Oswaldo Olivares

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Oswaldo Alberto Olivares (El Gago, Ossie)

  • Bats Left, Throws Left
  • Height 5' 11", Weight 154 lb.

BR minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Oswaldo Olivares had over 2,500 hits, over 150 triples and over 350 steals in a career that spanned from 1973-1993, including a dozen seasons in AAA, yet he never played in the majors. He won batting titles in three countries.

Mets chain[edit]

Olivares started off in the New York Mets chain, hitting .319/.385/.511 in limited action for the 1973 Marion Mets. He was 3-1 with a 4.06 ERA as a part-time pitcher as well. In the winter, he was 6 for 25 for the Navegantes del Magallanes. He split 1974 between the Batavia Trojans (.220/.322/.345 in 56 G) and Anderson Mets (.273/.355/.364 in 17 G); he was 1-0 with a 6.00 ERA to end his pitching career. His 10 outfield assists tied Steve Bowling for the New York-Penn League. In 1974-1975, he went 12 for 36 for Magallanes. He played only briefly for the 1975 Visalia Mets (15 for 64, 5 SB, 5 BB). In the winter, he hit .235/?/.286 as a semi-regular for the Navegantes but still won the Venezuelan League Rookie of the Year. He continued to get little time with the Mets, now with the Lynchburg Mets (5 for 44, 5 BB, 2 SB). He hit .342/?/.438 in a part-time role for the 1976-1977 Navegantes and played for them in the 1977 Caribbean Series.

Pirates chain[edit]

He finally got a chance in the US in 1977 when he moved to the Pittsburgh Pirates system. He produced at a .370/.436/.498 clip for the Salem Pirates, with 121 runs, 208 hits, 14 triples, 79 RBI and 46 steals in 53tries; he also got into 4 games for the Columbus Clippers (6 for 15, SB, BB). He won the Carolina League batting title by 29 points over Eugenio Cotes, led in runs by 34, led in hits by 50, tied for 6th in doubles (26), led in triples by 6, was 5th in RBI, led in steals (6 more than Cotes), was second in OBP (.002 behind Cotes, .013 ahead of #3 Wade Boggs), was second to Cotes in slugging, led in outfield putouts (254) and was second in outfield assists (18, behind Orlando Isales). Among Pirate minor leaguers, he led in runs (33 ahead of Jim Nettles), led in average, led in hits (by 54), was 4th in RBI (between Bob Oliver and Mike Easler), led in triples (4 ahead of Dave Augustine) and was second to Mike Edwards in steals. He was 15 points behind Rudy Law for the best average in all of minor league baseball, an honor Ossie would claim later in his career. He joined Cotes and Robert Bryant as the league All-Star outfielders and was named league MVP.

He kept up his performance (if not on quite the same plane) in the 1977-1978 Venezuelan League, hitting .292/?/.347 with 57 runs and 25 steals in 67 games. He tied Clint Hurdle for second in runs (behind Tony Armas Sr.), led in steals (6 ahead of #2 Joe Cannon) and was 4th with 81 hits (between Armas and Lonnie Smith). He joined the Leones del Caracas for the 1978 Caribbean Series. He split 1978 between the Shreveport Captains (.282/.353/.336 in 103 G) and Columbus Clippers (.225/.313/.296 in 20 G), still far behind the likes of Dave Parker, Bill Robinson, Omar Moreno and Easler on the Pirates outfield depth chart. His 18 assists were second to Bobby Clark among Texas League outfielders. In 1978-1979, he batted .309 for the Navegantes with 48 runs and 14 steals. He led in runs by 5 ahead of Harry Spilman, tied Cannon for fifth in swipes and led in hits (82). The Navegantes won the 1979 Caribbean Series.

Oswaldo ended his US career with a pretty fine AAA performance for the 1979 Portland Beavers, still only 24 years old. He scored 83 runs and hit .300/.397/.355; he had the most runs of any 1979 PCL player who did not make the majors, tied Claude Westmoreland for 9th in steals (28) and tied Royle Stillman and Jim Beswick for third with 17 outfield assists. While his US career was over, he did have almost 15 seasons to go. He had a .338 winter for Magallanes, with 51 runs, 7 triples and 9 steals in 70 games. He was second to Luis Bravo in triples, tied Bo Diaz for the most runs and was second to Vic Davalillo with 93 hits. He played for Caracas in the 1980 Caribbean Series, playing all four of his Caribbean Series in a four-year span. He hit .364 in those four Series.

Mexico[edit]

In 1980, Olivares went to the Mexican League, going 7 for 19 with 4 walks for the Plataneros de Tabasco. In the winter, he struggled to end his first 9-season run with Magallanes (.232/?/.282, 20 R, 3 SB). He split 1981 between two Mexican League clubs and his batting line was .328/.432/.469; he had 24 steals in 35 tries, 15 triples and 79 runs. He was 7th in the league in average (between Morris Nettles and Juan Navarette) and led in triples, 3 ahead of Jimmie Collins. He moved to the Tigres de Aragua but his woes in his homeland continued at an age when most players peak; he hit just .200/?/.216 with 10 runs and 10 RBI. With the 1982 Mexico City Red Devils, he hit .317/.422/.409 with 22 swipes in 31 attempts in a part-time role. He rebounded somewhat in his second campaign for Aragua (.287/?/.387 in 54 G). In 1983, he appeared for the Azules de Coatzacoalcos and Indios de Ciudad Juarez, hitting a combined .366/.462/.437 to finish second in the Mexican League batting race, 11 points behind Ricardo Duran and 21 points ahead of #3 Ralph Bryant.

The Caracas native hit .289/?/.363 for Aragua in 1983-1984, tying Kevin Bass for third in the LVBP in triples (5), behind Benny Distefano and Billy Hatcher. He batted .349/.444/.526 between the Cafeteros de Cordoba and the Red Devils in the summer of '84, stealing 20 bases in 24 tries and legging out a LMB-high 10 triples. That winter was his best for average (.352) and slugging (.434) with an OBP around .445 to boot. He won the batting title by 19 points over a young Ozzie Guillen, tied Ron Shepherd for third with 35 runs and he led with 77 hits, one ahead of runner-up Joe Orsulak. The league did not award a MVP that year (it began doing so the next year) or he would have been a serious candidate.

Olivares made it two batting titles in under 12 months when he hit .397/.462/.544 between the Rieleros de Aguascalientes and Piratas de Campeche in the summer of 1985, with 85 runs, 14 triples and 20 steals in 27 tries, while only striking out 27 times in 441 AB. He won the batting crown by 17 points ahead of Antonio Lara, led in hits (175) and won his third Mexican League triple title. Miguel Fernandez was the only other player to lead the Mexican League in triples three times in the 20th Century, though he tied twice; Olivares was the only one to win three outright triple crowns. He led Organized Baseball in average that year.

At age 31 in the 1985-1986 season, he hit .296/~.400/.372 for the Tigres. His 40 runs were second to Andres Galarraga and his 73 hits were good for 5th (between Guillen and Eric Bullock). His 43 walks were very possibly second, one behind Distefano. He also had 5 triples to tie Shawon Dunston, Distefano and Guillen for the league lead. In Mexico that summer, he batted .333/.407/.420 with 27 steals in 35 tries and 92 runs for Campeche, his only Mexican season of 100+ games all spent with the same team. With Aragua in 1986-1987, he hit .269/~.357/.329. He continued his tour of Mexico in 1987 with the Yucatan Lions and Leon Braves, batting .365/.457/.483 with 97 runs, 12 triples, 75 walks and 21 steals in 35 tries. He was 8th in average (between Andres Mora and Eddie Brunson) and he was one triple shy of leader Carlos Villela. In the winter of 1987-1988, he hit .282/~.354/.345 with no steals for Aragua. He ended his Mexican and minor league career in 1988, hitting .298/.391/.382 with 70 runs for the Ganaderos de Tabasco, Saraperos de Saltillo and Tigres del Mexico.

Winding down[edit]

With the other Tigres in Aragua in the winter, he batted .272/~.394/.272 to end his run with that team. While his minor league career was over, he kept going for four more winters back home. In 1989-1990, he returned to Magallanes after his 8-season run with Aragua and hit .319/~.418/.407 with 35 runs in 57 games. He was 7th in average (between Mike Sharperson and Larry Arndt) and 5th in runs (between Alex Cole and Oscar Azocar). The aging star batted .297/~.372/.385 with 30 runs in 1990-1991. He tied Omar Vizquel, Ruben Amaro Jr., Derek Bell and Alexis Infante for 8th in the LVBP in runs and was 9th in average (between Rafael DeLima and Vizquel). In his final season for Magallanes, he batted .275/?/.344 with 26 runs and 5 triples in 1991-1992. He tied Joe Hall for 7th in the league in triples. He ended his long career on a poor note for the 1992-1993 Petroleros de Cabimas (.205/?/.223 in 41 G).

Career[edit]

Olivares hit .301/.380/.385 with 336 runs and 115 steals in 151 tries in 520 games in the US minors. He batted .345/.432/.459 with 613 runs, 72 triples and 154 steals in 229 attempts in Mexico. Through 2000, he was 6th among the Mexican League career leaders in average for players with 3,000+ AB, behind only Al Pinkston, Alonso Perry, Collins, Cornelio Garcia and Matias Carrillo and just ahead of Teo Acosta, who had a very similar career (starring in Venezuela and Mexico yet never playing in the majors). He was also 8th in triples despite only spending 9 seasons there, between Acosta and Abelardo Vega. In 20 seasons in Venezuela, he hit .289/?/.353 with 514 runs, 57 triples, only one homer, 281 RBI and 113 steals in 981 games. In 107 postseason games in Venezuela, he had batted .307/?/.390 with 55 runs and 8 triples. Through 2012-2013, he was among the career LVBP leaders in games (981, 6th, between Tomas Perez and Camaleón Garcia), runs (5th behind Davalillo, Cesar Tovar, Robert Perez and Acosta), hits (974, 7th, between Gus Gil and Tomas Perez), triples (57, 1st, 1 over Acosta; some sources also list Acosta with 57) and steals (113, tied for 6th with Roger Cedeño and Luis Salazar).

In 2007, he was inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame in a class with Edgar Martínez, Héctor Cruz, Nelson Barrera, Pedrín Zorrilla and Pedro Padrón Panza. Two years later, he was part of the 6th class of the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame with Chucho Ramos, Urbano Lugo, Luis Tiant, Aurelio Monteagudo, Luis Zuloaga, Carlos Tovar Bracho and Regino Otero.

Notable Achievements[edit]

Sources[edit]

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