Ed Olwine Was Ahead of His Time

Behold the relief-native pitcher in his mid-to-late-inning habitat

Note: When you click on links to various merchants in this newsletter and make a purchase, this can result in this newsletter earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

1989 Upper Deck Ed Olwine (#435)- Card of the Day

Ed Olwine’s career trajectory might look a little more standard in today’s game, but he was something of a standout — for being different — in the 1970s and 1980s.

For starters, Olwine rejected the White Sox when they selected him out of Greenville High School in Ohio in the 21st round of the 1976 draft. That wasn’t so unusual, as young players often use college ball to improve their draft status.

But a four-year run at Morehead State University left Olwine undrafted when June 1980 rolled around. The Yankees came calling right afterwards, though, and Olwine signed as a minor league free agent.

That’s not all that unusual, either, though it probably wasn’t what Olwine had in mind coming out of college.

But things started to look a bit odd for Olwine right away that summer, when he made his pro debut and ended up touching three levels of the minors: Rookie, Low-A, and Regular-A.

In those three stops, Olwine made a combined 21 appearances and pitched to a fine 2.41 ERA, with 55 strikeouts in 45 innings. He also picked up four saves.

If those numbers — aside from the piddling number of saves, maybe — look like the profile of a (more) modern reliever, there’s a reason for that.

Among those 21 games pitched, exactly zero of them were starts. The young lefty had jumped right into the bullpen as a pro, not exactly unheard of, but certainly not the norm. Most of the time back then — and even sometimes today — hurlers found their way into relief work when the whole starting thing didn’t work out for them.

And, lest you think this was just a get-your-feet-wet introduction to the minors for Olwine, he was back at it in 1981. In 51 games for the Single-A Greensboro Hornets, the 23-year-old recorded 19 saves but zero starts. He struck out nearly a batter an inning and held his ERA to an even 3.00, and he also didn’t allow a home run.

His stock rising, Olwine turned in a pretty similar season in 1982 — with the added bonus of a single start — before splitting 1983 between Double A and Triple A. That summer, he also garnered six more starts and his only complete game, but generally found the going a bit rougher. He landed at 4-4 with a 4.94 ERA serving up about a homer per nine innings.

The Mets drafted him away from the Yanks that winter, and NYM set him back on his original relief-only course, which resulted in two sub-3.00 summers. Then, in April of 1986, the Mets traded Olwine to the Braves for Mike Santiago.

Atlanta sent their new hurler to Triple-A to start the season, but they called him up in early June at a time when they were fighting to stay above .500 and in the National League West race.

The Braves wilted as the summer heat set in, but Olwine stayed with the team the rest of the season, going 0-0 with a 3.40 ERA in 37 appearances that included — you guessed it — zero starts.

Olwine split both the 1987 and 1988 seasons between the minors and the Braves, who released him in December of ‘88. The Royals picked him up for the new season, and he made 53 appearances (no starts) for Omaha in 1989.

That same summer, Upper Deck included Olwine in their iconic first set, showing him in the good old days with the Braves. As it turned out, that card would be a career-capper.

In 1990, Olwine was back in the Braves’ fold one more time, posting a 5.40 ERA in 25 games before hanging up his spikes.

During his entire professional career, Olwine pitched in 470 games and made just 10 starts. In the majors, those numbers dropped to 80 and zero.

Also zero? Olwine’s career victory tally in MLB play, where he went 0-1 with a 4.52 ERA and three saves. He shares a special distinction with Juan Alvarez — they’re the only men to finish their big league careers with as many as 80 mound appearances but with no victories.

Today, Ed Olwine — relief specialist — turns 66 years old.

Bream on the Run

The first man to get a hit off Olwine in the majors was Pirates first baseman Sid Bream, who tagged the lefty for a double with two outs in the top of the eighth on June 2, 1986.

If you can just about picture the lanky Bream chugging around first on his way to the keystone, it’s probably because you remember his breathless sprint home to win the 1992 NLCS…for the Braves…over the Pirates.

Olwine was more than two years removed from the pro scene by that point, and Bream had flipped sides. In between, while he was still with the Bucs, Fleer anointed him as one of Baseball’s Exciting Stars.

Boy did they call that one!

Read more about Bream and his 1987 Fleer box-set card right here.

—

Maybe the best thing about Olwine’s baseball cards for me are the glasses he sports on them. Baseball players with specs always make me feel at home since I live behind those little pieces of plastic/glass, too.

Probably why I took to Tom Hume right away, even though I “found” him a few years before I joined the realm of the vision-corrected.

So…who are your favorite bespectacled players? I’d love to hear about them, and look them up — provided I can see them.

Thanks for reading.

—Adam