February 5, 2020

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

John Olerud credits his dad, his college coach, Charley Lau and George Brett for his smooth left-handed swing that won him the American League batting title as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993.

That sweet stroke is also a key reason the former all-star was one of four new Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees announced on Tuesday. Olerud will be honoured along with former Blue Jays teammate Duane Ward, Canadian slugger Justin Morneau (New Westminster, B.C.) and legendary Montreal Expos broadcaster Jacques Doucet in a ceremony on the Hall of Fame grounds on June 20.

“Growing up my dad, he played some minor league baseball, and that was something that we’d always do together for fun,” said Olerud of working on his swing. “We’d go out and have batting practice and work on pitching, and that sort of thing.”

Olerud also read Lau’s best-selling book, The Art of Hitting .300 and studied Hall of Famer George Brett’s at bats as much as he could.

“So it’s something that wasn’t just me,” said Olerud, when asked about his near-perfect swing. “There were a lot of people that influenced me growing up. I had great coaches, my dad, my college coach . . . it was a big group effort.”

Raised in the Seattle area, Olerud not only excelled as a hitter, but also as a pitcher. Unfortunately, just as he was rising up the draft ranks in 1989, he suffered a life-threatening aneurysm prior to his junior season at Washington State University that required surgery. But the resilient Olerud battled back and returned to the field within seven weeks.

In his sophomore college season at Washington State University, he batted .464 with 23 home runs and also went 15-0 with a 2.49 ERA as a pitcher. He stats understandably declined in his junior season after his return from surgery, but the Blue Jays were impressed enough to use their third round pick in the 1989 MLB draft on him. Olerud signed and went directly to the big leagues. Initially, there was some talk of him becoming a two-way player.

“I asked if I would get the opportunity to do some pitching as well because that’s what I had always done at college and I had had success at both [pitching and hitting],” recalled Olerud in Tuesday’s conference call. “And I remember going to the bullpen when I was a call-up in ’89 and had the pitching coach, Al Widmar, watch me throw. He had me throw the ball a couple of different ways and there wasn’t a good sink action to it and I wasn’t overpowering.

“And then I went down to instructional ball and pitched a little bit and I thought I did an OK job, but the Jays weren’t interested in me as a pitcher. So it was pretty clear early on that they wanted me to focus on hitting. And I was fine with that too. I didn’t have an arm that would hold up to throwing, I’d have sore arms and that sort of thing, so it was definitely the best decision for me.”

Olerud made his major league debut on September 3, 1989 and singled in his first big league at bat. With that, he became just the second Blue Jays’ draft pick to make their organizational debut at the big league level (Catcher Brian Milner was the first in 1978).

Smooth in the field and at the plate, Olerud would become the Blue Jays’ regular first baseman beginning in the 1991 season. From 1991 to 1993, he was a key part of three consecutive division-winning squads and two World Series championship teams. His breakout campaign came in 1993, when he flirted with .400 for much of the season and ended up with a .363 batting average to become the first – and still only - Blue Jays’ player to win an American League batting title. In that historic season, he also topped the circuit in doubles (54), on-base percentage (OBP) (.473) and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) (1.072), and finished third in the American League MVP voting.

“We had dominant teams in all aspects of the game,” Olerud said of the Blue Jays’ 1992 and 1993 World Series-winning clubs. “We had Hall of Famers on there. We had Dave Winfield, Joe Carter, Robbie Alomar, Devon White . . . I would say the first year, I’m still a young player, and I remember being scared to death going to the World Series, just wanting to do well, just wanting to make the most of the opportunity. And then the ’93 year, I had had a good year and then I had been through it the year before and I was just so much more relaxed and knowing what to expect. I mean it was still stressful, don’t get me wrong, but that year I felt more like I belonged there for the second World Series.”

In all, Olerud suited up for 920 regular season contests in parts of eight seasons with the Blue Jays and he ranks first all-time in franchise history in OBP (.395), second in intentional walks (87), fourth in walks (514) and sixth in batting average (.293). His .363 batting average, .473 OBP and 33 intentional walks in 1993 remain Blue Jays’ single-season records.

Olerud was dealt to the New York Mets for pitcher Robert Person on December 20, 1996. He starred for the Mets for three seasons prior to playing for his hometown Seattle Mariners for parts of five campaigns. He finished his career with stints with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. In all, in his 17-year big league career, the two-time all-star and three-time Gold Glove Award winner finished with a .295 batting average, a .398 OBP (which ranks 65th in major league history) and 2,239 hits.

After hanging up his playing spikes, Olerud and his wife, Kelly, settled in his home state of Washington with their three children: Garrett, Jordan and Jessica. In 2003, they created the Jordan Fund to assist other parents with special needs children financially. Their daughter, Jordan, was born with a rare chromosome abnormality known as tri-some 2p, 5p-.

“I felt like when I got done playing that I had a unique opportunity to invest in my kids’ lives and their activities,” said Olerud. “And so I wanted to take advantage of that, especially with my middle daughter and the health issues that she has.”

It was clear in Tuesday’s conference call, however, that Olerud savours the time he spent in a Blue Jays uniform and that he’s very thankful for his Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame nod.

“For me personally, the Blue Jays were the first team I was with,” said Olerud. “I was just so blessed to be there during that time period . . . The Blue Jays gave me a chance. With my aneurysm surgery just before the draft, they took a chance on me and gave me an opportunity and I got a chance to play with just so many great players on great teams and be around great coaches. And then just to be so well received by fans and treated so well by fans . . . So being honoured this way [by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame] is amazing and I’m very grateful for it.”