Yer Out!

Baseball's drug suspensions

In the stiffest ruling of his 15-year watch, lame-duck Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn last week suspended four admitted drug offenders for one year: Star Outfielder Willie Wilson, First Baseman Willie Aikens and recently released Utility Man Jerry Martin, all of whom played last season for the Kansas City Royals, and Los Angeles Dodgers Relief Pitcher Steve Howe. The first three have pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine (Wilson and Martin have begun serving the unsuspended three-month portion of their one-year prison terms), and Howe has been in and out of several drug-treatment programs under the aegis of the Dodgers. According to the commissioner, three tests administered to Howe last month "returned positive results for cocaine use." Kuhn says bravely, "As a sport, we have been very fortunate that the problems with illegal drugs have not been epidemic." But the impression of the sports pages is otherwise. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.