#4 John OlerudBats: Left - Throws: Left
Height: 6'5" - Weight: 205lb
Drafted: 1989, Toronto Blue Jays, 3rd Round
MLB Career: 1989-2005
MLB Teams: Toronto, Seattle, New York (NL), Boston, New York (AL)
John Olerud came to Alaska as part of the short-lived Palouse Empire Cougars program. The Cougars were one of several teams that were a part of the Alaska League during a time when about half the teams weren't actually based in Alaska. Essentially, the Palouse Empire squad was the summer-ball version of the Washington State Cougars, minus seniors, plus a few players that the college wanted to try out. Considering that the rest of the ABL had the entirety of amateur baseball to recruit from, and the Cougars were almost entirely composed of players from Washington State, it's not surprising that the P.E. club got beat up pretty good. But they did produce some good players, and the best of which was John Olerud.
In last week's live chat, Goldpanners Associate GM Todd Dennis told us a story about Olerud's time in Alaska, which he described as "poetry in motion". Olerud managed to sweet-talk a young Dennis into turning on the stadium lights so that he could have some late-night BP at Growden Park. It must have been a scene out of "Field of Dreams", that is until a crew of grumpy Goldpanners official-types rolled up in a van to see who was running up their power bill. Apparently they were not too happy about being interrupted from their late-night dinner at a nearby Denny's when the stadium lights suddenly came on. But I guess sometimes you just can't up a price tag on a boy's love of the game, right?
In any event, the college star -- who won Baseball America All-American honors at both 1B and Pitcher -- would soon go on to be a professional star. Olerud finished out his season with the Cougars, and was picked up by the Oilers for their 1988 NBC tournament berth. Back at WSU for the '89 season, he hit .359 while battling a brain aneurysm (the reason why he would wear a batting helmet at all times on the field from there on out). The Blue Jays must have thought that was pretty impressive because they drafted him with their third-round pick that year.
His minor league career? Olerud signed in August and was playing with the big league club by September. The next year he was Toronto's starting 1B. Olerud would go on to forge a career marked by reliability, great defense, and top-notch offensive production. During his peak from 1997-2003 he was a lock to hit in the neighborhood of .300/20HR/100RBI and show up for at least 150 games, including a 162-game season in '99. On the way he picked up some impressive pairs (All-Star selections and World Series rings) plus three gold gloves.
In 2005, Olerud announced his retirement. He ended his career with a nice round 500 doubles and a .398 OBP. He was immediately inducted in the College Baseball Hall of Fame. It's only natural, then, that we've immediately selected him as #4 on our all-time ABL Top Players countdown.
Photo courtesy of Googie Man // CC license Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
Fantastic player! I loved him when he played for the Red Sox. Even when he was with the Yankees, I respected him as a player and as a great guy (just don't remind me of that ALCS home run off of Pedro).
ReplyDeleteHaha...likewise, as a Braves fan, I was obligated to hate him when he was with the Mets, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It's really interesting because I think in some ways he's an underrated guy and easy to forget about, but when you go back and start researching he really was a great player. Plus he was so far ahead of the curve in college/summer ball.
ReplyDeleteTerribly underrated...career .376 wOBA, combined with solid defense. Guy was a on on-base machine. His '93 and 98' years were pretty beastly in particular. Loved him on the Mariners.
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