Another Great Trivia Question

Posted: April 28th, 2009 | Filed under: Baseball | 39 Comments »

This one from brilliant reader Pete.

Who is the New York Mets all-time OPS leader? (min. 2000 PAs)

Did you say Mike Piazza?



No, it was not Piazza. How about Darryl Strawberry?




Nope, not Strawberry either. It's gotta be David Wright, right?



Fine, this whole thing was a setup. We all know the goofball who runs this blog is a Carlos Beltran psycho-fan. So it's Beltran.




No, amazingly, not Beltran either. Fine, it's gotta be ...










39 Comments on “Another Great Trivia Question”

  1. 1: Broocks said at 10:59 pm on April 28th, 2009:

    I thought Hernandez or Olerud but I thought it needed to be obscure so I went with Olerud in the end.

  2. 2: Dan said at 11:02 pm on April 28th, 2009:

    That’s the tragedy, NOBODY remembers John Olerud as particularly good. Aside from his last 136 at-bats, he played for 2 teams over 15 years, and put up and OPS+ of 128. He also played very good defense, and was a complete class act.

    I remember the Red Sox signed him in May of 2005 when it became clear that Kevin Millar was no longer a good fit as a major league first baseman. He came in and played excellent defense, and hit at least slightly better then Millar. His playing time ended up slashed when Millar threw a hissy-fit and threatened to unleash the beast of MannyBManny on Boston (in those days Millar was one of the few people who could really wrangle MBM).

    It hasn’t gotten a lot of press, but when Youkilis came up at the end of that season, it became clear that he was going to have to play First, what with Mike Lowell’s resurgence. He put in some serious time with Olerud in the field, and at least back then he gave a ton of credit to Johnny Baseball for helping him become such a good 1B.

    Thanks for everything John.

  3. 3: Melody said at 11:14 pm on April 28th, 2009:

    @Dan, that’s really interesting, there’s something about Youkilis that’s always reminded me of Olerud. I always liked him when he played for the Mets (my husband is a big fan). He has such a sweet swing, and you gotta love a guy that wears his batting helmet in the field– see how desperate we are for “personality” in our sports stars??

  4. 4: Dan said at 11:23 pm on April 28th, 2009:

    @Melody: It’s a little abstract, but Youk actually plays First a lot like Olerud, light on his toes, very quick to his right, and exquisite at picking balls out of the dirt.

    Also, the Batting Helmet thing brings to mind the story of what might be the single greatest Ricky-ism ever.

  5. 5: Hugh Jorgan said at 11:52 pm on April 28th, 2009:

    Olerud, a first time nominee for the hall of very good, along with Will Clark. If you could comprise of team of this sort of quality you’d win 115 games every year. The guy did everything right on a baseball field and the 500 doubles is a neat lifetime achievement.
    Considering his baserunning and fielding skills; a more complete player than the recently elected Rice.

  6. 6: Aaron M. said at 11:55 pm on April 28th, 2009:

    I always liked Olerud. He didn’t get much love though because he spent a good chunk of his career on a team that was in Canada.

  7. 7: nick said at 2:15 am on April 29th, 2009:

    Sweet swingin Johnny Olerud! Check the 1993 mvp voting–he had a better year than Frank Thomas, should’ve won it….

  8. 8: Ray C said at 5:59 am on April 29th, 2009:

    Darn. I thought it was going to be Ed Kranepool.

  9. 9: Elliot S said at 7:17 am on April 29th, 2009:

    Joe, thanks for shining a spotlight on my favorite all-time player.

  10. 10: Dark Side of the Mood said at 7:35 am on April 29th, 2009:

    Joseph-

    You need to start adding a “Um, dunno. Clue didn’t help.” option to these questions…

  11. 11: Sabby said at 8:14 am on April 29th, 2009:

    John Olerud should be more fondly remembered, if only for two reasons. First, he is the focal point of one of the best Ricky Henderson stories, even if the story is probably more myth than fact. Second, he was the all-important “O” at the end of the Blue Jays’ 1993 WAMCO lineup, a lineup that, in addition to placing hitters 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the batting title race (an underrated achievement) had the best acronym ever.

  12. 12: Sabby said at 8:18 am on April 29th, 2009:

    Sorry, one more point about Olerud. I will always think it was incredibly unfortunate that the Red Sox sent him to the minors for all of 3 games in 2005, during his last season in the majors. Those 3 games are all that kept Olerud from being one of the very few baseball players to never spend a day in the minor leagues (at least recently), as he made the Blue Jays right out of university.

  13. 13: Grant said at 8:18 am on April 29th, 2009:

    Dan – The funny thing is the Red Sox gave up on Millar as a first-sacker in 2005 and yet the Orioles handed him the starting job the next three years…

    Baltimore baseball! Catch the fever!

  14. 14: Tracy said at 8:27 am on April 29th, 2009:

    Olerud? My guess would’ve been HoJo.

  15. 15: DTRO said at 8:41 am on April 29th, 2009:

    Knew it from the get-go Joe. As a Mets fan in my early 20s I will always have fond memories of Olerud, his high-OBPs and great defense. Although, those minimum PAs should probably be raised cause Olerud was only with the Mets for 3 years.

  16. 16: Bellylard said at 8:50 am on April 29th, 2009:

    I didn’t think Olerud until he was listed because I knew he didn’t play there very long.

  17. 17: Dave E said at 9:21 am on April 29th, 2009:

    I was sure we were going to find out that somehow, Duane Kuiper was the answer. Nevermind that he never played for the Mets.

  18. 18: JP said at 11:07 am on April 29th, 2009:

    Love both Qs. Small request, any way we can push the comments down a bit so they don’t reveal the answer on screen? I can avoid scrolling down easily enough but its hard to avoid seeing the top of the comments as you sort of dead stare the screen trying to think.

  19. 19: Bryan said at 11:17 am on April 29th, 2009:

    @Aaron M: I think that part of Olerud’s relative obscurity comes from playing a good chunk of time in Toronto. However, that doesn’t explain why he was so underappreciated by Jays fans while he was here. For whatever reason, he was never really considered a big star while on the Jays. I would guess that if you asked 10 Jays fans who was a better player, Joe Carter or John Olerud, 9 of them would say Carter. That, of course, is spectactularly wrong, but Carter was a “Star” and “Run-producer”, while Olerud was viewed as a nice complimentary player.

  20. 20: JeffSol said at 11:44 am on April 29th, 2009:

    As a loong time Mets fan I immediately said “Olerud” as he was not only excellent tehre, but had only 3 years, and no off years. Piazza, Hernandez, anyone else you can think of who played there had a mix of good and not so good years, thus Olerud.

  21. 21: Bret said at 11:51 am on April 29th, 2009:

    I never realized how good the guy was when I was younger because for some reason I always disliked him. Maybe it was the batting helmet on defense thing. But jeez, looking at some of his stats, I agree about the hall of very good – first ballot.

    Career OBP: .398.
    Career OPS+: 128 (OPS+ of 186 in 1993!)
    500 2b, 255 HR

    Awesome player.

  22. 22: Richard Aronson said at 12:02 pm on April 29th, 2009:

    I thought it would be Beltran until Beltran’s option came up so early. Piazza was great for a catcher with the Mets, but as a Dodger he was great for a corner player, maybe even great for a corner hall of famer. And 2000 PA is kind of small, so I ruled Piazza out. Then I thought Delgado after ruling Beltran out (I still voted for Beltran based on my first guess, but that was just superior metagaming). I, too, would have liked a “nope, clue didn’t help” button option and to have the comments hidden down the page.

  23. 23: Motherscratcher said at 12:13 pm on April 29th, 2009:

    Ricky once had a teammate who wore a helmet in the field, just like John Olerud.

  24. 24: Royals 09 said at 12:35 pm on April 29th, 2009:

    Joe you still owe us a Banny Log entry for his last outing. Congrats on the Conver, and awesome story.

  25. 25: Erik said at 12:43 pm on April 29th, 2009:

    7IP, 1H, 6BB = Banny Log.

  26. 26: Mark W. said at 1:46 pm on April 29th, 2009:

    After guessing wrong I had the enjoyment of voting for Rusty “Slob” Staub. I actually enjoyed Rusty and his game for the Mets and Astros but a friend of mine loved the “Slob” business for his last name.

  27. 27: Ian said at 1:52 pm on April 29th, 2009:

    I’m not sure why you think Olerud isn’t appreciated by Jays fans, Bryan. I lined up at a car dealership in Cambridge Ontario for four hours to get his autograph in 1993; there must have been 2000 people there. He might not be on the same level as Joe Carter due to a certain home run, but everyone remembers his chase for .400.

  28. 28: Brian said at 2:31 pm on April 29th, 2009:

    I suppose I’m always puzzled by how little attention Olerud gets for his career, much like Edgar Martinez, Brian Giles, and Kevin Brown. Guess it’s just a public infatuation issue – but as the saying goes, when everyone is buying, maybe you should be selling…

  29. 29: nightfly said at 3:02 pm on April 29th, 2009:

    Loved John Olerud. Thought it was Beltran, but the moment Ollie came up I was on it. HoJo didn’t really walk all that much, IIRC, and played in an offensively-challenged time. In 1991 he won two-thirds of the Triple Crown (!!) with 37 dingers and 117 ribbies. (I remember being quite resentful that Terry Pendleton’s .319 won the batting title, and thus the NL MVP that season, when HoJo was clearly the more productive player.) It’s such a shame he fell off a cliff after that season.

  30. 30: Adam said at 3:39 pm on April 29th, 2009:

    I don’t know why I immediately knew that, but I did. I don’t even like the Mets. I may have a problem.

  31. 31: Melody said at 9:09 pm on April 29th, 2009:

    Yeah the Rickey story is a great one… even if it’s not factually true (which it isn’t), on some metaphysical level, it IS a true story!

  32. 32: William said at 10:25 pm on April 29th, 2009:

    Jon Olerud deserves a lot of credit for the titles the Blue Jays won in the 90s and for the Amazin’ year the Mets had when they made it to the World Series as one of the best fielding teams in history. Defense at first base is very underrated as was Jon Olerud.

  33. 33: Geoffrey said at 8:32 am on April 30th, 2009:

    Beltran crossed my mind for a second but decided it couldn’t be because
    1) You did not come up with this trivia question
    2) Beltran had a “bad” (I use that term loosely) year when he first came to the Mets

  34. 34: Bryan in Brighton said at 11:03 am on April 30th, 2009:

    I may be wrong, but I believe that Olerud wore the helmet in the field because of a brain tumor he had while he was in college.

    I saw a few be critical of the fact he did that, and I think if they knew the whole story they wouldn’t be so critical.

    And Melody, and others, please share why you think the Rickey, Olerud story is not true. It sounds exactly like Rickey to me. It makes for a great story true or not.

    Joe, great question, and thanks for giving credit to Olerud as a quality big leaguer. He would be a first ballot candidate into your hall of fame.

  35. 35: Blackadder said at 7:21 am on May 1st, 2009:

    The first year I followed baseball was 1993, and so I have always been very fond of Olerud. I remember trying to imitate his lefty swing at my house and almost shattering a glass door…

  36. 36: Buchholz Surfer said at 10:25 am on May 1st, 2009:

    How many Hall of Famers do the Mets have? Seaver of course, and Nolan Ryan came up with the Mets, but didn’t last long. Whodo they have in the Hall who played most of his career with them?

  37. 37: Josh said at 11:39 am on May 1st, 2009:

    Ooh, interesting – Olerud was actually going to be my first guess (I was just having a discussion elsewhere about how great he was in those three years in New York), except that I didn’t think he had 2,000 PA.

  38. 38: Owen said at 1:43 pm on May 1st, 2009:

    I wanted it to be Alfonzo, but Olerud was my second favorite. That lineup of still pesky Rickey Henderson, Fonzie, Olerud, Piazza was monstrous. Ah the good ol days.

  39. 39: JO'C said at 2:24 pm on May 1st, 2009:

    @ Bryan…From ‘Fun Trivia’: While attending Washington State University in 1989, Olerud suffered a brain hemorrhage and an aneurysm during a morning workout. Though he recovered, doctors advised him to wear a protective batting helmet while playing first base or pitching (he was a two-position player in college), in order to protect against line drives and collisions with base runners that might result in contact with the skull…The ‘Rickey’ story was discredited by Rickey himself: http://www.faniq.com/blog/The-25-Best-Rickey-Henderson-Stories-Of-All-Time-Blog-15243 (#17).

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