NOTES

Aside from Olson’s cast, the most unusual fashion statement in this World Series has been John Olerud’s batting helmet, which he wears in the field while playing first base for the Blue Jays.

Although the helmet is not required by doctors, he wears it because it makes him feel safer after he underwent surgery for the removal of a brain aneurysm at the base of the brain in 1989.

He began wearing it when he returned to the field for Washington State University a little more than two months after his surgery, and has kept it on ever since.

“I started playing baseball again before the skull had healed, so doctors wanted me to leave it on,” he said. “Now I just like to leave it on. It gives me added protection in case I get hit by a ball.”

Olerud said he was first affected by the life-threatening condition when he was jogging on a Washington State track in January of 1989.

“I got a real bad headache and the next thing I know, I’m in the hospital and they are running tests on me,” he said.

He said his life was spared when the aneurysm did not rupture. And although doctors say his chances of another aneurysm are the same as any other person, he wonders.

“Sometimes when I get a headache, I worry,” he said.