This next installment of How Did This Happen was supposed to be about Barry Bonds. My idea was to look at his infamous 2004 season in which Bonds re-broke his own MLB record for intentional walks in a season by 52 and furthered the gap for the most from not-Barry Bonds by an incredible 75 walks.
Three seasons after Bonds broke the single-season homerun record he hit .362 as a 39 year-old with 373 at-bats, 45 homeruns, and 101 RBI’s with 232 walks. Two hundred and thirty two!
Bonds led the Majors in intentional walks every year from 1992 through 1998 with 208 total and had an insane 120 intentional walks in 2004 alone. When I was looking at the historic list of most intentional passes in a single season the names are all familiar along with Bonds: Willy McVovey, Albert Pujols, Sammy Sosa, Ryan Howard, Ted Williams, and John Olerud.
Wait, John Olerud?
You may remember Olerud as the lanky 1st baseman who wore a hard helmet in the field. He starred for the Mets and Mariners as an older player before finishing his career with the Yankees and Red Sox but became a key part of 2 World Series winners with the Blue Jays where he played his first 8 seasons in the Majors.
Olerud was a phenom in college at Washington State becoming an All-American both as a batter and pitcher while being named the Pac-12 Player of the Century by the Pac-12 Network back in 2016. He would suffer a brain aneurysm (eventually leading to the helmet in the field) during his junior year with the Cougars and in 1990 became just the 16th player since the Amateur Draft began in 1965 to go directly to the Majors without a minor league appearance.
The early 1990’s Blue Jays were the first baseball team I followed closely and they were absolutely loaded. In 1992 on their run to the World Series title, Toronto set an attendance record of 4,028,318 and became the first team in 49 years to never be swept during a series. On a hockey trip we caught a game during their World Series run and the SkyDome was absolutely rocking–truly a one-of-a-kind experience 30 years ago. After the game in our hotel, my best friend was swinging one of those tiny souvenir wooden bats and caught my dad on the toe. I’ve never seen my dad so pissed off, ah memories!
The SkyDome roof is above the heavens.
By 1993, Olerud was a decent pro but many didn’t expect what was to come as a follow up to a pennant and world title. The Blue Jays carried 4 eventual Hall of Famers in Roberto Alomar at 2nd base, Ricky Henderson in left field, Paul Molitor at DH, and pitcher Jack Morris bringing up the rear in the starting rotation. Toronto added more all-stars this season in right fielder Joe Carter, center fielder Devon White, starter Pat Hentgen, closer Duane Ward, plus John Olerud.
It took Olerud a handful of games to get going but the lanky Washingtonian would start 1993 on a red-hot tear. He hit .450 during the first month of the season which led to 7 intentional walks in May where Olerud continued to hit well at .348 for the month.
In June, Olerud kept up the pace hitting .427 and being intentionally walked 11 times. During July he hit .389 with 18 total walks, 6 more intentionally. He’d cool off over August and September though hitting .310 and .256 respectively with only 6 more intentional walks.
By the end of the regular season Olerud had won a batting title hitting .363 while also leading the MLB with 54 doubles to go with a solid 24 homeruns and 107 RBI’s. Olerud would finish 3rd in MVP voting behind teammate Molitor and Frank Thomas and became just the 9th player since 1900 to achieve 200 hits and 100 walks in the same season.
Toronto won the AL East again among 95 total victories and in the ALCS took out the White Sox in 6 games. This was the final year of the two-round playoffs and it’s wild now to look back and see only 4 team in the entire MLB making the post-season. In the World Series, Toronto jumped out to a 3-1 series lead over the Phillies thanks to a wild game 4 that broke the record for most combined runs (29) and longest-ever World Series game at 4 hours and 14 minutes.
Philadelphia took a pitching duel in game 5 but in the return to the SkyDome we witnessed that bottom of the 9th legendary homerun from Joe Carter to win it all.
This wasn’t Olerud’s only big year. He’d play well for the Blue Jays for another 3 seasons, had a big year with the Mets in 1999 and also with Seattle in 2001 where he’d manage 19 intentional walks for the Mariners. But nothing could touch 1993 when it came to free passes for Olerud, a good player who was far from the Hall of Fame but has a unique claim to fame.
I feel like baseball is not as fun as it used to be. One of the reasons is that teams have started using strategies that, while very logical, are very boring for fans. The intentional walk is one of those. It totally makes sense to intentionally walk a phenom like a juiced up Bonds*, especially when the other batters are not much of a threat, but as a fan it really makes the game less exciting.
*side note: I thought Bonds (pre-juicing) was one of the best baseball players of his time (he was a very well-rounded player) — it was a shame to me that he embraced steroids and took it to such an extreme
I am 100% in favor of the juiced up Bonds. He was comically large and padded up like he was getting ready for a roller derby match.
Get rid of the ban on steroids (if there’s a way to safely regulate it), get rid of the DH and get 9 meatheads out on the field attempting to play defense and stay healthy-ish got 162 games. I might watch a bit of baseball again.