Crews Also Dies of Injuries : Aftermath: Pitcher was driving boat that rammed into Florida dock, killing Olin and injuring Ojeda. Beer and vodka found aboard.

Tim Crews, one of the most popular Dodgers among his teammates during his six seasons there, died early Tuesday morning after being hospitalized for head and lung injuries, becoming the second victim to die in the boating accident that instantly claimed the life of 27-year-old Steve Olin. Crews was 31.

Bob Ojeda, who was the third passenger in the boat, underwent surgery late Monday night for a severe head laceration and is listed in serious but stable condition at South Lake Memorial Hospital here. He is expected to fully recover.

Crews and Ojeda, who pitched for the Dodgers last season, were signed as free agents over the winter by the Cleveland Indians. Olin was the Indians’ top relief pitcher. Monday was the club’s only day off during spring training, and Crews had invited a few teammates and friends to enjoy it at his new sprawling home that borders Little Lake Nellie.

But a day that began with horseback riding ended in tragedy when Crews, driving his 18-foot fiberglass Skeeter boat back to shore to pick up a couple of friends, hit a dock landing. The boat actually went under the landing, but the players suffered fatal and severe head injuries when their heads hit the landing overhang.

The actual cause of the accident won’t be known for a few weeks. An autopsy was performed Tuesday on Olin and another will be done on Crews today to determine the causes of death and if either Crews or Olin had been drinking.

Several Florida television stations reported Tuesday night that one unidentified player had a blood-alcohol level of .17. “We haven’t released any of that information at this time,” said Cheryl Strouse, a spokesperson for the Florida Fresh Water Fish and Game Commission. “If it did get out, it was premature.”

In Florida, a blood-alcohol level of .10 is considered legally drunk. The limit is the same for both cars and boats.

Lt. Bruce Cooper, fatality investigator with the fish and game commission, said investigators found six full beer cans in an ice chest and a liter of vodka almost full. One empty beer can was also found on the boat.

John Hart, the Cleveland Indians’ general manager, said he asked the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Fernando Montes, who was at the house and one of the first at the scene, if the players were drunk. “He assured me that was not the case,” Hart said.

It is not known how long the players had been fishing, but Perry Brigmond, who was waiting on shore with Montes for Crews to pick him up, estimates the players were on the lake anywhere from five to 30 minutes. Brigmond said the players had just finished dinner and had headed out on the lake shortly before he arrived at Crews’ home, about 7:15 p.m. EST. The accident was first reported at 7:52 p.m.

Among the first to reach the players was neighbor Al Morgan, who said that Ojeda was asking about his friends.

“He (Ojeda) wanted to know why Mr. Olin wasn’t moving around,” Morgan said. “They reassured him (Olin) was doing fine and told him, ‘We need to get you patched up and to the hospital.’ ”

Ojeda, who was alert and talked with a few teammates Tuesday, is considered to be the only witness to the accident. Cooper spoke with him briefly at the hospital.

Cooper said that Ojeda told him that Crews was driving and sitting on the right side of the boat, Olin was in the middle and Ojeda on the left. Had the boat been about five feet to the left, it would have missed the dock entirely. Crews was shielded in part by a windshield, but Olin and Ojeda had no protection. Olin was struck in the neck and Ojeda and Crews above their eyes.

Ojeda, who spoke with former New York Met teammate John Franco by phone Tuesday, told him that if he been sitting a couple inches higher, he would also be dead.

Cooper also said that the boat was found at “near-full throttle.” But the boat traveled only about 80 yards before it hit the dock, and both the boat and dock suffered minimal damage.

The boat, equipped with a 150-horsepower engine, can reach speeds of 60 m.p.h. An Associated Press reporter who saw the boat after it was impounded Monday night said that the boat appeared to have little damage and the speedometer was stuck at 39 m.p.h.

Cliff Shelby, a spokesman for Ranger Boats, said that a collision at 40 m.p.h. would make a typical boat “fly apart.” He also said that a collision at 5 or 10 m.p.h. could be potentially fatal “because there is no protection in a boat.”

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said he first got a call from former Dodger infielder Dave Anderson at about 1 a.m. Tuesday, telling him about the accident and asking him if Crews’ wife, Laurie, could call him. Laurie called Lasorda later that night from Orlando Regional Medical Center, where Crews had been airlifted after the accident.

“She said it didn’t look good and I tried to reassure her and told her I hope things improved,” Lasorda said.

At about 6 a.m., Lasorda said he got the call that Crews had died. When he called Laurie a few hours later, she asked him to please talk to her oldest son, Shawn, who is 5.

“I tried to tell Shawn that God had taken his father and that his mother, sister and brother were very sad about it,” Lasorda said. “I told him that he had to be strong and help his mother when he saw her cry and that he had to be kind to his sister and brother. It was difficult, but I talked to him like he was 14, not 5, and I think he understood.”

As word spread among the Cleveland players, they began seeking one another, most of them meeting about 3 a.m. at the Holiday Inn, where many of the players are staying. Shortly after dawn, Indian Manager Mike Hargrove and Hart met with the ballplayers at the clubhouse. It was a meeting filled with emotion. Some players spoke. Most were too stunned.

In addition to Olin’s relief role, Crews was a strong candidate for a bullpen job and Ojeda was expected to be in the rotation.

The Indians canceled Tuesday’s and today’s exhibition games, but plan to practice today. Acting commissioner Bud Selig, of the Milwaukee Brewers, asked all teams to fly their flags at half-staff for two days and observe a moment of silence before each game.

A memorial service for players and families will be held in Winter Haven tonight. Andre Thornton, a former Cleveland player who is a minister, will conduct the service.

When Dodger reliever Roger McDowell heard about the accident, he drove to the hospital and spent all day Tuesday with Ojeda.

For Dodger players, coaches and club officials, the death of Crews hit hard.

“Tim was one of the most popular players we have ever had and the thing I’ll always remember about him is that he enjoyed everything he did,” said Fred Claire, the Dodgers’ executive vice president. “Whether it was starting or relieving he never refused to take the ball. And he was always talking about fishing. I think that and his family were what Tim was all about. It’s a tragedy.”

In November, the Dodgers offered Crews to their triple-A club in Albuquerque, but Claire said the club was never trying to get Crews to go there. “He felt he could still pitch in the big leagues and we thought so too, “ Claire said. “But we were going to change the structure of our bullpen and Tim anticipated it. He came to me during the last series of the season and said no matter what happened he really enjoyed being with the Dodgers.”

Lasorda said Crews did whatever he asked him to do. “He did a terrific job for us as a set-up or middle man, but last year I had to take him out of his element when Jay Howell got hurt,” Lasorda said.

“He was one of the most self-confident players I’ve known. His wife was pregnant during his first spring with us and he came to me and said, ‘When she has the baby I’ll only be away for a day.’ It was as if he thought he was going to be the closer and the club couldn’t afford to have him away more than a day.

“The saddest part is that both Tim and Steve have three young children that have to come to grips with it,” Lasorda said. “I met Steve Olin a few months ago at a banquet in Portland, and he introduced me to his wife and said he really felt that he had come into his own last year and was looking forward to this season.”

News of the players’ deaths had quickly spread to all baseball camps.

In Tempe, Ariz., Angel starter John Farrell, who spent eight years in the Indians’ organization, said he still was in shock Tuesday morning. He had spent an afternoon with Olin before spring training, remembering Olin’s excitement about the new custom home that they were supposed to move into next month.

“It’s hard to believe that I’m talking to him one day,” Farrell said, “and the next day he’s gone. I’m still in shock. He seemed like he had everything going for him. His career was starting to blossom. And now this.”

Angel reliever Chuck Crim talked about the days he fished with Crews, even persuading Crews to buy the boat that was used in the accident. “We were fishing fanatics when we played together,” Crim said of Crews. “My God, I was the one who told him to get that Skeeter bass boat. Now, he’s dead. That’s tough to deal with.”

Crews was invited to Indian camp as a nonroster player. Last season with the Dodgers, he was 0-3 with a 5.19 earned-run average in 49 games. Olin came up in the Indian organization in 1989 and became the stopper last season with 29 saves, an 8-5 record and a 2.34 ERA.

Ojeda joined the Indians after a 6-9 record and 3.63 ERA.

Crews is survived by his wife and children, Tricia, 9, Shawn, 5, and Travis, 2. Olin is survived by his wife, Patti, and children, Alexa, 3, and twins Garrett and Kaylee, 6 months.

Times staff writers Ross Newhan, Bob Nightengale and the Associated Press contributed to this story.