What he did: Right place, right time. That essentially sums up the baseball career of Greg Olson, who made his home behind the plate for the Braves during their worst-to-first 1991 season, certainly the golden year of Atlanta sports. The season before, Olson was a 29-year-old rookie and made it to the All-Star Game before becoming one-half of the Braves battery in '91 and played in 133 of the team's regular-season games and all 14 postseason games, handling the staff of Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Steve Avery, Charlie Leibrandt and Pete Smith. As important, Olson was a hit off the field, extremely popular with the fans and the media and took to heart some advice given to him by Hall of Fame pitcher and Braves announcer Don Sutton, who once told him, "Enjoy it while you are up here and if it's free, it's for me.''
Who will ever forget Olson’s wacky commercial for McFrugal Auto Rental as he was the pitch man and certainly had a great story to tell about his long road to the major leagues. It started in 1982 when he was taken in the seventh round out of Edina (Minn.) High School by the New York Mets. He bounced around the organization for six years, never getting a shot at the majors in New York as his best minor-league season came in 1988 at Class AAA Tidewater when he hit .267 with six homers and 48 RBIs. The Mets granted him free agency after that season and he was signed by Minnesota and made his majors debut there, getting just two at-bats in a September call up in ‘89. The Twins granted Olson free agency and then Braves general manager Bobby Cox signed him to a $100,000 league-minimum contract. The Braves were coming off a 63-97 season and had a young catching prospect named Kelly Mann who was not ready for the majors and a veteran in Ernie Whitt but Olson made a strong impression at spring training and won the job. He had a great first half of the season and was the Braves’ only representative at the All-Star Game at Wrigley Field. Olson finished his rookie season hitting .262 with seven homers and 36 RBIs and was doing a great job of handling the young pitchers like Smoltz, Avery and Glavine despite another 97-loss season.
Then in the offseason came the hiring of general manager John Schuerholz and signing of Sid Bream and Terry Pendleton and everything changed. It first appeared that the Braves wanted to move away from Olson as they signed veteran Detroit catcher Mike Heath to a $950,000 contract. But Olson quickly proved he was more than a one-hit wonder and was the calming force behind the plate in 1991. He hit only .241 but Cox, now the manager, was comfortable with him and on several occasions he caught doubleheaders and he didn’t come out of the game in the 14 postseason games (60 plate appearances) against the Pirates and Twins. Also, he was captured in a photo that is hanging in many Atlanta homes when he jumped into the arms of Smoltz after the team won the October Saturday afternoon game that would eventually clinched the division against the Astros. He hit .333 with a homer and four RBIs in the National League Championship Series win over Pittsburgh and caught every pitch of the memorable Game 7 of the World Series when veteran Jack Morris went against Smoltz in a game that would go 10 innings (the Twins won 1-0) and is considered by many to be the greatest Series game ever played.
In 1992, Olson watched his season end in a flash when he was run over at the plate by Ken Caminiti in a September game against Houston. Olson was sent sprawling head over heels and was on the ground for 10 minutes before being put in a neck brace. The neck was fine but his right ankle was torn to shreds though he is remembered most that night for holding onto the ball to complete the double play and doing the tomahawk chop as he left the field on a stretcher. He came back and played for the Braves in ’93 but the club’s future at catcher was Javier Lopez and Olson was released after the 1993 season. He signed with the Mets but didn’t make the season-opening roster and retired. For the next few years, he managed an independent team called the Minneapolis Loons before settling into the real estate business.
Where he lives: Olson, 54, live in a golf community in Eden Prairie, Minn, and has been married to his wife Lisa for 29 years. They have three children: Ryan (24), Rachel (21) and Robbie (18).
What he does now: When he retired, Olson built a house in the Bearpath Country Club, a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course community in Eden Prairie and liked it so much that he has been the general manager of the club for the past three-plus years. He also has his real estate license and sells property and will be attending the Braves Fantasy Camp in Orlando later this month. He will room with former teammate Bream.
On his favorite moment with the Braves: "It has to be the clinching game in 1991. It was a storybook season minus one win. This city was so hungry for a championship. It was so ready for a winner."
On what made him jump into Smoltz's arms in that memorable photo: "It's funny but I walk into my office every day and I see that scene as someone drew a picture of it for me. It stays with me every day. It was just an instantaneous reaction. We had endured a very long regular season. No one gave us any consideration.''
On how close do you remain with Smoltz: "We are very close and I can't wait to go to Cooperstown to see him get inducted in the Hall. Last year I didn't go to see Glavine, (Greg) Maddux and Coxie because I knew Lisa and I would be going for John. He is well deserving of the honor and just hoping the writers put him in this year.''
What do you remember about the Game 7 against the Twins in '91: "I was back in my hometown and a lot of people ask me if I was nervous for Game 7. I was nervous for Game 1 but not this one. We had lost the night before on the 'see you tomorrow' home run by Kirby Puckett and now John was facing his childhood hero in Morris. I do remember when Bobby came in during the eighth inning and taking John out and Smoltzie just sort of flipping the ball to him. He didn't want to come out. I hated losing that game 1-0 but give Jack Morris a lot of credit for what he did.''
On whether he called the pitches for Smoltz and the relievers in that historic game: "A lot of people don't realize this but Bobby never gave us signals from the dugout. I always had a saying about calling pitches: 'The catchers suggest pitches and pitchers dictate what pitches to throw.' My memory of that night was that John didn't shake me off a lot. We were typically on the same page.''
On the collision with Caminiti: "My wife had gone with my son to Arkansas to visit with her parents. Ken hit me like a middle linebacker and smoked me. I knew it was bad when I asked Bubba (trainer Jeff Porter) how bad it was and he said let's wait for the doctor to come out here and tell us. The doctor then wanted to put a neck brace on and I told him if I do that my wife is going to come flying through the TV. But he put on the neck brace and I was thinking how to let my wife know I was OK and that is when I started doing the tomahawk chop.''
