Jim Brewer, Ex-Dodger Reliever, Dies From Injuries in Head-On Crash

Jim Brewer, the former Dodger relief pitcher who was the team’s all-time saves leader, died Monday from injuries received in a head-on collision in a small Texas town near the Louisiana border.

Brewer died at Medical Center Hospital in Tyler, Tex., two days after his 50th birthday.

According to a preliminary report from the highway patrol in Tyler, Brewer and another driver, John Stanners of Marshall, Tex., were driving in opposite directions on U.S. Highway 59, about 10 miles south of Carthage. A highway patrol spokesman said the cars hit head-on, but he had no further details about the accident, which occurred at 10:30 a.m. Central Time.

Tornadoes hit the Tyler area Sunday, and the patrolman said at least 10 inches of rain had fallen overnight. The spokesman said the road conditions were quite wet.

Brewer was first taken to a small local hospital and transferred to the Tyler hospital at 3 p.m. He was pronounced dead at 6 p.m. Stanners was taken to Memorial Hospital in Shelby, Tex., where Monday night a nursing supervisor reported he was in stable condition with chest injuries.

Brewers’ wife and his three children chartered a plane from Tulsa and flew to Tyler Monday night.

Jim Drysdale, Brewer’s brother-in-law, said in a phone interview from Brewers’ home in Broken Arrow, Okla., that Brewer had been on his way to a baseball clinic in Louisiana. “It was a favor for an old friend, Mike Boulanger, the former baseball coach at Oklahoma University,” Drysdale said.

Boulanger is coaching at Southwest Louisiana in Lafayette, where the clinic is to be held. Drysdale said the drive would have taken about 11 hours and Brewer, an avid fisherman, told him he’d planned to “stop at some of those fine bass lakes in the area.”

Brewer was less than 200 miles from Lafayette when the accident occurred.

Brewer was born in Merced, Calif., and began his major league career in 1960 with the Chicago Cubs. Four years later, he joined the Dodgers as a reliever. He had 125 saves with the Dodgers. Only Don Sutton and Don Drysdale pitched more games for the club.

Brewer had a record of 69-65 and a 3.07 earned-run average in his 17 years in the majors. He had 20 or more saves in a season four times and averaged 7 wins and 20 saves a season from 1969 through 1973. Brewer ended his career with the Angels in 1976. He appeared in three World Series and one All-Star game.

Brewer served as pitching coach at Oral Roberts in Tulsa and also at Northwestern. He rejoined the Dodgers this year as pitching coach for their Great Falls, Mont., team in the Pioneer (Rookie) League.

Brewer had just returned to Broken Arrow last Monday from a stint as a pitching instructor in the Arizona Instructional League in Mesa. Brewer and his family had been living in the Tulsa suburb for a number of years, where he was active in local charities. Drysdale said Brewer and his wife, Patricia, had been looking forward to spending more time at the family’s weekend home.

“He planned to do a lot of fishing,” Drysdale said.

Brewer is survived by his wife, and children Mark, Scott and Shanan. Funeral arrangements are pending.