Master Index of Archived Threads


John Olerud Retires

Valadius Dec 06 2005 06:16 PM

Olerud tells Red Sox he's retiring DALLAS (AP) -- First baseman John Olerud, a soft-spoken former batting champion and two-time All-Star, has retired after 16 seasons, the Boston Red Sox said on Tuesday. Olerud, 37, was an All-Star in 1993 and 2001 and a .295 career hitter with 255 home runs and 1,230 RBIs in 2,234 games. He has played for Toronto (1989-96), the New York Mets (1997-99), Seattle (2000-04) and the Yankees (2004). He won Gold Gloves in 2000, 2002 and 2003. Olerud won the AL batting title in 1993 with a .363 average and helped Toronto win its second consecutive World Series title. He had surgery in November to repair torn ligaments in his foot and was on crutches until January. He signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox on May 1 and went from extended spring training to a minor-league rehab. He batted .289 in 87 games for Boston last year.

Zvon Dec 06 2005 06:18 PM

.....one of the sweetest swings Ive ever seen. Damn, that guy could hit.

OlerudOwned Dec 06 2005 06:21 PM

Congrats on one helluva good career. Some good, great memories of Johnny O. and that sweet swing.

Nymr83 Dec 06 2005 06:26 PM

easily my favorite player ever. goodbye john.

Valadius Dec 06 2005 06:28 PM

Before Piazza, there was Olerud. It was Olerud's name and number on the back of my first Mets t-shirt.

metirish Dec 06 2005 06:30 PM

Thanks John for the memories...

OlerudOwned Dec 06 2005 06:34 PM

It just kind of dawned on me how great #5 has been as far as Mets I Really, Really Like. First Olerud, still my favorite Met. Then Mr. Sparkle, who was a ton of fun to watch in '01. And now, of course, David Christ...Wright.

smg58 Dec 06 2005 06:54 PM

Very quietly a great player. It took the Mets six years to find a worthy replacement at his position. The thing that amazes me the most about Olerud was how somebody that tall could draw so many walks with Piazza in his prime hitting behind him.

TransMonk Dec 06 2005 07:04 PM

Sweet swing, sweet smile, sweet man. One player that I never doubted would do his job day in and day out. One of my favorite memories was from May 23rd of 1999 when the Mets were down by 4 to the Phils in the bottom of the ninth. Johnny O capped the 5 run rally with a single to drive in the tying and winning runs as Cedeno got under the tag at the plate to seal the massive come from behind effort.

ScarletKnight41 Dec 06 2005 07:12 PM

BTW TM - it's good seeing you around again!

MFS62 Dec 06 2005 07:17 PM

Thank you, John, for being you. Later

abogdan Dec 06 2005 07:33 PM

Olerud had maybe the best three consecutive seasons that any Met has ever had. Great hitter, great fielder, great Met.

Elster88 Dec 06 2005 07:37 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Dec 06 2005 07:39 PM

abogdan wrote: Olerud had maybe the best three consecutive seasons that any Met has ever had. I wouldn't go that far, but it was great to have him on the team.

Valadius Dec 06 2005 07:38 PM

Great Met, certainly.

Rockin' Doc Dec 06 2005 07:44 PM

Thanks for the memories. I wish him all the best in his retirement.

dinosaur jesus Dec 06 2005 08:41 PM

My favorite player when he played in Toronto and I lived there. He should have been MVP in '93. The Mets have always been my team, and I was delighted when they got him. Most Canadians had no idea what they were missing, but you people in New York figured it out. Mets fans are the best, damnit.

Willets Point Dec 06 2005 09:00 PM

Oh wow, now I'm officially old. Congrats to John Olerud on a great career three years of which spent in a Mets uniform where he played quite well.

abogdan Dec 06 2005 09:00 PM

Give me someone who put up better lines than this as a Met in three straight seasons: 1997: .294/.400/.489 1998: .354/.447/.551 1999: .298/.427/.463 Totals: .315/.425/.501 Only Piazza has three year stretches that come close, with Mike having the edge in slugging percentage and John having the edge in OBP. Olerud's Career Met ranks according to the UMDB: BA: #3; OBP: #1; SLG: #5 (#4 if Mike Jacobs had one less AB).

Nymr83 Dec 06 2005 09:08 PM

Elster88 wrote: ="abogdan"]Olerud had maybe the best three consecutive seasons that any Met has ever had. I wouldn't go that far, but it was great to have him on the team. piazza certainly never matched them as a Met....strawberry probably did but i'm not bothering to look.

TransMonk Dec 06 2005 10:16 PM

OPS+ Olerud 1997-1999 : 136, 163, 131 Piazza 1999-2001: 137, 159, 150 (Piazza's time as a Met in '98 produced a 167) Strawberry 1985-1987: 165, 140, 162 (Straw also had 165 in '88, take which 3 years you want) Hard to calculate 3 year stints across eras and lineup roles. Straw did better in the mid-80s vs. the league average of the time. Piazza did a tad better vs. league average during the same era has Olerud. I'll give this to Johnny, he did very little wrong in those 3 years with the Mets, put up some great numbers and helped win a lot of games. On the all-time list of Mets players with 2000+ plate appearances he is #1 in average, OBP and OPS.

Edgy DC Dec 06 2005 10:35 PM

I'll give you three: Tom Seaver, 1969-1971 Tom Seaver, 1971-1973 Tom Seaver, 1973-1975 Who was Olerud Owned at the MOFo that he/she is familiar with the coinage Mr. Sparkle?

Beenso Dec 06 2005 11:43 PM

that phillies game that was mentioned...schilling was pitching a shutout into the 9th and i remember it like yesterday when he hit the game winner up the middle... good times. good luck johnny baseball

Centerfield Dec 07 2005 09:18 AM

His HR off Randy Johnson in the '99 NLDS...his game-winner in Game 4 of the '99 NLCS...the Schililng game...keeping the game alive in front of Piazza's HR off Hoffman (I remember thinking beforehand, 'Well, if Johnny gets on, Piazza could win it with a HR')...Johnny O was my favorite player since Doc and Darryl. Have fun in your retirement big guy. __________________________________________________ Creator of "the Quiet Riot"....come on! The name could still catch on!

Elster88 Dec 07 2005 09:21 AM

Nymr83 wrote: ="Elster88"] ="abogdan"]Olerud had maybe the best three consecutive seasons that any Met has ever had. I wouldn't go that far, but it was great to have him on the team. piazza certainly never matched them as a Met. Um, yes he did. Take the exact same years for Olerud (maybe plus one since Piazza only had half of the first year) and I'll guarantee that Piazza had better overall batting numbers. OE: Monk beat me to it.

Elster88 Dec 07 2005 09:23 AM

Not to make it seem like I'm bashing Olerud. He did have three great years as a Met and was huge in the turnaround, and I loved watching him play. But to say he had the best three year period as a Met is silly. That's all.

metirish Dec 07 2005 09:26 AM

Admit it Elster, your hammering Johnny baseball, this Jets season has turned you nasty....

Edgy DC Dec 07 2005 09:26 AM

Gooden, 1984-1986 Koosman, 1968-1970

Elster88 Dec 07 2005 09:30 AM

metirish wrote: Admit it Elster, your hammering Johnny baseball, this Jets season has turned you nasty.... I love him. He doesn't really go by Johnny Baseball does he? Not a bootleg of Mattingly's nickname. Say it ain't so.

seawolf17 Dec 07 2005 09:31 AM

He did say "maybe," guys. Cool out. What if we change abog's original statement to add the fact that those were his only years in a Met uniform? All those other guys (Piazza, Seaver, Kooz, Straw, Gooden, whoever) had a down year or two also. Ol' Johnny 5 came here, kicked ass for three years, then strode off into the deep, dark night. I don't think anyone else did that.

metirish Dec 07 2005 09:33 AM

]He doesn't really go by Johnny Baseball does he? Not a bootleg of Mattingly's nickname. Say it ain't so. I stole that from Beenso.....it just made me laugh.

Elster88 Dec 07 2005 09:34 AM

]Cool out. It's cool. He said maybe, I disagreed. Nymr said Piazza never matched them, I disagreed. Then I called the remark silly, which it really kind of is as other player info piles up. It's cool. No hate, just friendly discussion. I'm no bitter Jets fan. ] All those other guys (Piazza, Seaver, Kooz, Straw, Gooden, whoever) had a down year or two also. Ol' Johnny 5 came here, kicked ass for three years, then strode off into the deep, dark night. I don't think anyone else did that. True. Like an assassin. Great stuff.

Edgy DC Dec 07 2005 09:40 AM

Other great hit-'n'-run Mets. Tommy Davis, 1967 Rusty Staub, 1972-1975 Mike Hampton, 2000 The granddaddy of them all is Richie Ashburn 1062.

Willets Point Dec 07 2005 09:43 AM

Edgy DC wrote: The granddaddy of them all is Richie Ashburn 1062. Richie Asburn went medieval on the opponents when he played for Ye 1062 Mets.

Edgy DC Dec 07 2005 09:50 AM

Damn.

Centerfield Dec 07 2005 09:51 AM

I hear 4 years later he played a crucial role in the invasion of England.

seawolf17 Dec 07 2005 09:52 AM

I thought Dan Norman led that invasion.

silverdsl Dec 07 2005 10:56 AM

Olerud has always been a favorite of mine. Just one of those guys that you felt confident would get the job done at the plate more often than not when he was in his prime. I'm very happy that he was a Yankee for a little bit there and that I got to see him play in person another time or two before he moved on. I hope retirement treats him well.

Johnny Dickshot Dec 07 2005 11:09 AM

We should also thank JO for having the good sense to be injured when he was, in October '04. I was *certain* he would come up with whatever the MFYs needed to win that series.

G-Fafif Dec 07 2005 01:21 PM

Except for those who lost money betting on him in relay races, I've never heard a Mets fan say a bad word about John Olerud. He probably belongs in the recent discussion of most beloved Mets ever. Given his truncated tenure, nobody ever had a chance to sour on him. As such, his stature only grew. Not that he didn't deserve it. http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2005/12/7/1439373.html

Edgy DC Dec 07 2005 01:28 PM

History doesn't necessarily need a villian. The record is pretty strong that Steve Phillips, whatever his flaws, didn't turn his back. Lovely piece, though, as usual.

Centerfield Dec 07 2005 01:29 PM

Great article.

G-Fafif Dec 07 2005 01:38 PM

Edgy DC wrote: History doesn't necessarily need a villian. The record is pretty strong that Steve Phillips, whatever his flaws, didn't turn his back. I've always harbored a grudge against Phillips over the departures of Olerud and Reed based on the feeling that if a guy wasn't a "marquee name," the GM found them disposable. They both overachieved here. They both contributed to winners. Neither of them caused a lick of trouble. Each was let go. Olerud has indicated that if he were shown a little love ($$$) after 1999 that perhaps Seattle wouldn't have felt so much like home. Granted, this makes him a human being, not the saint I prefer to think him, but I could've handled that. (And thanks for the "lovely".)

G-Fafif Dec 07 2005 01:39 PM

Centerfield wrote: Great article. And that!

Frayed Knot Dec 07 2005 01:39 PM

I do remember, during the Olerud FA period, that there was a reported faction within the "Met front office types" that thought Olerud a bit too passive in his ABs and they wanted more punch for their money. IOW, if true, there were those paying too much attention to RBIs and not enough to OBA. Where wer those damn Sabrematricians when we needed them? Who knows if that was accurate though? JO is the CPF ranking project leader among 3-year Mets; higher, in fact, than all the 4 season guys too. Definitely the best of the short-timers.

Scrapple8 Dec 07 2005 05:36 PM

It is hard to believe that the Jays sent along 4 and a half million bucks along with the pooch hitter to defray his salary, and all the Mets had to give up was Robert Person. Person's wife woulda made the wifey watch if they had one at the time. I also recall reading or hearing that Olerud might have stayed with the Mets had they ponied up a few more bucks. However, there were also some personal reasons why Olerud signed with Seattle, beyond the fact that his parents live there. Remember in 1993 when Olerud was at the top of the world? They wrote articles in the world series, comparing the Krukker and Olerud to the Odd Couple. Supposedly the Pale Hose offered Frank Thomas straight up for Olerud and were turned down... my friend Joshua from Tranna is always talking about that trade. I was at his major league debut... it was my first game at SkyDome... it was the day before labor day - our labor day - in an afternoon game against the Minnesota Twins. Olerud came in the game as a def replacement and I saw, for the first time, a player play the field with a batting helmet. Rickey Henderson used to say, when he was in Seattle, that he had a teammate in New York who also used to play the field with a helmet. It is hard to guess whether Rickey was being serious or not.

Johnny Dickshot Dec 07 2005 05:44 PM

As I recall it, that Henderson story was made up by Robin Ventura as a comment on the kind of teammate Henderson was: It was funny because it *could have been* true, but it probably wasn't.

ScarletKnight41 Dec 07 2005 05:46 PM

My memory comports with JD's. The story was made up, and the 2000 Mets were very amused that the newspaper(s) reported it as fact.

Zvon Dec 07 2005 05:59 PM

Scrapple8 wrote: ..... and I saw, for the first time, a player play the field with a batting helmet. Pete Rose wore one in the '73 playoffs. Between then and Olerud Id never seen it done. Olerud, of course, had the plate in his skull. Rose almost got a bottle in his skull.

Scrapple8 Dec 07 2005 06:14 PM

]Pete Rose wore one in the '73 playoffs. Between then and Olerud Id never seen it done. Maybe Dave Parker? The fans really turned against him in Pittsburgh.

Valadius Dec 07 2005 06:42 PM

Greg, you beat me to it - today is the sixth anniversary of John Olerud's signing with Seattle. It's also the 64th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Elster88 Dec 07 2005 07:00 PM

ScarletKnight41 wrote: the newspaper(s) reported it as fact. I'm shocked that reporters would have printed such stuff without further fact checking. They took a huge gamble, and risked their lives and careers. Fools.

Nymr83 Dec 07 2005 07:09 PM

the high level of accountability in their corner of the journalism world must have cost them all their jobs, right?

Gwreck Dec 07 2005 07:46 PM

G-Fafif wrote: Olerud has indicated that if he were shown a little love ($$$) after 1999 that perhaps Seattle wouldn't have felt so much like home. Granted, this makes him a human being, not the saint I prefer to think him, but I could've handled that. Page 3 of the Rico Brogna thread (the story about Olerud's daughter) seems to contradict this.

Edgy DC Dec 07 2005 07:59 PM

Thanks for doing some checking of your own, Gwreck.

Zvon Dec 07 2005 08:05 PM

Valadius wrote: It's also the 64th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Its nice to hear from a younger person who remembers this. To most kids your age its only the day Dimebag Darryl died. Im proud to know you, Valadius. (this is all serious above^)

Valadius Dec 07 2005 08:30 PM

Thank you Zvon. That means a lot.

Gwreck Dec 07 2005 08:42 PM

Edgy DC wrote: Thanks for doing some checking of your own, Gwreck. I'm not sure I'd call it "checking" per se -- it's as much based on hearsay as the report that Greg posted. I'll admit to rather believing the version that portrays Olerud in the best possible light.

G-Fafif Dec 07 2005 11:44 PM

Zvon wrote: Pete Rose wore one in the '73 playoffs. Between then and Olerud Id never seen it done. Reggie Jackson wore one for the top of the ninth of the final game of the '77 World Series to protect him against his own loving fans.

G-Fafif Dec 07 2005 11:52 PM

Zvon wrote: Pete Rose wore one in the '73 playoffs. Between then and Olerud Id never seen it done. Reggie Jackson wore one for the top of the ninth of the final game of the '77 World Series to protect him against his own loving fans.

G-Fafif Dec 07 2005 11:54 PM

Valadius wrote: Greg, you beat me to it - today is the sixth anniversary of John Olerud's signing with Seattle. It's also the 64th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The reason I clearly remember it as December 7, 1999 was that in discussing the breaking news with my skewed-perspective pal Joe, he said, "Screw Pearl Harbor. We lost Olerud." I responded silently to Joe as I usually do when he gets a little too caught up in the moment.

Benjamin Grimm Dec 08 2005 07:28 AM

Olerud was the daily lookup winner on the UMDB by a HUGE margin. He got almost 20 times as many votes as runner-up Herb Moford. I guess it's because his 1999 transaction was linked on the home page, and his retirement has him in the news. By dying, Herb Moford only gets one day of glory. Donn Clendennon wa able to get a full week's worth.

Valadius Dec 08 2005 11:24 AM

In one day, John Olerud leaped to the #1 most looked-up player of the last 30 days. WOW.

Zvon Dec 08 2005 05:35 PM

G-Fafif wrote: ="Zvon"]Pete Rose wore one in the '73 playoffs. Between then and Olerud Id never seen it done. Reggie Jackson wore one for the top of the ninth of the final game of the '77 World Series to protect him against his own loving fans. there ya go,....i think i vaguely remember that.