Background
Steve Olin was born on October 4, 1965 in Portland, Oregon, and grew up in nearby Beaverton.
Steve Olin was born on October 4, 1965 in Portland, Oregon, and grew up in nearby Beaverton.
He graduated from Beaverton High School in 1984, and was recruited by baseball coach Jack Dunn to attend Portland State University.
Olin was a right-handed submarining relief pitcher for the Cleveland Indians from 1988 to 1992. Olin died in a 1993 boating accident while still an active MLB player. Noteworthy, as that was the game in which Robin Yount recorded his 3,000th career hit, though fellow pitcher José Mesa actually gave up the hit earlier in the game.
Olin was killed in a boating accident during spring training of 1993 on Little Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida.
The boat he was in struck a pier, killing him and fellow reliever Tim Crews and seriously injuring Bob Ojeda. Crews, who was piloting the boat, was legally drunk at the time.
Olin and Ojeda only had negligible traces of alcohol in their bodies. lieutenant was the first death of active major league players since Thurman Munson in 1979.
In response to the accident that took Olin and Crews in 1993, the Indians wore a patch on the sleeves of their jerseys.
lieutenant consisted of a baseball with their numbers on lieutenant Olin"s #31 is on the left, with an arrow above. Crews" #52 is on the right, with a star above lieutenant
The Beatles song "Yellow Submarine" has a unique meaning in Cleveland, since it was played before each of submariner Olin"s appearances for the Indians in home games.
Another song remembered by Cleveland locals is "The Dance" by Garth Brooks. The song, a favorite of Olin, was played when the Indians clinched the 1995 American League Central Division.
Before the game, then manager Mike Hargrove phoned the Indians scoreboard room requesting that it be played when the Indians clinched. "I thought it would mean a lot to anyone who was there (with the Indians at the time of the accident)", said Hargrove.
"Foreign those who weren"t there it had no significance, but it was still a good song.
lieutenant was a tribute to those guys, to their families. lieutenant was part of our promise to never forget them. We didn"t tell anyone that we were going to do lieutenant
Foreign those who knew, there wasn"t a dry eye to be seen.
I saw Charlie Nagy; tears were rolling down his face.".