grown. Oh, boy. Now to do more coke, I have to drink and blah, blah, blah. tells everyone that coke was why he left also says now he's got an alcohol problem oh boy this has grown oh boy now to do more coke i have to drink and blah blah and he promises to seek rehab here twins director of player personnel said quote i think everyone that participated in the decision making process came to the same conclusions i would say so team called it just temporary

occurrence his father virgil says quote steven just played ball for so long in his life that, and I'm not saying this is the reason he did what he did with drugs, that there never seemed to be enough time for Stephen to do what Stephen wanted to do. He started playing ball when he was nine years old. That's all he's ever done. I think Stephen wanted to do coke. I think he liked coke. Now his parents

are starting to get defensive, by the way, in this. Let's talk to Barb. Barb says, quote, when he was a kid, he just said what he was going to do. He just said he was going to get defensive, by the way, in this. Let's talk to Barb. Barb says, quote, when he was a kid, he just said he was going to do it and it came easy. Everything was easy for him. And once he got it, it was, oh, it's not really what I want. Personally, if he never plays baseball again, I don't really care as long as he's OK and can function. But that's up to him. I can't live his life for him. I can't tell him what to do anymore. Oh, it's easy to place blame where there is no blame. We have five children. We have five children and we have one cocaine addict.

I would die for my kids, but I will not take the blame for his addiction any more than his father should. Steven did this all by himself. He chose to do it. Don't you fucking put this on me. Is she saying that people are blaming her? Yeah. She's saying they're putting it on me. I have five kids.

Four of them aren't cokeheads. Only one of them. He's a disaster. Not my problem. Yeah. Virgil says, quote, I have five kids. Four of them aren't co-kids. Only one of them. He's a disaster. He's the oldest. Not my problem. Yeah. Virgil says, quote, I don't feel any sense of failure. How could we have, how could we failed with him when we didn't fail with the other four?

That's true. They're both just like, the other four are fine. They've got points. They're good. But four out of five dentists agree. You know what I mean? Yeah. There's always that one.

Yeah. His mom, Barb, here says more from her. Quote, who is the real Steve Howe? I don't know. I really don't. And I don't think he does. Is this the real Steve Howe today? Who are you?

Are you what you want to be or are you what somebody else wants you to be? He's like a chameleon. He'll be whatever you want him to be. He'll see what somebody else is looking for and give it to him. He's always been that way. I've told him, you've got to live for yourself. You can't please this person, that person, and that person. Maybe when he goes and uses, he says to himself,

I'm doing this for me. This is my time, goddammit. Coke time. Finally got some me time. Yeah. He has a 549 ERA in 85 through all that, so it doesn't go well. After the season, he has minor shoulder surgery also. He cleans some shit up.

In 1986, the next year, he moves to Whitefish, Montana. Oh, boy. His wife, Cindy, has some relatives there, and he says, quote, it's a nice place to raise a family. Is it? I think he's thinking, there's no Coke up there. That's all I got. Guess what? There's Coke up there.

There's Coke everywhere, Mr. Coke, all over the place. There's Coke everywhere, Mr. Oh, all over the place. There's Coke everywhere, Mr. Oh, boy. I'll tell you. March 20th, 86, he gets a call from the owner of the San Jose Bees, an independent single-A team here. Fucking ridiculous here. He was hosting, at the time, he was hosting a radio show in Montana. A rock, not even a sports show.

He was playing, he's like, now Foghat. And he put it up. And now Air Supply. What the fuck is going on? Super weird. Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Howell on your airwaves today. Yeah, so he signs with the Bees, the San Jose Bees. They had just gained an affiliation with the Expos that year.

That's weird. San Jose to fucking Montreal? Yeah, they go back and forth. They trade these teams off. This was the only year it would be the San Jose Expos because what they did was this whole season, the owner distributed 30,000 tickets to local merchants for free and only 120 of them were used out of 30,000.

Holy shit. Yeah, so that was all the free ones at the end of the season the expos pulled their affiliation and they became an independent team here uh this guy harry who owned the team he flew to montana yeah he said he told how and his agent that he would pay how two thousand dollars a month which is four times the standard player salary there uh with the stipulation that he would get uh that harry would get half the purchase price when a major league team bought Steve. Fuck that. So that's an interesting way to do it here.

They refused the offer. The Mariners at this point were interested in Steve, actually, and he was scheduled to throw in Florida for a bunch of other teams. But by March, no major league club had made him an offer. So finally, his agent called the San Jose Bees, and he said, all right, fuck it. I guess we'll take it. We'll take it. So they have a big news conference.

Two grand a month. Oh, yeah. They start to have a big news conference. We got this guy. He talks to reporters at this point about how he started doing drugs. Now, Steve says that it's genetic. Yeah. It's not his fault.

The coke? That's what he says. Everything. He says, quote, you basically don't have a chance in hell if you have one or more people in your family who are alcoholics. Is that how it goes? Actually, it's you have about 50% chance of getting the gene if you have any, both your parents, one of your parents, all of them, everybody. It's still 50-50. Yes, no, 50-50.

Maybe. Yeah. Now, Steve said in the story, this was actually interesting because this caused a lawsuit. The reporter in the story paraphrased Steve as saying that Virgil, quote, was drinking up so many paychecks that the family was having enough trouble just trying to come up with a combined house and car payment of $84 a month. Whoa. He said that's how much he was drinking. I want that car payment and the house payment. So Virgil sued the Detroit Free Press for defamation after this.

Oh, shit. He thought it was bullshit. He's going to have plenty of house payments. Yeah, he's going to have. He's like, I will get those house payments. I'll show you $84 a month. No problem. of house payments. Yeah, he's like, I will get those house payments. I'll show you $84 a month.

No problem. So now May 15th, 1986, he's suspended by the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues after testing positive again for cocaine. God damn it. The following month, he's suspended again through December 31st for again doing that here. For again, more cocaine. So finally-

Cocaine is the shit. December 31st, San Jose releases him when his suspension's over. He's like, he's just gonna get busted again and be in rehab again. Now Barb, we have more from Barb. Awesome. I love Barb here. Ma Barb here. She says, quote, I want to be sympathetic with Steven, but

I'm really getting fed up with it all. Oh no. She called him Steven in the press. I don't like picking up the newspaper and reading how my kid's messing up from the baseball team again. I'm sick of it. He's got brothers in Clarkston who keep hearing, I see your druggie brother screwed up again. Now he's pissed. She called him Steven in the press.

Steven. Now, with San Jose pitching, he still plays baseball, remember? 14 games, he had a 147 ERA. Fine outing pitching, but that doesn't matter. He's throwing against God knows who. Now, later in 1986, CBS does a news documentary, CBS news documentary called 48 Hours on Crack Street. Jesus. And it's a documentary series, 48 Hours on Crack Street. It's all about crack and coke and drugs. And he's involved? And this episode's called 48 Hours on Crack Street Heroes, this is called.

And it talks about how kids look up to athletes. And then they show Doc Ellis. You know who Doc Ellis is? Doc Ellis is a pitcher who said he never pitched a game sober. He was the guy who threw a no-hitter on acid. There's a documentary on Netflix about him. It's a really awesome documentary about Doc Ellis on Netflix. And he's a crazy drug-addicted lunatic, this guy.

Threw a no-hitter on acid. Bunch of walks and shit, but no hits. Amazing, right? He said he didn't even know what the hell he was doing awesome so they show this scene of it's a little league field with a shitload of kids around with doc ellis and steve howe talking to him it's like take those kids away from those guys get them away no don't oh who fucking who booked that one yeah get them away there should have been a fucking partition between them like prison.

No touching. Was there parental permission slip side for that shit? I would have been so nervous standing off to the side like, oh, there's something bad that's going to happen if my kid's in there. He tells the kids, quote, once you start becoming different, saying drugs aren't for me and I'm going to live and I'm going to be able to use my full potential because drugs will strip that all away from you. Yeah. Yeah.

He says while he's interviewed by Ed Bradley, he claims he never played while he was high, which we know is bullshit because he was doing in the bullpen. So we know that's not true. March 10th, 87, Steve gets on a plane to Japan, goes to Japan. He's agreed in terms to a deal with the Cebu Lions. Cebu Lions. He's going to go play in the Japanese League. March 11th, the very next day, he is barred from playing in Japan and will have to return

to the United States in a few days. They said that the team, that Steve expressed, quote, understanding at the decision of the team. that Steve expressed, quote, understanding at the decision of the team. They came after the Japanese professional baseball commissioner, Juhi Takaguchi, had ruled Hau could not play in Japan because of his history of drug use. Couldn't do it. They told him that after he got there?

Yeah, because I guess him and the team had agreed to something. He flew over there and then the league said, fuck no, you're not signing this guy. When they turn the contract in the league, they're like, no, we're not stupid. We're not, our hair is silver. Our hair doesn't go gray. We're so black. Black hair over here. We don't play this shit. Get out of here. We don't need him. Who do you think we are, Mr. Miyagi? Get out of here. No, fuck that.

He was from Okinawa. They're pussies. We don't play that shit. He says, Steve says, quote, I'm disappointed, but I will return to the United States and try to play in the major leagues again. He was training with a farm team of the Pacific Lions, I guess, for a day before he told he had to go home. A spokesman for the commissioner in Japan said that he'd ruled Howe was, quote, not favorable. That's what he said. Not favorable. And that was it.

The team had no, had no quote on it. In Japan, each team's allowed to have up to three foreign players. Really? And you can, you can play, only two are permitted from a team in a single game. That seems racist as fuck. Oh, it is. It is. Well, if it isn't, you just have a bunch of old American guys over there. That'd be the whole league. So rather than turning it. All black guys playing in the Japanese league. That seems racist as fuck. You have to have him. I'm telling you, left-handed. What year is this? 87. If your child is left-handed.

No one Ryan there, right? 87. No, I think he came. I want to say he came in 88 or 9 after that. He was with the Orioles or the Expos? No, he was not with either of those teams ever. Where was he at before the Rangers? Why do I see him in an Orioles uniform?

Astros. Astros. That's it. It's the orange. Whatever. He's on the Astros. And then he goes to the Rangers after that. I got it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm on board. Before that is the Angels and the Mets. Okay. So he signs with Texas. And the Mets. That's right. And the Mets.

He started with the Mets. He was a rookie. He played for them for two years. I'm on board. So yeah. He's signed by Texas. If your son is left-handed or daughter or whatever, if your kid's left-handed, put a fucking baseball in his hand because it can be a disaster and still get signed by the Rangers for no reason.

Have him throw the remote. Have him throw something. Anything. Just throw some shit. 1987, he plays with AAA Oklahoma City. He goes 2-2 with a.348 ERA. Has three complete games. I don't know why they have him starting down there.

With the Rangers here, the Rangers, this is Bobby Valentine managed this team. Complete asshole Bobby Valentine. This is a team with Pete Incavelia, a 200 hitting home run hitter with a complete uppercut swing. Fucking Inky. You know, remember Inky? Little short, kind of stocky guy. He sucked. And then

Ruben Sierra also, we all know. I love Ruben Sierra. Greatest stance ever. I love him, man. Monster. That's amazing, man. Yes. We all know. I love Ruben Sierra. Greatest stance ever. I love him, man. Monster. That's amazing, man. Oh, I do know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have.

Pete Incavelia. So I have. He's around forever. I have the 7-Eleven cards from fucking 7-Eleven. I have the whole fucking set, and he's one of them. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, I could see that. Now, this year also, Steve and Cindy have a son. Oh, boy.

Brian. We dodged a bullet there. That was a one that was a close one everybody who we do this guy does not need a junior the last thing he needs is a junior he's got enough problems wow uh so that year he throws 24 games 431 era 31 innings pitched not bad 33 hits 19ks eight walks not Not terrible. The Rangers go 75 and 87, are sixth in the AL West, so they stink. November 1987, he signs a two-year, $1.2 million contract with Texas. Oh, by God. Deep breath, taking everything in. That's so much money.

How great is that? Yeah. I mean, that's everything he's needed. From Japan, telling him to go fuck himself? Playing with the San Jose Bees for two grand a month. Bankruptcy. Coke in the yard. The whole to go fuck himself. Playing with the San Jose Bees for two grand a month. Bankruptcy. Coke in the yard. The whole thing.

$1.2 million. Good times. Dad buys so much Coke. So much Coke. He's so ready. That's November of 87. Everything's going to be fine. January 19th of 88, he's released by the Rangers after he violates the aftercare program by

using fucking alcohol and then refusing a drug test. You fucking idiot. You fucking idiot. I saw the press conference where the Ranger guy, the GM's just like, he's just like shaking his head. I hate that we have to do this today, but he just won't stop. He's just like, he just violated the program and we can't have him. We can't do it. We just can't have him.

We're like, we really want him, but we can't. What does Barb have to say about it? Oh, fantastic. Let's find out. Does she call him Steven again? She says, quote, it hasn't created a problem in the family, although the kids have said things to us how they feel sorry for us, not for themselves.

Like Michael said, why the hell doesn't he just get out of baseball and straighten his life out instead of having to pick up a newspaper all the time and read about him? It's embarrassing. Sure, you can say it's no reflection on you, but it is. That's your kid, and millions of people read about him whenever he blows his nose or whatever. So she's just like, this is affecting me. His nose?

No, it's when he puts cocaine in his nose. People are looking at me in the grocery store, goddammit. So he doesn't play in 88 or 89. What was he up to, you might ask? Well, he's in Whitefish, Montana. Oh my god. Where he found coke. Seeking a fresh start, he said. He's taking construction

jobs. Oh no. He's digging post holes and building fences and shit. He would hunt most of the meat his family ate. Oh my god, he's living off the land? He's living off the land? He's living off the land and digging post holes. Who is he, fucking Daryl Hannah?

I don't know what happened here. What the fuck? This is insanity. But apparently he got into religion at this point, too. That's a rule, you fucking assholes. Stop it. You don't do that. He enjoyed friends and family.

His church supported him a lot. He said him and Cindy, their faith was very important to him. She said he used cocaine less and family. His church supported him a lot. He said him and Cindy, their faith was very important to him. She said he used cocaine less and less. Less and less. That's not good. Yeah, but she said still it was... It was still prevalent in his life. Yeah, she said, quote, or he said, quote, she and I led two of the most different lives you could imagine. She was unconditionally loving.

Here I was screwing up, and she wasn't. But I think that her life had to shine through me because I kept watching her, and she'd come to me and say, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to love you no matter what you think, no matter what you try to do, and I didn't trust it. I just didn't trust it for a long time. Yeah, because you're on coke. You don't trust anybody i just didn't trust it for a long time yeah because you're on coke you don't trust anybody you're fucking paranoid that's the problem jesus uh on 80 in 1988 uh he does a piece on the one of the religious channels yeah uh it's a fluff piece

yeah soft music oh boy soft lighting with him like in a field playing like ball with his like little kids and his wife's there and they're like laughing and there's like you know dragonflies in the in the sunset the whole deal they just coke off like a flower in the fucking field he's got everything figured out he said everything's fine total fluff piece he says he hasn't used cocaine in six months uh he was driving home uh he's fine this fluff piece was awesome you know when you know you got a problem is when you know the last time you did go yeah definitely yeah i did it on this exact date so this everything is fine 88 everything's going great yeah and then january 22nd 1989 oh boy says he hasn't used cocaine in six months yeah he was driving home from an aa meeting and uh you know uh and then

he said he calls it like uh when alcoholics suddenly remember they had hidden a bottle during a blackout. Oh, no. And he said, quote, and in the car, I'm given this picture. Yeah. He said a year earlier during one of his binges, he hid a stash of cocaine inside a roll of Christmas wrapping paper. And all that time, he didn't ever remember it, but suddenly in the car, it just hit him that he's got Coke at home. There's a name pole back there. He said when he got home, he quickly found

it. He said it was all there. He said it was enough to last him days. Oh my God. He said, quote, I just took a taste. I put some of my gum and I put it back and I went back to bed. He said that Cindy knew immediately that he did something. She said, you're loaded. She shouted at him.

And he said, no, no, no. And they argued. It was just a taste. Yeah. Finally, he said she went to sleep and he said, quote, I was going downstairs to get rid of it. He said, well, I was going to snort some first, then get rid of the rest. He says, but she followed him downstairs. Oh, no.

And apparently he turned around with a bag of Coke and she was standing right there and he was like all Coke ravaged. Yeah. The face. That twisted up face. You just. And she. See, that's why you got to come to live shows so you can see twisted up faces.

It's so funny. He turns around and his face is just geeked out. Where'd you come from? Where'd you come from? What do you want? What do you want from me? So he was there and apparently, yeah, he said he was just pinching some out. And she says, quote, there he was, the look of a caged animal when he saw me.

He was filled with guilt and terrified. He didn't know what to do. Terrified you were going to take it away from him. Yeah, yeah. He said, quote, somehow I knew my very existence was on the line, yet all I wanted to do was inhale that cocaine. I just wanted to bury my face in it. See how great that shit is? He loves it so much.

I mean, he loves cocaine. He enjoys it. Unbelievable. He's not like, this is a problem. He's like, but it's great. What are you talking about? My life is on the line. Everything I have is at stake right here. But I just want to fucking bury my fucking face

in it. He's like a guy who just can't stop trying to get pussy. He's like, I just want to put my dick in everything. It's always on my mind. Pussy's always on my mind. That's from last week. Oh, my God. She said at that point, Cindy said to him, quote, it's up to you, but whatever you do, I'll always love you.

And she turned her around and walked away. He said he dropped the bag and slumped down on the couch. She said that at that point that if he slipped up again, she would throw him out for good. I was about to say he did a handstand and then dipped his face in the bag. And then ran outside and disappeared for three days. Fuck it, goodbye. Ran outside in his underwear in December and then disappeared for three days. We don't know where he came.

That would be amazing. But he came home with groceries, so we were happy about it. The yogurt was warm. Yeah, it happens. Cindy said, quote, I knew he loved us. I knew he didn't want to live without us, and I loved him very much, and I knew that he had tried, but this was it. Yeah, that's it. He begged her to stay.

She called the local pastor, and she said Steve cried and cried. She said he went through great inner healing, and he's been clean ever since then up until this article was from May 91. So this whole time coming up now, he's clean. 1989, later in 89, he writes a book with a guy named Jim Greenfield called Between the Lines, One Athlete Struggles to Escape the Nightmare of Addiction. Between the Lines. Between the Lines. That's awesome. That's a good he described that's a good title i would hate it if it was like kurt bush yeah and like a driver of some sort between the lines is

good yeah he talks about coke dependency and he hopes to recover based on his newfound commitment to evangelical christianity baby he's born again. What an asshole. He found religion. Perfect. Fucking perfect. He said, quote, I thought I had everything I needed. I had a beautiful home, a wife, kids, dogs, three cars, but I was never home. I never washed the $60,000 car. I didn't play with the dogs. I was as empty as ever.

That's what he says in the book. It's just, but now. I never washed the car. No, he said he never had time. He just never washed a $60,000 car. But that's dollar car that's what makes you i think he should have said i never drove yeah i think that's what he was going for there but i never watched it the coke muddles your brain it happens march 1990 commissioner faye vincent allows him to play in the minor leagues but maintain the major league play band is enforced uh and uh he also has to comply with

substance abuse aftercare supports the whole deal he continued to play minor league ball and he would also play off seasons in mexico now he starts doing he starts doing that april 4th 1990 signs a contract with the with salinas of the california league uh salinas spurs of high a ball uh he's also a part-time pitching coach at the same time as he's playing i guess maybe they threw him an extra 50 bucks a week or something uh he has a 2.12 era there does pretty well yeah that's fine cindy says that he you know he bounced around the minors of mexican league the whole time the family was traveling with him now she's not letting him out of his fucking sight she said quote our kids mexico forget it no way quote our kids adore him

everybody likes steven even my parents who've suffered along with me steve's a wonderful caring She said, quote, our kids. And Mexico? Forget it. No way. Quote, our kids adore him. Everybody likes Steven. Even my parents, who've suffered along with me. Steve's a wonderful, caring, loving person. He's just goofy and flaky and likable and lovable. But he's just been very sick. Yeah. I would say so. They've gone through all his earnings with all of that.

In Salinas, he was making $1,600 a month. Fuck. They had two homes, two cars, kids, travel. They needed about $1,600 a month. Fuck. This is, they had two homes, two cars, kids, travel. They needed about $4,000 a month for expenses. She said. They're in the red. Yeah. She said, quote, we'd get checks in the mail from ballplayers and from friends.

So people were like sending him shit. That's brutal. Mickey Cochran or whatever, like getting sent by Ty Cobb shit. He wouldn't need to do that if he would have kept his shit together in fucking Texas. No. Well, then June 1990, he has a minor elbow surgery and develops a blood clot in his lung just from the surgery, a complication of the surgery. And so he's sick for like six months with this blood clot, trying to recover from that,

which is crazy. Winter 1990, he pitches 31 innings in winter ball in Mexico with a a team called the banana pickers so he's in a mexican he's living in mexico being a banana picker what the fuck what a stupid team name what a stupid and you just know too imagine to imagine like i could have been a ranger yeah instead i'm a banana picker you know for fact, too, that you know they had to stay in kind of shitty hotels down there. Hotels? Motels, whatever. They had a tent on the beach.

I feel like they're in one of these real shitty Mexican prostitute motels. Dad, there's a rock in my back. Thinking where they would take girls once they've kidnapped them into sex slavery from South America. This is like a stop-off point where they house them and then take them up north, I feel like. And this is wherever they're staying. It's that hotel. It's some pivot. Oh, dude.

It's so crazy. Yeah, he talks about this. He's in a shitty hotel the one night. And he's got his wife and kids there. And he's not expecting anybody. But there's a knock on the door. And he opens the door. And who else would it be but the Mexican pimp?

Of course. Guns blazing. And he says. How is it you've come to arrive here? Why are you here? I told the last guy not to come no more. You do cocaine, too. That's his problem also.

Why come I pour you a drink? Why? Why? Why? You are here. By the way, I look at your wife. I could get good money for her. I just say. I'm not saying you have to, but I could get a couple of dollars for her.

I hear you are in the red. Maybe we could split. I have connections down here. You trade wife. Maybe a couple eight balls. We get a nice thing. I'm sorry. I don't know what I think. I mean

don't do the cocaine and how is it you've come? Yeah, that I said the thing. We'll talk about the other thing later though. Wink, wink. I have to go back. Yes, there's a poof. And a puff of tequila and handguns. He's gone. Made a little deal

with Steve Howe. Poor Cindy will be sold into prostitution. These things are terrible. I like your whore. I mean wife. Is that your whore? I mean wife. His agent, Dick Moss.

His name is Dick Moss. Dick Moss is his name. I'm sorry. I know we try not to. But Dick Moss? His fucking name is Dick Moss. If your last name is any growth, you don't name the person Dick. No, Dick Moss is his name.

Jesus. So Dick Moss over here. That's like an insult from a college dude. Yeah. Jesus Christ, man. Yeah. What's up, Dick Moss? That's what it sounds like. Yeah Christ, man. Yeah. What's up, Dick Moss? That's what it sounds like.

Yeah, it is. That's like a nickname of pubic hair. It is. Yeah, that's a perfect nickname. Hey, my Dick Moss is growing back. I'm going to trim it up. I got to go get new clippers. My Dick Moss dulled those ones.

Yeah. Jesus Christ. My Dick Moss. So old Dick Moss. Dick Moss is so thick. dick moss is calling around the majors trying to get steve a tryout somebody's last name is barnacle i dare you to name your kid yeah they're trying to get him a job barnacle dick moss is trying to get him a non-embarrassing job is what he's trying to do he can't even get a non-embarrassing job. That's what he's trying to do. Where he's not made fun of and called Dick Moss.

He can't even get a non-embarrassing name. I was going to say where he's not made fun of and called Dick Moss repeatedly like this poor guy. He's like, I can help you. Oh, my God. That's amazing. What a fucking name. Dick Moss. Here.

I can't call him Dick Moss. He's Dick Moss. Dick Moss calls around the majors looking for a tryout for Steve. That's one fucking word. One word him Dick Moss. He's Dick Moss. Dick Moss calls around the majors looking for a tryout for Steve. It's one fucking word. One word, Dick Moss. Steve thinks he can still pitch. Yes. Dick Moss agrees.

Cindy, his wife Cindy says, quote, Steve knew he could still pitch, though. He could still throw the ball over 90 miles an hour. If you're left-handed and can throw 90 miles an hour. Whatever. You could kill an owner's son in front of them and they'd give you a job. They don't care. Most teams, though, said no to him. One team that said, we'll take a look? The Yankees. You betcha.

George Steinbrenner. A team named after Tuggan. The Yankees love a guy named Dick Moss. The Yankees love a rec named Dick Moss. Always love. Well, the Yankees love a reclamation project. They love that. They love a Daryl Strawberry. Cut your hair, put the pinstripes on. And stop doing coke for five minutes and we'll throw you out there.

Doc Gooden threw a no-hitter. Daryl Strawberry won rings. Steve Howe got another job here. Let's find out how. So he goes to spring training. And he's not selling nachos or anything he's actually they invited him to the field not to just train to be a vendor uh gene michael he's telling the press here that's the yankees general manager he says quote he's been clean for two years i asked

a lot of people a lot of questions about him his makeup his type of person he is i feel there's been a lot worse things done in baseball than bringing steve how back. If it was my son or your son, you'd want to give him another chance. Probably not Barb, I wouldn't say. She'd be like, fuck him. Like, fuck Steven. He has been suspended six times, by the way, so far. He wears his old Dodger shirt he had, some Dodger undershirt

and Don Mattingly's cleats is what he tries out in, which is awesome. That's fucking amazing. Yeah, he apparently started throwing the ball in the 90s with movement. He wears the same size as Don Mattingly. Apparently so. He started throwing the ball in the 90s with movement, and they were like, this is a lefty throwing in the 90s with movement.

Can we sign him yesterday? Somebody called Dick Moss. Let's get Dick Moss on the phone. Yankees sign him. Cindy's thrilled. Cindy said, quote, I was almost in tears when we got the word. So I guess so. Who called her? Was it Dick Moss? I think Dick Moss said,

hey, sweetheart. She cried out of the fact that Dick Moss here. Yeah. He says he knew he'd make it back to the majors. Cockmane is here. Cockmane's here. Everybody's here. Everybody's here.

Fucking Dick Moss. Old Dickie Moss. Old Dickie Moss. That's ridiculous. It's one of the worst things in baseball. I knew I shouldn't even have said that, honestly. I should have just forgot about Dick Moss. So I knew we'd spend

the rest of the show concentrating on Dick Moss. We have so much more cocaine. Oh, my God. All right, go. It's so awesome. I want to talk about Dick Moss, too. I'm not blaming you. It's not your fault.

I'm with you. Cogman is just as bad of a name. No, Dick Moss is the worst name. Cogman is nowhere near as bad of a name. So he says he knew he'd make it back to the majors. Oh, my God. He says, quote, I've had tremendous people behind me. I won't tell you I didn't get discouraged when I was lying in the hospital last year with nitro under my tongue thinking I was going to kick the bucket.

But I made it. If he didn't pitch, he said, if I didn't pitch another inning, I did it. I got back to the majors. He says his shoulder's strong. He said, quote, even when I had shoulder surgery surgery in 85 i was still throwing 94 miles an hour i've always had a real well-developed arm uh they said why are you giving him another chance and the yankees said uh gene michael said quote uh dick moss talked me anyway i'm just kidding i saw you break it he said he said uh is that dick moss is a persuasive man.

Dick Moss and his cousin Johnson dreads. Yeah, he's going to. He says, general manager here. Holy Christ. He said, quote, he's getting a chance because he's good. There's always a need for more left-handed pitching. He's been clean for over two years. And then he said, yeah, it's lefties. I can't stop laughing.

I know. Dick Moss has got you by the Dick Moss. Short and curly would have been the way to go, and that's Dick Moss. So he's got you by the Dick Moss. Oh, my God. This is fucking incredible. Oh, man. So he pitches with Columbus for a while in 91, triple-A team.

Yeah. Has a 0.00 ERA in 18 innings. Doesn't give up shit. That's great. Dominates. He has an in-their-own-words here. In-their-own-words, quote, of course it's got to feel so good, he says. Drugs taking away my whole career is hard to deal with.

It probably cost me $8 million to $10 million in salary alone, but that's not my reason for playing. I'm playing because I'm good at it and because I can provide for my family. So, Yankees, he goes 291. This fucking team sucked. I watched every goddamn game that summer as a kid just being miserable. And I'd go out in the yard and pretend I was all the guys when I was a little kid

and just terrible. God, this team sucked. This is Stump Merrill was the manager. Jesus. Don Mattingly, Steve Sachs, Alvaro Espinoza, shortstop Matt, fucking Matt Noakes, you miserable pile of shit. Came from the Tigers after hitting fucking 40, 32 home runs and just sucking a dick.

You 200-hitting asshole. Sacks is good, though. Sacks was good. I liked him. This was Bernie Williams when he first came, who I love. Jesse Barfield, who had a cannon in right field. Kevin Moss, who was an amazing hitting first baseman, hit like 24 home runs in the first half of the year when Mattingly was hurt. And then, no. And then he went in the first half of the year when Mattingly was hurt. And then, no.

And then he went in the shitter after that. Hensley Muellens, Greg Catteray, Lee Guterman, Andy Hawkins, who lost a no-hitter. Andy Hawkins. That's how shit. He lost 4-0 in a no-hitter. That's how bad. 4-1. How do you feel, then?

I watched that game, too. That was pain. Errors. The team sucked. And finally, Mr. Mel Hall. Oh, boy. Our buddy Mel Hall. Our grooming son of a bitch.

You piece of shit, Mel Hall. For the Yankees, 37 games. He has a 168 ERA. Yeah. Killing it. 095 whip on a terrible team. He made $600,000 for that. Not bad.

Which is great. Chelsea, his daughter, was homeschooled until the ninth grade wow by the way so she's their whole family's with the with the with him here cindy said everything's great yeah she's like it's i'm good now we're good now she said it's still day-to-day always will be but it's like a miracle we're back together as a family and steve's back to being a person and not an addict and for good i really believe after eight rehabilitation centers two arm surgeries he's back in the big leagues and clean and grateful yeah sure yeah let's say that yeah 92 season yeah buck showalter takes over at manager they got danny tartable who was a fucking mvp candidate for the royals and he comes over and it's 245 for us oh that made me so mad as a kid i was like finally anyway uh he has a 245 era six saves a five four uh 0.54 whip he's nasty the team's terrible 76 and 86 but he makes 700 000 jesus

november made 1.3 in two years doing great yeah on november 8th 1992 he's granted free agency yeah on december 8th 1992 signs a huge deal with the Yankees for $7 million. Holy shit. He's made it. He has made it. If he remains clean until January 25, as he previously indicated, obviously it would be his third year without drugs or alcohol. Wow.

This would be three whole years on January 25. He passed at least three urine tests each week during the season. He said he's lost count of how many urine tests he's talked about. In the final month of the season, though, he was in the press talking about how he'd become a better person, was making better choices in life. We have an in their own words.

In their own words, quote, It's funny I've come to this point because going through the first 30 days, I didn't know if I would last another minute. It's nice to be able to make choices and not have to worry about survival. I can walk around the corner and not worry about who might be around there. It's a real sense of freedom. Now, it gets a little weird, though, a little sketchy.

October 6, 91, he's contacted by the president of the drug testing agency here on, I'm sorry, that's October 30th, to arrange for some off-season testing. He said he wanted to talk to the Players Association before he agreed to be tested because he had not been tested previously in the off-season. They didn't hear back from him, so they called him again on November 22nd and arranged for a testing. He told her that his in-laws were in town and asked if they could do the testing and postpone it again, and they did postpone it again, and he was finally tested.

So he postponed it for months. But that might have just been union shit. again and they did postpone it again and he was finally tested so he postponed it for months yeah then they finally but that might have just been union shit and then they tested him on the just december 4th 6th 12th 13th 17th and 18th and he was clean on all those days okay so he's doing good december 19th 1991 he's fucking arrested oh boy he's arrested in calispell montana uh the sheriff uh said that how's arrest uh was on a charge of felony possession of cocaine. It was related to a drug bust that was outside of the town in which a whole kilo of coke, of uncut cocaine, was confiscated. And seven people were arrested.

And it's related to that. They wouldn't say specifically how Howe was alleged in that. But basically it came out later he was trying to buy coke from these guys who had all the coke. So, yeah, he's arrested on cocaine charges. He's bailed, jailed without bond, stuck in jail. Yeah, he's taken into custody in downtown Kalispell without incident and would remain pending court appearance there. Commissioner Faye Vincent of baseball, they reached him and he said, quote, he's heartbroken. I'm totally surprised and shocked.

It's really disturbing if it's true. If it's true, it's a great tragedy. No doubt. Yeah. Buck Showalter said he's actually being decent about this. He said, quote, it hasn't even crossed my mind to think about what it does to our pitching staff. I don't feel any loss in terms of pitching.

I'm just worried about him as a person. I feel for his family and what his wife and him have gone through and uh as he tries to beat this thing he's almost got seven million dollars almost he couldn't so close to celebrate what the fuck what does barb think about this barb barb barb uh she says quote you know what i think steven's problem is she called that's the first life you know what i think steven's problem is, you know what I think Steven's problem is? Everything he ever said he wanted to do, he's done. He's an ordinary kid who got everything he ever wished for. All his dreams came true and it wasn't enough.

My fuck. Fuck. She hates that kid. She's right. And she's right. The same type. I'm going to take a quick break from the show to tell you a little bit more about True Car. Truecar.com.

And now back to the show. January 1992, the team still invites him to do a promotion event for them somewhere. No idea. February 1992, federal prosecutors amend the charge to attempted possession of a dangerous drug, which is a misdemeanor. He pleads guilty in accordance with that drop there. U.S. Magistrate Bart Erickson did not accept his plea, saying that he hadn't technically been convicted yet. They're going to take the plea under advisement, and the judge is going to make sure it's a fair sentence for everybody. fair sentence for everybody.

One of Steve Howe's lawyers said that he claims that he was coerced, that Steve was coerced by federal agents into making a written statement that he was trying to buy cocaine and he was coerced into trying to buy the cocaine, too. It's not their fault. He would have never done cocaine. He would never. No. He's at three years clean. He's going to make $7.6 million.

Yeah, that's the thing. They told him, they said that they forced him into making a statement by telling him that he would lose his house and his career would be over because of the arrest. That's true, is what they did. They told him facts, and then he admitted to it. They said, you're about to fuck up. Yeah. He said they were coaching him about what to put in a statement.

That's what cops do when you make a statement. He said in a Newsday article, New York Newsday, he admitted to attempted to the charge saying that he, quote, wanted to party one last time before spring training. You fucking idiot. Yeah. A request. One of Steve Howe's lawyers requested that that statement be disallowed as evidence. And that was rejected. They said, no, no.

So anyway, yeah, it could mean a fine and all of that sort of thing. Now, he's going to use this for baseball. He wants to try to get back into baseball because they're going to suspend him again here. And he's going to try to say that he maintains that informants spent weeks trying to set him up and that he was subject of special selective prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's Office. Special. His trial is postponed from March 30th to May 5th. The Yankees still backing him. Yeah.

Gene Michael, the GM, said, quote, we backed him and he did a great job for us. I'm not disappointed that we gave him a chance. I don't know all the points of the law. Our hearts and feelings are with Steve Howie. How about the part where you're not allowed to possess cocaine? I just know when left-handers throw hard, it's good for us. That's all I know. A few days later after this, he strikes a light pole with his car and flees the scene oh boy uh he only gets 125 fine

out of this somehow wow but he strikes a light pole this car flees the scene lucky that's a deal that's a deal uh may 2nd 1992 uh they're gonna they they finally strike a plea deal on the sentencing and all this. He pleads guilty to the attempted possession charge. The judge accepts it. Baseball, he is suspended indefinitely for this, for a misdemeanor charge of trying to buy a gram of cocaine. He is suspended indefinitely. One of the Yankee general partners said, quote, we plan to talk to the commissioner and ask his reasons for the quick judgment.

It's not the club's responsibility to formulate a complaint. That would be up to Steve, but they're still going to try here. He said, I know I went out on a limb with him. I'm sorry it came down to this. They really want him back, though. They want him back. He's suspended indefinitely, though. This is suspended for life right here. This is the lifetime ban.

This is it. Suspended permanently on June 24, 1992. It's his seventh suspension. Union filed a grievance saying it was without just cause within the meaning of the basic agreement and arbitration panels. So they're saying that. August 18, 1992, he's sentenced for the cocaine possession. He is fined the minimum amount of $1,000 and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and placed on probation. That's pretty steep still.

It's pretty steep, but still a sweetheart deal here. Is it, though, 1,000 hours? Is that what you said? 100 hours. 1,000 dollars. 1,000 dollars. 100 hours. And what's the other one?

Probation. How long is the probation? Doesn't say. I'm sure it was a year or whatever the fuck it was here. For a gram? Yeah, for trying to buy a gram, basically. Still a lot. It was here.

For a gram? Yeah, for trying to buy a gram, basically. Now, as part of the defense here, they have the union asks Yankee vice president to testify on his behalf in the arbitration. And he is a former head of the DEA, former head of the Drug Enforcement Agency under Reagan and Bush, this guy. Also, Gene Michael, the general manager, and Buck Showalter, the manager, all to testify on his behalf. What ends up happening is Faye Vincent, the commissioner, hears that they're going to testify on his behalf and threaten them with suspensions for that. He said you're not allowed to testify on his behalf, which is ridiculous. Told them, quote, you have effectively resigned from baseball by agreeing to appear at that hearing.

Faye, you're a cunt. That's insane. That's some silver-haired, middle-aged asshole right there. At one point, he told Lawn, because the Lawn guy, the former DEA guy, said it's not right. He said to him, quote, you should have left your conscience and your principles outside the door. That's what Faye Vincent told this guy. So what ends up happening is the arbitrator who this all goes to ends up accusing Faye Vincent of tampering with witnesses and a grievance hearing and all sorts of shit. And this is a bunch of people who have hated Faye Vincent and the way he's handed down suspensions.

I don't disagree with Faye, but I disagree with the way he's handling it. Exactly. September 3rd, 1992, owners voted 18 to 9 to call for Vincent's resignation. Wow. Only two of the nine supporters of the commissioner, only two people supported the commissioner that didn't call for the resignation, and that was Fred Wilpon, who's the Mets' asshole piece of shit owner, and George W. Bush of the Rangers. We all know how smart he is, so there you go. November 11th, 1992, he is reinstated by a baseball arbitrator.

Great. Reinstated. They said. God, I love unions. That's amazing. Yeah, they get him back in there. How any contract he signed will include stringent drug testing. And he will be expelled for life if he tests positive or fails to attend a scheduled drug test again. There you go.

But now he's on notice at least for it. They reinstate him too with some weird things too. Like the guy, the head of the board said his decision to reinstate Howe is based largely on evidence that Howe suffers from hyperactivity that contributed to his drug dependency, he said. He said he had adult ADD. And he said there's a theory that states that cocaine addiction can be traced to a person's hyperactivity as a child. He believed that the theory applied to Howe, who was extremely hyperactive during his childhood. Or he just loved cocaine.

One of the two here. Maybe he was just predisposed to digging cocaine. Some people like cocaine. Some people are. Some people like it. I hate it. Some people are like, oh, that's the—some people, they say the first time they do it, it's like a light opens up for them. Like, that's the thing I love. There it is.

Whereas I was like, that's the worst thing in the world. God damn it. That's horrible. So, yeah, they kept him. They maintained contact with him while he was suspended. The Yankees did. They kept his locker. Yeah.

His locker for a long time for about three months until they had gerald williams come in and had to take the locker even the day he was banned for life gene michael said quote we're interested in having him as a yankee if he's allowed i know there are always problems with people involved with drugs we backed him and i'm not disappointed we did so yeah uh yeah he's the fact that he's getting right back in here he's about to come back the teammates love it they're like he's a fucking badass lefty in the bullpen. We need this guy. Rich Monteleone, who I love his name, Rich Monteleone.

That's a good one. He said, quote, I'm excited for him. I'd be even more excited if he was a part of our club again. So 93 is a 497 ERA, so it doesn't go quite as well. 58 hits in 50 innings, which isn't great. 134 whip. Team goes 88 and 74. It's the first time I've ever seen them be 500. I was so excited.

He makes $2.5 million. That's great. Yeah. March 18, 1994. Naked Gun 33 and a third comes out of the movie. Why is that relevant? Because there's a joke about Steve Howe in it. Yep. They said, somebody says to somebody, listen, you've got one last chance.

And I don't mean one, I don't mean a Major League Baseball Steve Howe last chance, like a real one. I think that's the commissioner that says that to Leslie Nielsen, right? Something like that. Yeah, I don't remember. I just remember looking it up. Now, 94 is the strike shortened season. He has a 180 ERA, so he does really well there. The Yankees

are in first place when the strike happens. My whole life I waited for them to be good. They're finally in first place and the season's fucking over. What happened? No. Now he is required. Real quickly, have you watched any of the Naked Gun movies recently? I don't remember.

They're fucking awful now. Back then they were so great. I loved them. And now they are so bad. Is Airplane good still? Airplane's still good. Okay, good. Airplane will always be good.

This is the Sucker Brothers and you never know. But it's not a fucking pop culture reference movie. That's true. That's what's so great about it. That's true. But you have OJ.

Yeah. So that's kind of funny. Yeah, that's kind of fun to watch. Every time he's on the screen you go, that guy's going to kill his wife. A lot. Hard. During the strike he on the screen, you go, that guy's going to kill his wife. A lot. Hard.

During the strike, because of his probation, he's required to maintain, quote, legitimate employment in a structured environment. Well, isn't that baseball? It strikes on. So he has to get a job. So the Yankees put him to work in the ticket office during the strike. Oh, no. Like, well, you can work here, I guess.

He makes $2.1 million, so I think he's all right with that. Highest paid ticket booth operator ever. Yeah. They would pay him, when he was doing the ticket booth, they paid him $772 a week. That's amazing. Yeah, that's what he did here. He spoke about retiring or actually crossing the picket line and becoming a replacement player if the strike didn't let up.

All right. Strike let up, lucky for him. 1995, he pitches with the Yankees again 496 era this year wow it doesn't go great and even more bad for him worse than the 496 era is in july rumors surface that he's distributing amphetamines to teammates what uh yeah that he's now a meth dealer he's now dealing well also too they the baseball players they all do the greenies before games. They all do uppers before games. So he's just selling it. Yeah, he'd make a couple extra bucks.

Nothing ever came of that, though. Team goes 79-65 in second place. They make the goddamn playoffs, finally, and playoffs to Seattle when they bring Randy Johnson in to pitch for fucking relief every goddamn game. Drive me crazy. I don't want to talk about that. He's an ugly fuck. Steve gives up two runs on four hits in one inning in the series.

So it doesn't do well there. Makes $2.3 million, though. That's great cash. November 3rd, 95, he's a free agent. February 13th, 96, he is signed by the Yankees again. 96th season is Joe Torre comes in. They fired Showalter for that fucking debacle in Seattle there. June 22nd, he is released by the Yankees though.

He had pitched in 25 games, had a 635 ERA. He made 500 grand that year. That is the year the Yankees go on to win the World Series which is awesome and a whole deal like that. It was my favorite thing ever. He was having a little less of

a good time here. So June 22nd, he's released, okay? June 23rd, the Giants agree to terms with him. The Giants are going to sign him. Everything's fine. June 24th, he's arrested at Kennedy Airport for having a loaded.357 Magnum pistol in his fucking carry-on luggage. You fucking idiot. Yeah, so he's suspended there.

Apparently, he was planning on going. How much does he hate success? He hates it. That's what I mean. He needs to fuck it up. It's the worst thing in the world to him. He's like, I have to screw this up. I really do.

Apparently, he was getting his shit from back east because they released him, and he was going to go move it back to Montana and go get some of his stuff. And the Port Authority police detected the pistol in his luggage. Yeah. Through that 357, too. It's not even a little one. Jesus Christ. If convicted, he faces up to two years, two and one third to seven years in prison. Fuck.

Yeah. He's no longer on probation, thank fuck. Yeah. But it said district attorney's office said, quote, it was x-rayed and discovered after he checked it and before he was placed in the overhead. Okay. Now, Bob Watson here, general, this is fucking hilarious. He says, they told him about his arrest now and all this type of thing.

And, you know, he kind of was like relieved that it wasn't while he was still with the Yankees. And he says, quote, I'm quite sure he knows the consequences. I'm sorry to hear that. That's not good news. As a private citizen, I wish him nothing but the best. As not a member of the Yankees, it's fine. It has nothing to do with this fuck.

Yeah. Steve House says, I may decide none of it will work out and sit out and go on from there. Like, he doesn't even say, maybe I won't even play baseball anymore. Wow. His poor, long-suffering wife, number one. Holy shit. How does she wake up every morning and go, today's going to be a great day? His kid's fucking barb has to go out every week and go, it's in the papers.

Imagine being fucking barbed. What about his dad, Virgil? It's in the papers that he's such a drunk he can't pay $84 a month in a fucking house payment. How much money's been wasted? Mexican people disappointed. The Yankees, fans, me, everybody. I feel bad for all these

people, Jimmy. So bad. But not nearly as bad as I feel for Steve Howe, U.S. chairman and America's managing partner of EY. He went to NYU. I don't either. Dr. Steve Howe. Dr. Howe has been a family practice physician in Marietta for more than 30 years.

Fucking Georgia. He has been the medical director for the PA program since 2004. Steve Howe, professor in the psychology department at the University of Cincinnati. I hope he needs to talk to the other Steve Howe and figure it out. He's rated only 3.1 out of 5 on MyProfessor, on RateMyProfessor.com here. I found one of his reviews, quote, he feels the need to brag about things and he is only appeasing to his A-plus and B-plus students. He gives a few opportunities for extra credit, but he isn't very helpful. Puts students off to the TAs. Also felt the need to mention one student's family problems in an email to the class while that student asked for a test extension.

Oh, my God. Monotone is the other one. He's an asshole. Every one of his reviews said his delivery sucks. He's very monotone. But he's never been arrested for cocaine as far as I know. And most of all, because this guy's famous, Steve Howe, who is a musician, songwriter, producer, and the guitarist for the rock band Yes. Wow.

The band Yes that's been around since the 70s. That's that guy. Wow. So if you look up Steve Howe, you get 50-50 of these two. You get their touring schedule and then this day. June 25th, next day, Giants aren't interested anymore. Shocking. Shocking.

They change their mind. I like it. November 8th, 1996, he ple interested anymore. Shocking. Shocking. They changed their mind. I like it. November 8th, 1996, he pleads guilty to gun possession and sentenced to another three years for probation and 150 hours of community service there.

So he's on probation again, so don't get caught with any coke, buddy. April 1997, signs with the Sioux Falls Canaries, an independent league from the northern league after only 12 games though he's forced to quit due to an arm injury he only had an era under two uh his career stats uh because uh this is going to be the end as we'll find out why 497 games 47 41 record 91 saves03 ERA, 606 innings

pitched, 586 hits, 328 strikeouts, 139 walks, and a 1.19 whip, which isn't bad, but his career is over because on August 19, 1997, he is critically injured in a motorcycle crash. Holy shit! He is in intensive

care with collapsed lungs, ruptured trachea, everything. What did he hit? He rolled his motorcycle. He flipped it and rolled it. He is later charged with drunk driving in connection to the accident. But charges are later dropped because the prosecutors determined that his blood test was obtained improperly. Oh, Christ.

So he gets out of that and he does not have to go. He was on probation, so that would have been bad for him. So, yeah, they dropped the charges later in 97. We have an in their own words here. In their own words, quote, for whatever reasons, holes have been dug by everybody. So what you do it, so you do what it takes to clear it. A guy asked me one time, well, how bad is the drug problem in Major League Baseball? And I go, go take a survey of your housewives, your doctors, your lawyers, your people down the street, and there you got your problem.

Really? He basically said it's the same as everywhere else. It's everybody? It's the same as everywhere else. Okay. Same amount, which is horseshit. I don't believe it. Because I've heard firsthand that in late 80s, early 90s, Coke wasn't only accepted, it was fucking

enthusiastically accepted. Dudes used to snort Coke in the clubhouse all the time. They covered for each other. They looked the other way. It wasn't a big fucking deal. It was considered getting up for the game. As long as you're not a problem, who gives a shit? Exactly.

April 1st, 1999, he is suspended as a volunteer coach for his daughter's softball team in Whitefish, Montana. Oh, that's so terrible. Yeah, he was holding religious gatherings at his home, hoping that he wanted to help coach the high school softball team. He was trying to stay out of trouble, he said. And one of the four coaches on his daughter's softball team said he couldn't do it, said he wasn't allowed to do it because he was one of the superintendents also. He said, quote, I'm kind of dumbfounded by the whole thing. Right now, a lot of damage is being done to these kids and to the program. And for what reason?

I don't know. I can fucking help you. I know things. I can help these kids. No shit. He appeals the county superintendent to overrule the ban. The county superintendent ruled that she didn't have jurisdiction because the appeal wasn't filed in the correct way. Howe and the Whitefish Softball Association appealed to the state superintendent who affirmed the original appeal had not been filed correctly and said, I can't help you anyway.

So what he does is he contacts the paper to announce, I think I'm running for mayor. What? Fuck this. I want to play softball. I want to coach softball. He was upset because the board banned him from actively coaching the softball team. They said that his example or his reputation for booze and drugs was a poor example for the girls. Yeah, maybe.

So he's going to change that by running for mayor. Yeah, so he's going to change everything. He doesn't ever run for mayor, but, you know, whatever. Cindy, her thoughts on this. Quote, I remember the first treatment program. The Dodgers had talked about some of the problems they wanted to give him help. Two things come to mind that really bother me. One is the way that whenever they mention seven-time loser Steve Howe, where did they get that number?

How did they come up with a way of describing him to everybody without even thinking? If they're talking about 82 and 83 when he was in and out of treatment, how do you say somebody's a loser because you sent them to a 28-day rehab program and expect them to be cured and then take them out early and put them in a game because you have to win the pennant? Quote, he never had sobriety. Well, I mean. So she said, you silver-haired fucks made it worse.

You fucking took him out of rehab and put him in a high-pressure environment. What do you expect? She's right, but she's wrong. She's right and she's wrong. Everyone's wrong here. Everyone's wrong. Over the next few years, Steve works in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, as a self-employed framing contractor.

Building houses. Yep. His company's name is All- Star Framing, of course. Also, later on, he owns an energy drink company. Oh, fuck. Gets into slinging energy. Just sounds like a pyramid scheme. Poor shit.

Direct marketing shit. He said his friend here said, quote, his goal was to bring an all-natural energy drink to the United States. Well, that is a lofty goal, sir, and I salute you. Wow. He moves to Valencia. You could have at minimum seven people working under you. Totally. It's going to be huge.

Huge. He moves to Valencia, California to do the energy drink thing. He moves his family there, but he has to keep going back and forth to Arizona, back and forth to Valencia to do business, because he has business in Arizona. 2005, his son Brian is a star pitcher for Valencia High. Holy shit. Look at that.

That's nice, right? So in 2005, he is arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance while he's a senior in high school. His boy was? His boy was. Well, let's listen. It's not what you think.

It's not Coke anyway. I saw that. I'm like, you've got to be fucking kidding me. It's about 9 p.m. They pulled over Brian after they witnessed him and two other people loading what appeared to be alcoholic beverages into a vehicle at the Rite Aid. This is just kid shit. During the traffic stop, deputies searched the car and found a bottle of vodka, a case

of beer, open cans of beer. Thenuties searched the car and found a bottle of vodka, a case of beer, open cans of beer. Then they searched the car further. They found a vial containing a liquid that is believed to be steroids. Oh, boy. So his kids were riding in high school. That's how he's a star. That's how he's a star. They said also two other juvenile passengers were cited for alcohol, and one had an ounce of weed on him.

Jesus Christ. So that's it here. Yeah, he's held on. What had an ounce of weed on him. Jesus Christ. So that's it here. Yeah, he's held on. What about an ounce of weed? That's a lot of weed. It's a good amount of weed. Yeah, he's having a little party.

What do you want from him? So he's held on $1,000 bail, and he gets released four hours after his arrest, that sort of thing. He refused to comment. This is so funny, because talk about shit just cycling. Yeah. to comment. This is so funny because talk about shit just cycling. Although William S. Hart Union High School District

does not have a policy for offenses that occur off-campus, spokeswoman Pat Ouellette said there could be consequences for athletes depending on agreements between players and coaches. Baseball coach Jared Snyder said how will be discipline but he wouldn't comment further. All he would say is quote, there will be very strict consequences

for this. Absolutely, there will be very strict consequences for this. Absolutely. There will be action taken. We'll put him in rehab and then take him out and then put him back in and then bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. We can fucking do this for another two and a half fucking hours. He's running laps. The saga continues, man. In 2006, he helped his team to the league championship. That was like their version of silver-haired middle-aged white man.

We'll take him back. It's the same shit, though. He's going to be disciplined. Wink wink. Get out there. Pitch a good game. Yeah exactly. So he ends up like I said pitching his team to the league championship that year. So that's fine. April 28th

2006. 5.55am. Oh boy. He's going. Steve is driving. It's so early. So early. Steve is driving from Valencia to or driving from Lake Havasu to Valencia, which is a shit drive. It's a shit drive. You need coke for that. You need lots of coke from that.

Also, it's his wife's birthday that day, April 28th, and Brian has a high school game that night he's going to go see. So he's got a lot of shit to go back for here. Got plans. Yes, he's driving on the I-10 in Coachella, near Coachella on the I-10. We've all been there. It's not all of you. Me and Jimmy have. I don't know if you've been in the West Coast of the United States very often.

So he's doing that. He's going 70 miles an hour, which is fine. It's a regular rate of speed. Don't know if he fell asleep or what happened. I assume he fell asleep. His pickup truck leaves the roll leaves the road and hits the median and rolls several times oh shit in the median he was not wearing a seat belt and he was ejected from the vehicle oh fuck and the truck landed on top of oh my god and it killed

him oh jesus pronounced dead yeah pronounced dead at the scene pronounced dead at the scene. What the fuck? Pronounced dead at the scene. Happy birthday, Cindy. Crushed by a truck. Holy shit. Happy birthday, Cindy. Happy birthday. So yeah, crushed by a truck in the median of the I-10. That's Steve Howe's. Oh my God. End of that fucking deal there. Yeah, so he's pronounced dead at the scene.

130 miles east of LA, 48 years old. That's it for Steve Howe. Crazy, right? His son Brian said, quote, I was at school, so I went home for lunch and I walked through the front door. My mom and sister were standing there just pale and had been crying. I thought my ferret escaped. That'll do it. They just broke down.

Yeah, right? They just broke down. Dad's dead. I was like, no way. I didn't believe them. I went and got my baseball stuff and went to the field. He just went to the game and played. And he actually played.

He played six innings in right field that night, and then they let him pitch an inning for his dad. Wow. They put him in the pitch and did all right pitching, too. Other people around the league, they all liked him. Vin Scully, Dodgers announcer, said it was heartbreaking. He said, quote, the thing I remember about Steve Howe is how calm he always was, how low-key he could be in pressure spots. He always seemed detached from the crowd.

I assume that's why he became so successful, because he had coke in him, too, and he was like, I'm all in my head. Mike Socha, manager, longtime manager of the Angels here, he says, I just saw Steve last winter when his son was pitching against my son. Everything was looking up for him, and he looked great. It makes you numb when you hear about a situation like this. He had a roller coaster ride. He was extremely talented, very confident on the mound, and had an incredible arm.

Obviously, he didn't reach his full potential because of other things that crept into his life. And Brian Cashman said, quote, I wish more people knew Steve how the way I knew him. His struggles in life are well documented, but he always tried to fight through them, and I will always respect that. In the next few weeks, Cindy and Brian, they say that he's been clean, he's clean, he's clean. And then the next month, toxicology reports come out and determine that he had methamphetamine in his system when he died.

The amount wasn't disclosed, but he was on meth when he died and he crashed on meth. 2006, his son Brian goes and plays at Loyola Marymount College there. September 17, 2006, the Dodgers honor the 1981 World Series champion team. Cindy, Chelsea, and Brian all attend. They have his jerseys on on the field, that sort of thing. Brutal. Brutal. They're all there mourning him.

Yeah, they say Cindy said, quote, It was hard when I first got here and saw everybody, of course. After you meet everybody, the first thing they say is, I'm sorry for your loss. It was hard to not be here with him leading us around and talking to everybody. So, yeah, it's a tough thing. Everybody's sad.

But, yeah, that's that. My Christ. Yeah, she said it'll always be a big part of our lives. We have all the memorabilia at our home. Sweet fucking Pete, man. 2008, Brian Jr. there. Brian, little Brian, goes to Montana State to pitch. 2009, Brian was 4-6 with a

4-33 ERA in 13 games. His goal is to play baseball professionally, but that doesn't look like it's about to happen. Chelsea had twins around 2009, and Cindy by then had remarried and started her own business, so she's moving on hopefully with someone who's not hardcore addicted to cocaine.

Steve was cremated, and his ashes were scattered near his home in Whitefish, Montana, which is nice. One thing he did do that was amazing is 2013, it comes out, there's an article where Mariano Rivera, the greatest fucking relief pitcher in the history of baseball, come at me if you got a fucking challenge for that. I'll throw every stat at you in the book, bitch. It's not even a question.

Not a question. He said- Enter Sandman, right? That the book, bitch. It's not even a question. Not a question! He said... Understand, man, right? That's right, man. And he was there. Rivera's... In 96, Rivera wasn't even the closer yet. He was the setup guy, and Pau helped him in the bullpen a lot. And he said, quote, Steve Howe is good to me. Steve Howe

is real good to me. Always there, making sure I was doing the right things and motivating me. Always to do the right thing and to go with everything that you have. I will never forget that. And that was 95. Now we're in 2013, and I me always to do the right thing and to go with everything that you have. I will never forget that. And that was 95. Now we're in 2013 and I'm trying to do that for the others. So he took Steve Howe's example of how to be a veteran player.

That's nice. Can't get enough of Steve Howe? Holy shit. Well, you can go to sportsmemorabilia.com and get a 1988 Donruss signed card for $28.99. Okay. An Amazon unsigned 1991 Leaf card on Amazon for $1.23 plus $3.99 shipping. eBay Canada, you get a signed baseball. The cheapest one I could find is $137.59 Canadian dollars. I don't know.

That's like $13. That's $13. Yeah, it's like $12. Who cares? Amazon.com, you can get his book, Between the Lines, on audio cassette. What? Or hardcover. They have audio cassette there, too.

I want a cassette that's signed. I want it so bad. Hardcover from $199. Yeah. And audio used from $5.95. New for only $16. What the fuck? You can get a cassette audio book of this.

Why buy it used? That's Steve Howe. Holy fucking shit. That's one of those crazy stories where I'm doing it. I'm going, shit, this is going to be as long as the Rick Bow episode because there's no way to tell that story any other way. He's a mess. It's a fucking lifetime of disaster. You can't tell it any other way.

He doesn't quit. He does not quit. He found the solution to drug addiction. It's a rollover, and I have to unpick a truck. Have a truck land on you. This is fucking crazy. What the fuck? Steve Howe, Dick Moss, everybody's here today, guys.

It's a crazy-ass episode of Crime and Sports. Hope you enjoyed Steve Howe. If you did, you can show us how much you love us by going on iTunes, giving us five stars. It doesn't matter what you say. Say you're following instructions, following directions. Say Dick Moss. Say Dick Moss. You want to follow the show, we're at Crime and Sports on Instagram, at Crime and Sports on Twitter.

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Come to the live show. Laugh Boston. February the 18th at 4 p.m. That said, guys, we have got a long list, a wonderful list of incredible, life-saving, awesome producers. Jimmy, why don't you hit us with that list right now? Our executive producers every week, it seems like, happen to be Chrissy Ann Costaldi and Jess Landgren. Thank you both very, very much for everything you do for us. We can't thank you enough. A.R. Muir, M-U-I-R.

That fucking ruins me. I'm not sure. Maydoc Matthews, Lisa Warren, Jolie Vrabel, who I pray to Christ is the wife or sister of Mike. I was going to say, Mike Vrabel? I want her to be related to him. I've never heard the name Vrabel ever.

Other than Jolie Vrabel and the linebacker. I want them to be related for sure. Jared Crooks, Jillian Shannon, Sabrina McGill, David Yachiu. Bless you. You betcha. Louise, Deidre. She doesn't have a last name, Louise.

It's just Madonna's sister, Louise. I'm not sure. Deidre Easter or Deidre? Deidre. Deidre. Deidre Easter. Or Deidre. Deidre. Deidre. Deidre Easter. Let's go Deidre. Yeah. Jordan Rohrdy.

Tyler Frazier. Joseph Trumbauer. Trumbauer. That's for sure. Jasmine Veal. You got that right. Anthony Perez. Ricky Dixon.

That is a tough name. Yeah. Ricky Dixon sounds like a linebacker. I'm pretty sure that's a woman as well because it's two Ks and an I in Ricky. Ricky, you're bad. Appreciate you, Ricky. You're bad, Ricky Dixon sounds like a linebacker. I'm pretty sure that's a woman as well because it's two Ks and an I in Ricky. Ricky, you're bad. Appreciate you, Ricky. You're bad, Ricky. Nicole Rose, Benito Martinez, Christina Hambleton, Senga Robertson-Alberton.

That's a good one. Oh, wow. That's a name right there. She's a podcaster, I believe, Senga. Is she? Good for her. Thank you, Senga. Bolt Speedman Jr.

I like that one a lot. That's a good one. Bolt Speed, just names, just words. Bolt Speedman Jr. I like that one a lot. Bolt Speed, just names, just words. Bolt Speedman. You better be a runner, motherfucker, or a driver or something. Or something, or a superhero. Or a fucking cartoon character. Crystal Gennaro, Jessica Bretain, Connie and Sean Young.

Thank you both. Thank you. Laura Castorena, Andrena? Andreana. That's it. Adriana. There we go. It's Adriana or Adreana. That's the one.

I don't know. Lipparelli. Something like that. Adriana Lipparelli, I'm sure. Scott Harrigan with a K. I've never seen Scott spelled with a K ever, and it threw me. I was like, Scott? What the?

Me neither. That's got to be Scott, right? S-K-O-T? I would think so. Or Scott. i'm not sure shit i don't know skip spelled wrong what is he doing i'm amy pohanik in denver sent us a uh a keon clark uh picture today thank you i appreciate it uh biggest dickus nope that's not a real name no that is not a real name but i one's mother named him that. But I really like what you're doing, Biggis. That's fantastic. And if it is your real name, that is fucking brutal.

And you've gone through it. I'm sorry. You poor bastard. Hannah Risley, Matthew Vandiford, Daniel Martin, Colleen McDonough. Colleen McDonough. Colleen McDonough. There's no... You really?

I'm being very specific with that. You really want to hone in on that. I'm trying. Or McDonough. There's no... You really? I'm being very specific with that. You really want to hone in on that. I'm trying. Or McDonough? McDonough. McDonough. That's probably what it is. You're right.

That's absolutely it. It's McDonough. Amanda DeLong. Donald S. Trumpkins. That's not real. No. No way that's real, right? No.

Donald S. Trumpkins. I would say no. No. I'm going to go with no on that one. Sammy Curtis. Aaron Sayre. Michelle Gerber Anderson. Donald S. Trumpkins. I would say no. No. I'm going to go with no on that one. Sammy Curtis. Aaron Sayre. Michelle Gerber Anderson. Heidi Nico.

Scott Unruh. Unruh. Unruh. U-N-R-U-H. Have we done that before? I think it's Unruh. Probably. I don't know.

Victoria Steen. Christina Rush. No, Christine Rush. Sorry, Christine. Robin Francis. Zach Oberg and his pup, Lundy. They are fantastic, by the way, and that dog is fucking amazing. Sweet.

Xander Myers. Greg Nelly. Pamela Swan. No, Sloan. That, by the way, Pamela Sloan is the original Pamela. That's Pamela? Yeah. Hi, Pamela.

Thank you, Pamela. Appreciate you. Thank you, Pamela. Make everyone call you Pamela now, please. No, no. It's not Pamela. It's Pamela. Pamela, thank you.

Tamara Struminger. Mary Fowles. She donated twice. Thank you, please. No, no, it's not Pamela. It's Pamela. Thank you. Tamara Struminger. Mary Fowles. She donated twice. Thank you, Mary. Thanks, Mary. Lindsay Lowe. Marinda Lynch. Genevieve Lynch, which, wow, two Lynches in a row.

I'm not sure why that. That's probably just a coincidence. Common name. But seeing a Genevieve Lynch donate to us feels great because there is a woman named Genevieve that I love. Allison Barnett. Marielle Rosas, Mariella Rosas, Molly Kaiser, Molly Kaiser. That's it. Jennifer Provan, Madeline Lambert, Lamblet, Lamblet. God damn it. I was going to try to blaze through them. Tom Blake, Don Halloways, Elizabeth Vane, Ventini, Vetni, Vetni, Elizabeth Vetni, Ben Medlin, Tracy D'Aminato, Anthony Kaiser, Marjolein Spitzy, Guy Rilelli. No, Guy Rilell.

Rilell. Riel. Fuck. Rilou. Rilou. That's a U, not two L's. Fiona Bell, Karis Hunt, Melissa Allen, so thoughtful. Thank you so much, Melissa.

Sonia, Sonia, Sonia Petraschik, Petraschik, Petraschik, Petraschik. Oh, my. Yeah, I'm not sure. Thank you both. You both were very sweet of you. Thank you. Mariah Ruiz, Maria Ruiz. What the fuck?

Maria Ruiz. Maria Ruiz. You turned Maria into Mariah? I don'tiz. Maria Ruiz. What the fuck? Maria Ruiz. Maria turned Maria into Mariah. I don't know. Tony Clemente. Is that real? Tony Clemente? Wasn't that a baseball player? That's Roberto Clemente you're thinking of. You're right. I don't know what I'm doing.

Kelly McLaughlin. Thank you so much, Kelly. That was very nice of you. Ted Cyrus. Janet Holm. Opti- cynicism blog? I don't know. I don't know. Check it out Jen at home. Opticinicism blog. I don't know. I don't know. Check it out.

Find the Opticinicism blog and read that and find out if it's really great. I'm sure it is. Fallon Ray Art. She makes art, I imagine, Fallon Ray. So find her as well. Emmy Dumont-Guthier. Faith Shia... Shit.

Shia Ravalo. Shia Ravalo. Shia Ravalo. Faith Shia... Shia...olo. Faith Shirovolo. Shirovolo. Yep. Shirovolo. Shirovolo.

Kara Flack. Thank you, Kara, for having an easy name. Anthony Collier. James Cook. Mary Tozon. Stacey Huffaker. Again. Oh, yeah.

They're awesome. They're awesome. Yeah, those are awesome. Thank you. We get them now, and they're so funny. Kathleen Thill. Super involved lately. Oh, she's great. Thank you. She donated twice also this week. Yeah, thanks a lot. Thank you, Kathleen. Those are awesome. We get them now, and they're so funny. Kathleen Thill is super involved lately. Oh, she's great.

Thank you. She donated twice also this week. Yeah, thanks a lot. Thank you, Kathleen. She's really cool. Josh Cole. Twix to Sarah, too. Yeah, she did.

Great. Thank you. She's fantastic. Benito Martinez. I think I said that one twice, too. I don't know. It's an ethnic name, and I'm not good at this. You're very lucky I pronounced that right.

Andrew Jackson over here. Yeah. I'm not going to pronounce it right. Seth Kuhl. Michelle Jolly is in a store. He refuses to read the name of an asian by the way just refuses flat out if he sees like like ron kim he's not reading that it's not coming through he's like sorry for you sorry pacific rim we'll take your money but we're

not fucking reading shit michelle jolly in australia thank you so much clifford paquette cast uh candace horner uh cat oyala over in she's's terrific. Thank you, Kat. Hannah Higgins, Catherine Earl Mahoney. Thank you so much. That was very nice. Pauline Kiriakos, Nason. No, Nason. What? That's Nicole Jason. What am I doing? Matthew Vanderford, Amanda Hostland. Thank you so much. Julia Wheeling, Talioza Stevens. Is that what I did there? I don't know what I did. I wrote that.

Taliza. Oh, it's a C. T-A-L-I-C-Z-A. I dare you. Taliza? Is that it? I don't know. Ted Ninkovich, Tamisha Dorico, Jedediah Suntimer, Jordan Cheeseman, Jennifer Ewart, Maeve Burke, James Graben, Ingrid Stoke over in Norway, Krista Fleischer, Adam Davies, Iris Price, I was rice, I was right, Aaron

Sayer, Tanner Dick or Dyke. I don't know what I'm doing. Timothy Young, Victoria Steen, Kevin Teitelbaum, Elizabeth Payette, Sarah Gilbo. She's terrific, by the way. Thank you so much, Sarah. She's been around for a long time with us. She donates so many times, too. She's the best.

Sarah, you're terrific. Justine Desilich, Amanda Campbell, Behavior Resource LLC. I'm not sure what that is. Give them your money. Buy something. Give them some business. Buy some behavior research. Find out about Behavior Resources.

Matthew Miller, Sandy Yu. There's the Asian one. Iona Nelson. Thank you, Iona. Josh Cole, Autumn Allen, Mariah. God damn, Iona. Josh Cole. Autumn Allen. Mariah. God damn it. Mariah Menhir.

I see your name all the time. Mariah Menhir. Thank you. Big homie Dana Grayson also. And Kevin Wagner. The guy who sends snail mail money. Love it. It's the funniest donation ever.

We love it, dude. Thank you, man. We get to the studio and there's an envelope with cash in it. It's so cool. And it's hysterical. And a little note. We appreciate it, dude. You trust him so much. Thank you's hysterical. And a little note. We appreciate it, dude. You trust him so much. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You guys are amazing. You're amazing. We don't even know what to say. Honestly, we don't know what to say. We want to hug all of you, but we don't have enough arms.

Let's just say that. Show up to a live show and we will. We will hug you at a live show. Absolutely. We'll do that. And for no extra money. Nothing. Because we're not prostitutes. You get nothing. You get nothing. But a hug. We'll give you a live show. Absolutely. We'll do that. And for no extra money. Nothing. Because we're not prostitutes. You get nothing.

You get nothing. But a hug. We'll give you a nice hug. And what if one of these people wanted to tell you that they wanted to give you a hug? How could they get a hold of a guy like you? You can find me at whismansucks, W-H-I-S-M-A-N sucks on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Tweet me and tell me that you enjoy Dick Moss. Dick Moss.

And you can find me at Jimmy P is funny. Or you can find me at JimmyPIsFunny, or you can try and spell my last name. Good luck with that. Just copy and paste it from the show description. Don't be a hero. Guys, guys, guys, guys. Thank you so much.

That's Steve Howe. Thank you so much for everything. That is Crime and Sports for this week. Hope you had fun. More craziness coming next week. Next week. As always, live from the Crime and Sports studios, we will see you next week. Bye.

Bye. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Crime and Sports early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.