From time to time I will do a “Compare/Contrast” piece on two players or two teams from the same era or two completely different eras. First up we have John Olerud vs Keith Hernandez who were both slick fielding and smooth swinging ballplayers so lets get to the comparing and contrasting.

Player’s Profile

John Garret Olerud was born on August 5, 1968 in Seattle, WA. John was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 3rd round of the 1989 amateur draft out of Washington State University. John was one of the few rare cases in baseball history in which he did not play in the minor leagues before making his debut in the big leagues on September 3, 1989 against the Minnesota Twins. He would go onto play 17 years in the big leagues for 5 teams, the Blue Jays, the Mets, the Mariners, the Yankees, and the Red Sox.

Keith Hernandez was born on October 20, 1953 in San Francisco, CA. Keith was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 42nd round of the 1971 amateur draft. Keith made his big league debut on August 30, 1974 against the San Francisco Giants. He would go onto play 17 seasons for 3 teams, the Cardinals, the Mets, and the Indians.

Career Accolades

John won 2 World Series’, both with the Blue Jays in back-to-back years in 1992 and 1993. In John’s 17 year career he made it to the postseason in 8 of those years. John’s best season came in 1993 when he hit .363 AVG, 24 HR, 107 RBI, .473 OBP, 109 R, 200 H, 54 2B, 114 BB, and only 65 SO as he led the Blue Jays to their second straight World Series title. John finished 3rd in the MVP voting in 1993 but as you can see had one incredible MVP caliber season. During his career he won a batting title in 1993, made 2 all-star teams in 1993 and 2001, and won 3 Gold Gloves in 2000, 2002-2003, but could have easily won more.

Keith also won 2 World Series’, one with the Cardinals in 1982 and one with the Mets in 1986. In Keith’s 17 year career he made it to the postseason in 3 of those years. Keith’s best season came in 1979 when he hit .344 AVG, 11 HR, 105 RBI, .417 OBP, 116 R, 210 H, 48 2B, 11 3B,80 BB, and 78 SO as he went onto win a co-MVP award for the Cardinals. During his career he won an MVP award in 1979, a batting title in 1979, made 5 all-star teams in 1979-1980, 1984, and 1986-1987, and won a staggering 11 Gold Gloves from 1978-1988.

Career Numbers

Compare/Contrast

Comparing those career numbers makes it almost too close to call but I have to say I think John was the slightly better overall hitter, however, you could not go wrong with either player as they were both fine classic LH hitters.

These two players are examples of what the present-day game of baseball is lacking and that is what I would call “pure” #3 hitters in that I want a #3 hitter to hit for a high AVG, 15-20 HR, and a high OBP because that tells me this guy just flatout knows how to hit and has a great approach to an atbat. This is the type of hitter that attacks and understands the situation when he goes to the plate. A line drive and gap hitter that hits HR by accident.

In today’s game, for whatever reason, teams and upper management seem to think a #3 hitter has to hit a lot of HR. It seems as if the idea of a #3 hitter today in a lot of ways was a cleanup hitter of yesteryear. Both John and Keith were those kind of “pure” hitters and John had one of the most consistently compact and sweet swings from the left side of the plate you will ever see.

Who was the better player? Well, Keith is regarded as the greatest defensive 1B of all-time in many corners of the baseball world. With that said, John was also a fine defensive 1B that should have won more Gold Gloves than he did. In the end, I have to say Keith was the better overall defensive player mainly because of quicker footspeed but Keith also had “baseball instincts” that were unmatched.

During John’s career he was a very steady, quiet, and ultimate professional which in a lot of ways was an extreme opposite of Keith. I am not saying Keith did not go about his business professionally but he did have a lot of grit and attitude in his overall game that is great if he was a teammate but you may not like it if he was on the opposing team, however, that is the way it is supposed to be, right?

So, John was the better hitter by a small margin and Keith was the better fielder by a decent margin. I think this “Compare/Contrast” comes down to who you would like to have up at the plate or in the field in the biggest of games and this is where I think the grit and the attitude of Keith comes into play.

Final Thoughts

By the smallest of margins I give the victory to “Mex,” Keith Hernandez. A difficult decision on my part because I actually liked John better as a player. Something about that steady quiet approach to the game that I love. In the end these are two classic ballplayers that are borderline Hall of Famers but not quite. One thing is for sure they don’t make ‘em like these two anymore.