MMO Exclusive: John Olerud, The Quiet Star

In the ’90s, Major League Baseball was dominated by luminary power hitters, such as Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Albert Belle. Fans were enthralled with the enticing numbers being produced, with larger-than-life personalities regularly receiving the spotlight and fanfare.

For all of their rightful attention, players who produced in other ways, and perhaps in a quieter fashion, had gone more unnoticed.

John Olerud is a prime example.

Drafted in the third round of the 1989 MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays after excelling as a two-way player at Washington State University, Olerud bypassed the minor leagues and immediately made his mark at the big league level.

In his rookie season in 1990, Olerud posted a 122 wRC+ over 421 plate appearances, finishing fourth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.

Three years later, Olerud had his breakout season. He won the American League batting title with a .363 average while leading all of baseball in on-base percentage (.473) in his age-24 season. Olerud became the youngest player to record 80+ extra-base hits and 100+ walks in a season since Reggie Jackson in 1969.

The lefty-hitting first baseman spent his first eight seasons with Toronto before a trade sent him to the New York Mets in December 1996. Switching leagues and countries, Olerud made a seamless transition with the Mets. Olerud played in 154 games in 1997 and posted a 135 OPS+ (his highest mark since the ’93 season) with 22 home runs and 102 RBI.

While Olerud’s first year with the club was successful, he followed that up with one of the greatest seasons in franchise history in 1998.

Olerud played in 160 games and produced a .354 average, a .447 on-base percentage and 8.1 fWAR. He owns the club’s single-season record in average, on-base percentage and wRC+ (167). His 8.1 fWAR is the second-highest mark by a Mets position player, behind David Wright’s 2007 season (8.4).

His final season with the Mets in 1999 was another strong campaign. Olerud posted a .427 on-base percentage and 129 OPS+ in 162 regular season games. Olerud set yet another single-season club record in ’99 with 125 walks, and is the only Met to record triple-digit walks in a season.

In the ’99 postseason, Olerud hit .349 and posted a .975 OPS with three home runs and 12 RBI. Olerud owns the 8th-highest single-season postseason OPS in Mets history (min. 40 PA), and is tied with Curtis Granderson‘s 2015 postseason for the second-most RBI (12).

When viewing Olerud’s total contributions in the nineties, he owns the seventh-highest on-base percentage (.406) and tied with three other players (Rafael Palmeiro, Tim Salmon and Fred McGriff) for the 11th-highest wRC+ (136) among 102 players with at least 4,000 plate appearances.

Among that group, Olerud is one of five players who posted a .300 or better batting average and a .400 or better on-base percentage during that span, along with Edgar Martínez, Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell and Bonds.

The three-time Gold Glove winner, who famously wore a helmet in the field due to a near-fatal brain aneurysm in college, played in his final major league game as a member of the Boston Red Sox in 2005. For his career, Olerud collected 500 doubles and 255 home runs, with a career slash line of .295/.398/.465. Olerud’s career 57.3 fWAR is better than Hall of Famers Fred McGriff (56.9), Todd Helton (54.9) and Orlando Cepeda (50.3). Somehow, Olerud only lasted one year on the Hall of Fame ballot.

Since retiring from the game, Olerud, 56, has kept busy raising a family and taking care of his daughter, Jordan, who was born in 2000 with a syndrome called tri-some 2p, 5p-, which meant she had an extra second chromosome and was missing part of her fifth chromosome. Olerud and his wife, Kelly, started a foundation in their daughter’s name in 2003 to provide support to children with special needs and their families. ​ Sadly, Jordan Olerud passed away in 2020 at the young age of 19.

Olerud’s on-base prowess, defensive acumen and professionalism made him an easy fan favorite wherever he played.

I had the privilege of speaking with Olerud by phone, where we discussed his dad’s influence, his two-way play in college and time with the Mets.

MMO: Who were some of your favorite players growing up?

Olerud: Being a left-handed kid who pitched and hit, I tended to like left-handed players. I was a George Brett fan. Charley Lau and The Art of Hitting .300 was a book that I read and really liked. He (Brett) was a third baseman, but I watched him.

Don Mattingly was the guy that I always looked up to. Just a great hitter and defensive player. Nolan Ryan was a guy who was always super impressive as a young kid watching him.

My dad also played some minor league baseball, so it was always fun watching the game with him. He was always able to make it fun.

I remember him telling me to watch Jim Rice and how he would use his hands and rock his hands back and get ready to hit. He was kind of playing manager. What do you do in this situation? Do you think they’re going to try and have the guy steal? Do you think they’re going to bunt him over or do a hit-and-run? What would you do?

MMO: Your dad seemed to be very influential in your early development.

Olerud: He was a catcher, so he would work with me on my pitching and also my hitting and swing. He was very influential.

I remember a time when I was in Little League, and I was pitching, and we were working on the changeup. When we got into a game, we got into a situation where I was up against a tough hitter, and my dad called for me to throw a changeup. I remember thinking, That’s the stupidest thing in the world. This guy is a really good hitter. Why on earth would I throw it slower to this guy? 

I’m shaking off my dad as a Little League player because I didn’t want to throw it. And he made me. So in my head, I’m thinking, All right, I’m going to show him what a dumb pitch this is. I’m going to throw it right down the middle of the plate, and this guy’s going to hit it a mile. And I’m going to be able to tell my dad he was wrong. The guy was way out in front of the pitch. He looked foolish swinging, and I couldn’t believe it. I almost started laughing on the mound that it worked. So then it was like, Let’s throw that again! That was awesome. And he went, “No, no, it doesn’t work that way.”

That was when I was like, Wow, he knows what he’s talking about.

MMO: You have to listen to Dad.

Olerud: Listen to Dad; he knows what he’s talking about. I was super fortunate that he was able to coach me. He always offered great advice and good instruction.

MMO: Your two-way play in college is the stuff of legend, so much so that the College Baseball Foundation created an annual award in your name. Can you talk about your time on the mound, and what pitches you threw?

Olerud: As I was growing up, my dad didn’t want me throwing a curveball because he wanted to protect my arm and didn’t want any twisting or possibility of hurting my arm by throwing it incorrectly. I was mainly a fastball/changeup pitcher growing up.

He taught me how to throw a knuckleball. It wasn’t very good, but it was something different. When I got to college and was able to start throwing a slider and a curveball, my best pitches were still a fastball and changeup. My slider was probably my third-best pitch, and my curveball I just couldn’t get a good feel for. I was mainly locating fastball and changeup, and being left-handed helped. I wasn’t overpowering.

I remember when I got signed by the Toronto Blue Jays, Al Widmar, the pitching coach, watched me throw a bullpen. He had me trying to hold the ball in different ways to see if I could get natural sink on my ball. I wasn’t throwing 90, and I didn’t have a lot of sink on my pitch.

For the Major Leagues, could I have pitched? Maybe. But I would’ve had to prove it in the minor leagues. I wasn’t somebody like [Shohei] Ohtani, who was just impressive that everybody’s excited about because he’s got such great stuff. I had success at the college level by being able to locate and change speeds.

MMO: Do you think pitching in college aided in your offensive prowess and pitch recognition at the plate?

Olerud: I think it gives you a good perspective. I think it definitely helps to know what you’re thinking of, how a pitcher is looking to attack a hitter, how they want to set them up and where you’re trying to avoid. I think it helps both ways. When you’re pitching as well, and if you’re struggling hitting, just because you make a mistake does not mean that the guy is going to hit the ball.

I’ve swung and missed at balls right down the middle of the plate when you’re struggling, or you roll over it and hit a weak ground ball on a good pitch to hit. That sort of stuff helps take the pressure off as a pitcher that I don’t have to be perfect. As a hitter, it gives you some insight into how a pitcher would like to get you out or what they would be trying to do in different situations. I think it definitely helped.

MMO: The Mets drafted you in the 27th round in the 1986 MLB Draft. Was there ever a chance you would have signed with the club? Or was college always the route you were going?

Olerud: I think college was always the plan for me. I felt if I didn’t have success at the college level, then I’d have no chance of success at the big-league level. I always felt that made the most sense. Education was always something that was super important to my dad, so yeah, I never really considered it. I was a decent student, so that was always the game plan going forward.

It was very flattering to have major league scouts come up and want to get your information. But I felt like I needed to prove myself at the college level before even thinking about playing professional ball.

MMO: The 1993 season was your breakout year. You won the American League batting title, recorded 80 extra-base hits and led baseball in on-base percentage with a .473 mark. Did you make any physical or mechanical adjustments at the plate going into that season?

Olerud: Everything clicked for me that year. I would say the big thing that I remember about that year was just mechanically keeping my hands inside the ball really well. My mechanics were awfully good; I felt like I didn’t have to get to the inside pitch as far out in front of me in order to get the barrel to the ball. I was just really efficient in getting the barrel to the ball to that inside pitch. That allowed me to stay back more on the ball out over the plate. With offspeed pitches, that allowed me to stay back because I didn’t have to cheat to get to that inside pitch. My mechanics were really good.

That year was my best year. I always felt like I was making good contact and getting the barrel of the bat to the ball. That’s kind of the year that I ranked all other years against. The 1998 season with the Mets was my best season with the Mets, and I hit for a great average. But I would say that my ’93 year was still better just as far as consistency and making solid contact. That was just a magical year for me.

MMO: Plate discipline was one of your calling cards throughout your career. Was that something you always felt you had a gift at?

Olerud: I think it was always something where I wanted to get a good pitch to hit. I just hated making outs, and I didn’t want to swing at a bad pitch or a pitcher’s pitch. I wanted to get a good pitch to hit so that I could take a good swing at it. I think it was something that drove a lot of people crazy—a lot of hitting coaches.

I would take a good strike to hit first pitch; I didn’t swing at a lot of first pitches. Looking back, that was probably a mistake not being more aggressive in some counts and situations early in the count. When I struggled, that was the problem: nothing looked good enough to take a swing at. [Laughs.] You then get to where you’re looking for too perfect a pitch, and you get behind in the count.

It was a good thing to be selective, but taken too far, it can be a negative. Where I would err is being too selective. When I got into slumps or was struggling, I would have to get myself to be more aggressive, and swinging at more pitches was a way for me to get out of that.

MMO: What were your initial reactions when you heard you were traded to the Mets in December 1996?

Olerud: My first reaction was I didn’t want to go to New York. [Laughs.] I was super intimidated by New York City. As a player coming from Toronto, we’d come and stay in the city and stay at the Grand Central Hyatt, and the city was super intimidating to me. I was nervous about coming to New York for sure. But it was the best thing that could have happened to me. I had such a great experience living in the city with the best teammates that I had, and I really got along with the coaches. It was a great place for me, and I’m very thankful I got traded to the Mets.

MMO: I’ve read in past interviews that while you were in New York, you and your wife frequented many Broadway shows. Do you have any favorites?

Olerud: Jay [Horwitz] gives me a hard time because he came up with a funny note at one point (for the team’s game notes) saying that I broke a record for going to the most shows. Thankfully, my wife was not as intimidated by New York as I was, and she was a good influence. She’d say, “We’ve got a great opportunity to be here. Let’s take advantage of some of these cultural things that you can’t do any place else.”

We would try to go to the theater, and I was surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did! We went and saw Les Misérables, and that was probably one of my favorites. We also did that in Toronto; they had theater there as well. So we did that a little bit before New York.

MMO: Your 1998 season is one of the best offensive years in Mets history. What memories do you have from that year?

Oleurd: I would say just how much fun we had as a team. The clubhouse was great, and everybody on the team was pulling for each other. The camaraderie and chemistry in the clubhouse were great. It was a lot of fun, and it was a great year. Unfortunately, we struggled the last week of the season and didn’t make the playoffs. But it was just a great year.

MMO: The 1999 Sports Illustrated cover featuring the team’s infield is a fan favorite. What are your memories of that season defensively? And is that the best infield you ever played with?

Oleurd: I would say so. We had some great infields when I was with Toronto, but that one was a lot of fun to be a part of. You had Robin [Ventura] and Rey [Ordóñez] on the left side of the infield, and they just made great plays all of the time. And Edgardo Alfonzo quietly put together an amazing year. All of the attention was on the left side of the infield, but Edgardo had an amazing year as well.

For me, I’m super thankful for being on the Mets. I feel like playing for the Mets definitely turned my career around defensively as a first baseman because I got the best advice. Cookie Rojas helped me more than anybody in digging the ball out of the dirt. He helped me with that and really became a much better fielder at first base, receiving throws and bailing people out from bad throws. It was always super fun.

I don’t remember who we were playing, but you had a guy with a lot of speed, and he laid down a perfect bunt down the third base line. I remember I was getting ready to come off the base to tell Robin to not waste a throw. He comes flying and throws it to first, and we got the guy by a good step or two. I was shocked. I was like, Okay, note to self: do not try to help him out on what he can make and what he can’t make. 

With Rey, I’d be going to first base, and I’d hear the whole stadium go, “Wow!” I thought it was just a routine ground ball. I come up, he throws the ball to me, and I’d go into the dugout and ask, ‘What happened?’ They would tell me it took a horrible hop, and he just snatched at it and came up with it.

Rey was fun to watch. Just the type of plays that he made, I hadn’t seen anyone else play shortstop like that. It was impressive watching him put tags on people, fielding throws that were bad, but yet still catching it on the way to making a tag. It was fun to watch those guys.

MMO: You’ve debunked the famous Rickey Henderson story that took on a life of its own. Do you know how that story even originated?

Olerud: Oh, yeah. Scotty Lawrenson, who was the assistant trainer for the Mets, was great and had a great sense of humor. He was the one who came up with the story. If he saw a picture in the paper or in a magazine or advertisement of a guy who reminded him or looked like a guy on the team, he’d cut out the picture, make up a little story underneath it and put it up in the training room. You’d come in, and on the bulletin board there might be something like, So-and-so was seen on an off day, and whatever the story would be. But he had such a great sense of humor.

He’d come up with what he thought guys would be if they weren’t playing Major League Baseball. I remember going in and seeing what he had me as if I wasn’t playing. He had me as a Walmart greeter because he thought that was funny trying to picture me—a super quiet guy—greeting people as they came in.

Rickey was known for not being great with guys’ names, and so that’s kind of how that idea originated—that he came up to me and asked me about the helmet, and said, “Man, I played with a guy in New York like that.”

MMO: Did you and Rickey ever discuss the fabricated story?

Olerud: I don’t remember talking about it much with him. I remember running in the outfield—I forgot which team I was with at the time—before the game started. I made a comment to him, ‘Hey Rickey, would you tell these guys to stop talking about the story?’ And he went, “Oh, I know!”

We never really talked about it a whole lot. It’s just a funny story, and I get asked about it all the time. It’s just an awfully good story.

MMO: You and your wife, Kelly, started a foundation in your daughter’s name in 2003 called the Jordan Fund. Can you talk about why you started it and what the mission is?

Olerud: In 2000, my daughter Jordan was born, and she had some severe disabilities. She had an unbalanced translocation of her second and fifth chromosomes. So here we have a special needs child that we’re trying to figure out the health care, taking care of her, and just the different issues that come up for how to best care for her. We felt like we were in a great position to care for a child like Jordan. She had two parents; I was home and we had friends and family around us and great hospitals in the Seattle area. And, man, it was super hard trying to figure it out and navigate.

We started the fund to help out other non-profits that were a real blessing to our family and places that had helped us out. We were thankful they were there when we needed them. We also wanted to help out families with communication devices; we’ve done a bathroom remodel for a family before; we try and help out with respite care; the summer camps these kids are able to go to. We had a horse therapy place in Washington, a little bit of therapeutic riding. That was great for my daughter and really helped her get stronger with her core and able to sit up.

We just wanted to help out the non-profits in our area that helped out the special needs community and wanted to try and help out other families. Like I said, we felt like we were in a good position as a family and a good location with friends and family around us. And boy, it’s still hard. We wanted to help out those families that, you know, maybe there’s a single mom or someone who doesn’t have a lot of support around them.

That’s how we got started with it, and we’ve just continued on, and the fund has grown. We haven’t done much fundraising at all, but we’re just trying to help out the special needs community.

MMO: Would you ever consider getting back into the game as a coach or special assistant? Have you ever been asked?

Olerud: No, not really. When I got done playing, my focus was on helping out with my daughter, her health care and the family. I did coach my son’s Little League team and didn’t have a lot of success with those guys. [Laughs.] That kind of discouraged me on the coaching thing.

My youngest is a sophomore at Clemson University, so I haven’t considered it. Nobody’s been knocking on my door saying, “Hey, we’d like to have you.” It really hasn’t been something that I’ve had to think about much.

MMO: When you look back on your career, what are you most proud of?

Olerud: Boy, that’s a tough one. I would say probably my 1993 season; that was the best year that I had where everything came together. It was a magical year.

I was awfully blessed with the different teams I got to play for. When you look back on your career, a lot of the things that stick out the most are the guys who you got an opportunity to play with. Your teammates and that camaraderie, and just the time you got to spend with them. It’s pretty hard to replicate that clubhouse setting and being a part of a team and working towards the goal. I would say those are the big things. But as far as my best years, the ’93 and ’98 years are pretty special for me.

The post MMO Exclusive: John Olerud, The Quiet Star appeared first on Metsmerized Online.