PORT ST. LUCIE – John Olerud’s room in his parents house back in Bellevue, Wash., sits in much the same condition as it did back when he was a boy, complete with posters of Don Mattingly and George Brett tacked to the walls.
For a kid who loved Mattingly it is appropriate that fans at Shea last year began calling him “Johnny Baseball,” a reference to “Donnie Baseball,” the moniker with which Yankee fans graced Mattingly.
Mindful of the connection, a reporter asked Olerud which of the two players that adorned his childhood walls, Brett or Mattingly, was his favorite. But the reporter hesitated, fearful it might be Brett.
“I want to ask you a question, but I’m afraid the answer might be…”
“Boring?” Olerud deadpanned.
Despite opinion to the contrary, Olerud, 30, is hardly boring. Met fans who have watched that sweet stroke lead to 351 hits and 195 RBIs over the past two seasons will agree.
From former Blue Jay manager Cito Gaston, to fans, media and players, there also was the misconception about Olerud being so mild and dull that he would be swallowed up in the flash of New York. Instead, he is the perfect fit, like the quiet, but successful diner down the block from the crowded, trendy bistro. One gets the sense Olerud could sip tea in Pamplona as the Running of the Bulls raged around him.
Hitting .294 and .354 over the past two years, Olerud has recaptured his position as one of the purest hitters in the game. Now, on a team replete with personality and stars, he will once again quietly do his job like a singular bee in a busy hive, or a quiet street in a city known for never sleeping.
“I’m in awe of his ability to do it in New York,” his mother Lynda says. “I think that was his hardest adjustment.”
But it turns out Olerud is a perfect fit with New York. He doesn’t live in the suburbs, but on the Upper East Side. And after two great seasons here, no one would argue it, not even Gaston. Olerud can even handle the traffic.
One day last year Olerud and Al Leiter were driving together to Shea when their car ran into heavy traffic at the FDR and 96th St. Like any New Yorker, Leiter began to curse and howl at the jam-up, pounding on the dashboard and gnashing his teeth.
But then he looked over to his buddy in the next seat and saw no frustration, no anger, and certainly no rage. Instead, all he saw was what he usually sees when he glances over at Olerud from the mound – a calm, implacable demeanor.
“I can learn from that,” Leiter said.
In the midst of one of the busiest, zaniest, most happening cities in the world, Olerud sits calmly and doesn’t flinch at the swirling winds of media hype, at fickle fans, at wide-ranging night life, at controversy or idolatry.
A New Yorker like Bobby Bonilla had trouble dealing with it in his first stint with the Mets. Sometimes John Franco seems hurt by it. Others have withered in its wake. But for Olerud, it might as well be Frostbite Falls.
Olerud has never been upset by hostile conditions, not since he was an 18-year-old pitcher leading his Washington State Cougars into some very nasty places. As a freshman, Olerud pitched at the University of Texas and won. On the same trip he also pitched at Arkansas and won, then at Oklahoma and won. At that point it looked as if he would be a top pitching prospect. His demeanor on those unfriendly mounds would speak volumes about his ability to deal with pressure.
“He’s always been so focused on the mental part of the game,” John Olerud Sr., a former Triple-A catcher, explains. “He has great concentration and no matter how hard you try to rattle him, he won’t let anything distract him.”
Nothing in this most distracting city in the world – not even the traffic – can deter Olerud..
“Two years ago Kelly [his wife] and I went to a lot of shows and did a lot of touristy things,” Olerud said. “Last year it’s slowed down a bit. We’ve still never been to the Statue of Liberty. I guess we’re just regular New Yorkers now.”
You see, Gaston just had it backwards. Toronto just wasn’t big enough for the likes of Olerud.
