March 22, 1993: The Crash On Little Lake Nellie

Steve Olin

March 22, 1993, 30 years ago: The Cleveland Indians are struck by tragedy, when a boating accident kills two of their pitchers, and badly injures a third.

Steve Olin, a 27-year-old native of Portland, Oregon, reached the Indians in the 1989 season. In 1991, he went 3-6 with 17 saves. In 1992, he went 8-5 with 29 saves. He looked like a star in the making, part of the Indians' plan to contend for a title by the time they moved out of Cleveland Municipal Stadium and into the new Jacobs Field for the 1994 season. (It was renamed Progressive Field in 2008.)

Tim Crews, 31, from Tampa, had reached the majors with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1987. He was a middle reliever, with a career record of 11-13, and 15 saves, peaking at 6 in 1991.

Bob Ojeda, 35, was from Visalia, California, and had helped the New York Mets win the 1986 World Series. An elbow injury the next season curtailed his career, and the Mets traded him to the Dodgers for the 1991 season. He went 12-9, but fell to 6-9 in 1992. After that season, both he and Crews were free agents, and both signed with the Indians.

Olin, Crews and Ojeda reported to Spring Training in Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Florida, after having trained in Tucson, Arizona since 1947. March 22 was an off-day, and the 3 pitchers decided to take a boat ride on Little Lake Nellie in nearby Clermont.

Crews piloted the boat. All 3 men had been drinking. Crews' blood alcohol level was found to be 0.14, or 0.04 over the legal limit. It was getting dark, and the boat struck a pier that jutted out into the lake. Olin was killed instantly. Crews died the next day.

Ojeda sustained lacerations to his head, and admitted he had been slouching at the time of impact, which probably saved his life. But his psychological issues were greater than his physical ones, and he didn't make his 1st appearance of the season until August 7.

In a pregame ceremony on Opening Day, April 5, 1993, at Municipal Stadium, Patti Olin and Lori Crews were presented with their husbands' jerseys. The Cleveland players took the field wearing patches with Olin's Number 31 and Crews' Number 52 on them. They lost the opener to the New York Yankees, and never really recovered from losing one-third of their pitching staff in one fell swoop. They went 76-86, finishing in 6th place in the American League Eastern Division.

Although Crews had chosen to sign with another team, the Dodgers also wore patches with a Number 52 on them. Later in the season, Dodger Hall-of-Famers Don Drysdale and Roy Campanella also died.

After the 1993 season, the Indians lost another pitcher: Cliff Young was killed in a car crash in his native Houston suburbs. He was only 29.

Cliff Young, from earlier in his career,

with the California Angels

Ojeda made 9 appearances for the Indians in 1993, and 2 more for the Yankees in 1994, before he finally accepted that his injuries were too much to overcome, and retired, with a career record of 115-98. He has since served as a pitching coach in the Mets' organization, and as an analyst for their network, Sportsnet New York.

The Indians won the American League Pennant in 1995, their 1st in 41 years. They lost the World Series to the Atlanta Braves. The won another Pennant in 1997, but lost the World Series in 7 games to the Florida Marlins, because their top reliever, Jose Mesa, turned out to be unreliable. Steve Olin would have been a few days past his 32nd birthday, and probably at his peak. But he was unavailable, for the worst of reasons. The Indians also won American League Central Division titles in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2001. They won the Division again in 2007. Olin would have been 42, and, theoretically, could still have contributed to the Indians' postseason effort.

In 2009, the Indians left Winter Haven, and began training in Arizona again, at Goodyear Ballpark in the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear. (It's named for the town, not the tire company.) In 2010, they began sharing it with Ohio's other Major League Baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds. In 2022, the Indians became the Cleveland Guardians.