Olsen Is Still Trying to Catch On

Catcher D.C. Olsen answers the obvious question before it is even asked. Why would a 27-year-old player far from the major leagues still go to the park every day to play in an independent league, on some days using a first baseman’s mitt to catch the former major league second baseman trying to resurrect his career as a knuckleball pitcher?

“I’m just playing for the pure love of the game,” Olsen said. “I’m loving it.”

Olsen, a Fullerton High graduate and the first baseman on Cal State Fullerton’s 1995 national championship team, spent a couple of years in the Montreal Expos organization before being cut after spring training in 1998. There wasn’t much interest in Olsen, who got as far as double A, so he hooked on with the New Jersey Jackals in 1998. The Jackals are in the Northern League.

Olsen was named an all star in 1998, and finished the season with a team-high .327 average and 13 home runs. He was again selected to the all-star game this year. Olsen is currently hitting .289 with 12 home runs and 48 RBIs through 67 games.

There are stories of players in the Northern League advancing to the majors. J.D. Drew and Rey Ordonez spent time in St. Paul, and pitchers Mike Cather of the Braves and American League all-star Jeff Zimmerman played at Winnipeg. There were 36 former Northern Leaguers in major league organizations at the beginning of the year, but Olsen isn’t waiting impatiently for a phone call from a team.

“If it happens, that’s tremendous and I’d love for it to happen, but I have no control over it,” Olsen said. “I just want to play the game.”

But Olsen still hasn’t given up the dream of working through the minors for another shot at the major leagues.

“As long as you have a uniform, even though this is independent ball, there’s always opportunities,” he said. “You never know.”

Olsen finds himself picking the brain of one of his teammates, who knows what the majors is all about. Mark Lemke, who played second base for the Braves from 1988-97 and with the Red Sox in 1998, was best known for his solid fielding and his clutch bat in the postseason. Now he’s trying to get back to the majors as a pitcher, after working on a knuckleball. Major league dreams die hard.

“We ask [Lemke] about the experience,” Olsen said. “Every guy here is looking for an opportunity to get back in. We’re hoping he can give us some knowledge on some shortcuts into it.”

Although the Northern League is a far cry from the bigs, it is well organized. The fields are well kept, and the Jackals play in a new park--Yogi Berra Stadium--which draws more than 3,000 fans per game. The pay scale is based on experience in a major league team’s organization. The players with no experience in an organization are considered rookies in the league and make only $700 per month. But a veteran, anyone with more than four years in an organization, makes as much as $3,000 per month, and there are always incentives to be earned.

Although the life of a Northern Leaguer isn’t terrible by any means, Olsen said he’s almost ready to give it up. He said he evaluates his career in the off-season every year, but it sounded like he already has his mind made up for 2000.

“I’d love to get a chance to go to a spring training in somebody’s organization,” Olsen said. “If I can get in somewhere and it doesn’t work out, I think I’ll shut it down.”

LAST MINUTE

Every time catcher Gerald Laird laces a base hit for the Class-A Southern Oregon Timberjacks, it’s a victory for procrastinators everywhere.

Laird, a graduate of La Quinta High, signed with the Athletics organization in June, at about 11:40 p.m. the night before the draft. That was about 20 minutes before the A’s would have lost the rights to Laird and he would have reentered the draft. But Laird, the 45th overall selection in the 1998 draft, signed a deal that paid him a $1.135-million signing bonus. He’s with the A’s for six years, and if he makes the major league team before that runs out, he can renegotiate.

“I’m glad I signed and didn’t wait because then I would have had to go through another year of negotiating,” he said. “But I’m glad I’m with Oakland. They have a great organization.”

Laird went to Cypress College for a year after negotiations broke down with the Athletics. Since being assigned to Southern Oregon, Laird is hitting .325 with 30 RBIs.