John Olerud was not actually on the field as Toronto won both their Fall Classics in 1992 and 1993. Yep, he was in the dugout when Joe Carter made the last putout / homered off Mitch Williams. He didn't play at all in game six in the 1992 World Series, and had been removed for a pinch-runner the next year.
Not that Olerud shouldn't have been playing. He found ways to contribute to both the 1992 and '93 wins. For starters, he was excellent in the 1992 ALCS vs. Oakland. Toronto was trying to get over the hump, having lost to Oakland at this stage in 1989, and to Minnesota there as well in 1991. Going as far back as 1985, the Blue Jays lost (In seven games, no less) to the Royals in the American League Championship Series. 1992 would be the year.
Toronto dropped game one despite an RBI single by Olerud. John didn't do much in games two and three. But in game four he sure did. 4-4, a home run, and 2 RBIs. Though Dave Stewart managed to stop Olerud in the Jays in game five, sending it to another contest, Toronto had the momentum.
Game six was a fine game for Olerud. His ground-rule-double in the bottom of the made it 3-0 for the home team. He singled and eventually scored in the bottom of the fifth. Toronto won, 9-2 and finally made it to the Fall Classic!
Olerud didn't play in the first game of the World Series, alas. Tom Glavine, the pitcher on the opposing team (Atlanta Braves) was a lefty. So it made better sense to leave John out. Alas, the decision looked poor as Glavine spun a fine 5-hitter and won it 3-1 (Joe Carter hit the home run to account for the lone Toronto run).
Olerud faced right-hander John Smoltz in game two, and could get a hit off him or relieve (And left-hander) Mike Stanton. Toronto, though, won this game right there in Atlanta, and now headed home. Though Olerud was held hitless in game three, and even pinch hit for in the last of the ninth, it was the Blue Jays with a 3-2 win, walk-off style.
Glavine was back for game for. This was a big one for both the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays. It was either going to be 3-1 Toronto, or all tied 2-2 after this game. Though neither hit factor in the scoring, Olerud did well against the lefty, going 2-2 after making an out his first time up. Toronto won 2-1! One more win.
Game five was the last one in Toronto in the 1992 Fall Classic, but Atlanta wasn't about to fold. They sent John Smoltz back up to get the job done.
He wasn't exactly on his game. His control was off. Olerud took advantage of it. With his team trailing 1-0, Olerud had the count in his favour 3-0 in the bottom of the second. Smoltz got it back to 3-2, but Olerud hit a single to centre. And by the way, he came around to score. Fourth inning, same deal. Olerud singled and eventually scored. However, that proved to be the last run the home team got. Smoltz seemed to get better as the game went on, although Olerud sure made life miserable for him. Even in the last of the fifth, with Dave Winfield on first, the Toronto first basemen was back at the dish. This time, it was the batter that clawed his way back into the count. Smoltz got ahead 0-2, then found it difficult to hit the strike zone again (Smoltz finished the game with 4 walks, and 114 pitches thrown in only 6 IP). After the count went full, John fouled off a pitch, then sent one the opposite way to Deion Sanders in left for the last out. The Braves had a commanding 7-2 lead by then.
Ed Sprague, as he had in game three, batted for John Olerud, in the last of the eighth as the Jays looked to score a third run. Joe Carter was on second. Sprague flied out to right.
So in game six, Steve Avery, the game three starter, was back on the hill in Atlanta for the home team. The Blue Jays went with Joe Carter at first, Candy Maldonado in left and Dave Winfield in right. Kinda sad that Olerud didn't get a chance to play. But let's see how each of them did.
Carter drove in Devon White in the top of the first with a sac fly to right. Joe actually reached first as Dave Justice dropped the ball. Winfield walked, but Maldonado grounded into a force.
But Candy sure delivered in the top of the fourth. Ahead 0-1 on Avery, he drove Steve's next pitch over Sanders head in left. That broke a 1-1 deadlock. Toronto seemed to pick away at Atlanta's pitching for the rest of the night, and Carter, Winfield and Maldonado had a lot to do with that!
Carter doubled the next inning, only to be stranded. That seemed to be the visitors problem in game six. A lot of hits, but only two runs through ten innings!
Mike Stanton came in again to pitch, but this time, Toronto got to him. Maldonado led off the eighth with a single to left. A bunt and an intentional walk by Pat Borders put the Blue Jays in great shape to add to that one-run lead. But Manny Lee and pinch hitter Derek Bell were retired.
Carter though, doubled off Stanton in the top of the ninth. There were two outs, and Winfield was looking for his first hit of the game. He didn't get it as he grounded out.
Anyways, Atlanta tied it in the last of the ninth despite a fine catch by Maldonaldo. Candy then made the first out in the top of the tenth. Kelly Gruber followed with a single, but was stranded. The next inning, after Carter was retired with two away, Winfield doubled home both runners! Hey! 4-2, Toronto. Maldonaldo made the last out. Atlanta got one run back, but Carter at first caught Mike Timlin's throw at first for the last out.
So in 1993, Olerud was still the Toronto first basemen. Winfield was gone, leaving for Minnesota. Maldonaldo was gone to the Chicago Cubs. Carter was still around in right field. Paul Molitor was the new DH / 1B and some guy named Ricky Henderson was in left.
Well, ALCS was the same deal as last year. Olerud had a great ALCS in '93. He hit .348 with with 5 runs scored and 3 driven in. Against Philadelphia in the Fall Classic, Olerud got the ball rolling for Toronto. He hit a solo home run off Curt Schilling in game one to put the Jays ahead for good. 2 hits, a walk and 2 runs scored overall.
In game 2, Olerud was held hitless, but knocked in Toronto's last run in a 6-4 loss. Then came game 3 in Philadelphia. Danny Jackson, a lefty, was pitching. No DH, of course. So Olerud was benched. Paul Molitor played 1st base. How'd he fair? Wow! 3 runs scored. 3 driven in. A walk. A home run. Toronto won 10-3.
But Olerud was back at first for game four. And while he went only 1-4, he added 2 walks. He scored 2 runs. The Blue Jays won a wild one, 15-14, to be within a game of their second straight World Series title.
Schilling stopped Olerud and Toronto in game five, alas. A fine 5-hit shutout resulted in a 2-0 win for the home team. So if Toronto wanted to win, they'd have to do it at home in game six or seven.
Olerud doubled with 2 runs already scored in the last of the first in game six. Roberto Alomar cashed John Olerud in to make it 3-0 for the home team. Olerud didn't reach base again until the bottom of the eight. Toronto needed some runs as they were now trailing 6-5. Alfredo Griffin ran for him. The Blue Jays loaded the bases but did not score. In the top of the ninth, Griffin moved to third as Ed Sprague, the regular man at the hot corner, took over at first.
And Griffin was in the on-deck circle as Joe Carter won the game in dramatic fashion in the last of the ninth. Olerud wasn't in the game anymore, but sure had contributed. Though he hit just .235 in the 6-game series, he found he way on base four times via the walk to go along with his four hits. He scored five times, knocked in 2, and was steady at first. Olerud may not have been Toronto's best player in either Fall Classic, but don't to easy act like he didn't contribute.
References
1992 World Series. Performance by Len Cariou, Major League Baseball Productions, 1992. DVD.
1993 World Series. Performance by Len Cariou, Major League Baseball Productions, 1993. DVD.
Dan Diamond and Associates and Toronto Blue Jays Club. Toronto Blue Jays Official Guide 1993, 1994. Print.
Gamester, George, and Gerald Hall. On Top Of The World: The Toronto Star’s Tribute To The ‘92 Blue Jays. Doubleday Canada, 1992. Print.
Morrison, Scott. Back 2 Back. Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation. 1993, Print.
“The Official Site Of Major League Baseball.” MLB.com, Major League Baseball. Web. 22 July. 2018. <www.mlb.com/>.
Retrosheet. Retrosheet. Web. 22 July. 2018..
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. . 22 July. 2018
Thorn, John, and Pete Palmer. Total Baseball. Vers. 1994. Portland, OR: Creative Multimedia Corp., 1994. Computer software. CD-ROM.
Youtube. Youtube. Web. 22 July. 2018. <https://www.youtube.com/>.
Not that Olerud shouldn't have been playing. He found ways to contribute to both the 1992 and '93 wins. For starters, he was excellent in the 1992 ALCS vs. Oakland. Toronto was trying to get over the hump, having lost to Oakland at this stage in 1989, and to Minnesota there as well in 1991. Going as far back as 1985, the Blue Jays lost (In seven games, no less) to the Royals in the American League Championship Series. 1992 would be the year.
Toronto dropped game one despite an RBI single by Olerud. John didn't do much in games two and three. But in game four he sure did. 4-4, a home run, and 2 RBIs. Though Dave Stewart managed to stop Olerud in the Jays in game five, sending it to another contest, Toronto had the momentum.
Game six was a fine game for Olerud. His ground-rule-double in the bottom of the made it 3-0 for the home team. He singled and eventually scored in the bottom of the fifth. Toronto won, 9-2 and finally made it to the Fall Classic!
Olerud didn't play in the first game of the World Series, alas. Tom Glavine, the pitcher on the opposing team (Atlanta Braves) was a lefty. So it made better sense to leave John out. Alas, the decision looked poor as Glavine spun a fine 5-hitter and won it 3-1 (Joe Carter hit the home run to account for the lone Toronto run).
Olerud faced right-hander John Smoltz in game two, and could get a hit off him or relieve (And left-hander) Mike Stanton. Toronto, though, won this game right there in Atlanta, and now headed home. Though Olerud was held hitless in game three, and even pinch hit for in the last of the ninth, it was the Blue Jays with a 3-2 win, walk-off style.
Glavine was back for game for. This was a big one for both the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays. It was either going to be 3-1 Toronto, or all tied 2-2 after this game. Though neither hit factor in the scoring, Olerud did well against the lefty, going 2-2 after making an out his first time up. Toronto won 2-1! One more win.
Game five was the last one in Toronto in the 1992 Fall Classic, but Atlanta wasn't about to fold. They sent John Smoltz back up to get the job done.
He wasn't exactly on his game. His control was off. Olerud took advantage of it. With his team trailing 1-0, Olerud had the count in his favour 3-0 in the bottom of the second. Smoltz got it back to 3-2, but Olerud hit a single to centre. And by the way, he came around to score. Fourth inning, same deal. Olerud singled and eventually scored. However, that proved to be the last run the home team got. Smoltz seemed to get better as the game went on, although Olerud sure made life miserable for him. Even in the last of the fifth, with Dave Winfield on first, the Toronto first basemen was back at the dish. This time, it was the batter that clawed his way back into the count. Smoltz got ahead 0-2, then found it difficult to hit the strike zone again (Smoltz finished the game with 4 walks, and 114 pitches thrown in only 6 IP). After the count went full, John fouled off a pitch, then sent one the opposite way to Deion Sanders in left for the last out. The Braves had a commanding 7-2 lead by then.
Ed Sprague, as he had in game three, batted for John Olerud, in the last of the eighth as the Jays looked to score a third run. Joe Carter was on second. Sprague flied out to right.
So in game six, Steve Avery, the game three starter, was back on the hill in Atlanta for the home team. The Blue Jays went with Joe Carter at first, Candy Maldonado in left and Dave Winfield in right. Kinda sad that Olerud didn't get a chance to play. But let's see how each of them did.
Carter drove in Devon White in the top of the first with a sac fly to right. Joe actually reached first as Dave Justice dropped the ball. Winfield walked, but Maldonado grounded into a force.
But Candy sure delivered in the top of the fourth. Ahead 0-1 on Avery, he drove Steve's next pitch over Sanders head in left. That broke a 1-1 deadlock. Toronto seemed to pick away at Atlanta's pitching for the rest of the night, and Carter, Winfield and Maldonado had a lot to do with that!
Carter doubled the next inning, only to be stranded. That seemed to be the visitors problem in game six. A lot of hits, but only two runs through ten innings!
Mike Stanton came in again to pitch, but this time, Toronto got to him. Maldonado led off the eighth with a single to left. A bunt and an intentional walk by Pat Borders put the Blue Jays in great shape to add to that one-run lead. But Manny Lee and pinch hitter Derek Bell were retired.
Carter though, doubled off Stanton in the top of the ninth. There were two outs, and Winfield was looking for his first hit of the game. He didn't get it as he grounded out.
Anyways, Atlanta tied it in the last of the ninth despite a fine catch by Maldonaldo. Candy then made the first out in the top of the tenth. Kelly Gruber followed with a single, but was stranded. The next inning, after Carter was retired with two away, Winfield doubled home both runners! Hey! 4-2, Toronto. Maldonaldo made the last out. Atlanta got one run back, but Carter at first caught Mike Timlin's throw at first for the last out.
So in 1993, Olerud was still the Toronto first basemen. Winfield was gone, leaving for Minnesota. Maldonaldo was gone to the Chicago Cubs. Carter was still around in right field. Paul Molitor was the new DH / 1B and some guy named Ricky Henderson was in left.
Well, ALCS was the same deal as last year. Olerud had a great ALCS in '93. He hit .348 with with 5 runs scored and 3 driven in. Against Philadelphia in the Fall Classic, Olerud got the ball rolling for Toronto. He hit a solo home run off Curt Schilling in game one to put the Jays ahead for good. 2 hits, a walk and 2 runs scored overall.
In game 2, Olerud was held hitless, but knocked in Toronto's last run in a 6-4 loss. Then came game 3 in Philadelphia. Danny Jackson, a lefty, was pitching. No DH, of course. So Olerud was benched. Paul Molitor played 1st base. How'd he fair? Wow! 3 runs scored. 3 driven in. A walk. A home run. Toronto won 10-3.
But Olerud was back at first for game four. And while he went only 1-4, he added 2 walks. He scored 2 runs. The Blue Jays won a wild one, 15-14, to be within a game of their second straight World Series title.
Schilling stopped Olerud and Toronto in game five, alas. A fine 5-hit shutout resulted in a 2-0 win for the home team. So if Toronto wanted to win, they'd have to do it at home in game six or seven.
Olerud doubled with 2 runs already scored in the last of the first in game six. Roberto Alomar cashed John Olerud in to make it 3-0 for the home team. Olerud didn't reach base again until the bottom of the eight. Toronto needed some runs as they were now trailing 6-5. Alfredo Griffin ran for him. The Blue Jays loaded the bases but did not score. In the top of the ninth, Griffin moved to third as Ed Sprague, the regular man at the hot corner, took over at first.
And Griffin was in the on-deck circle as Joe Carter won the game in dramatic fashion in the last of the ninth. Olerud wasn't in the game anymore, but sure had contributed. Though he hit just .235 in the 6-game series, he found he way on base four times via the walk to go along with his four hits. He scored five times, knocked in 2, and was steady at first. Olerud may not have been Toronto's best player in either Fall Classic, but don't to easy act like he didn't contribute.
References
1992 World Series. Performance by Len Cariou, Major League Baseball Productions, 1992. DVD.
1993 World Series. Performance by Len Cariou, Major League Baseball Productions, 1993. DVD.
Bingley, Phil, et al. Another World: the Toronto Stars Tribute To The’ 93 Blue Jays. Toronto Star for Doubleday Canada, 1993. Print.
Gamester, George, and Gerald Hall. On Top Of The World: The Toronto Star’s Tribute To The ‘92 Blue Jays. Doubleday Canada, 1992. Print.
Morrison, Scott. Back 2 Back. Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation. 1993, Print.
“The Official Site Of Major League Baseball.” MLB.com, Major League Baseball. Web. 22 July. 2018. <www.mlb.com/>.
Retrosheet. Retrosheet. Web. 22 July. 2018.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. . 22 July. 2018
Thorn, John, and Pete Palmer. Total Baseball. Vers. 1994. Portland, OR: Creative Multimedia Corp., 1994. Computer software. CD-ROM.
Youtube. Youtube. Web. 22 July. 2018. <https://www.youtube.com/>.
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