Joe Oliver (baseball)

Oliver as a member of the Cincinnati Reds tags out Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros during a game at Riverfront Stadium on October 3, 1990

Oliver was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the second round of the 1983 MLB amateur draft, Oliver would make his Major League Baseball debut with Cincinnati on July 15, 1989, and appear in his final game on October 6, 2001. A relative rarity, in both his first and last at bats in those games, he got hits. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 3 inches (191 cm) tall and weighed 215 pounds (98 kg; 15.4 st). Oliver was a member of the Reds team that defeated the Oakland Athletics in the 1990 World Series. He drove in Billy Bates from second base in Game 2 of that series with a hit off Dennis Eckersley to win the game and propel the Reds to the title.

Oliver had a 13-season Major League career with the Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. In 1,076 games played—769 of them with the Reds—he amassed 831 hits, with 174 doubles and three triples to accompany his 102 career home runs. In 1992, he led National League catchers in games caught, putouts and range factor. He was the NL player of the week August 16th, 1992. He also led NL backstops in fielding percentage in 1990. [1]

On January 31, 2014, ESPN reported via his agent Burton Rocks that Oliver returned from a 13-year absence from professional baseball to manage the Lowell Spinners, the Red Sox' Short-Season Class A affiliate in the New York–Penn League. Oliver took over for 2013 manager Bruce Crabbe, who joined Triple A Pawtucket Red Sox in a coaching capacity.[2] In two seasons at Lowell (2014–15) Oliver led the Spinners to a 74–77 (.490) record; he was promoted to manager of the Class A-Advanced Salem Red Sox of the Carolina League for 2016 during the off-season.[3] During his first season in Salem, his club posted the Carolina League's best record (87–52, .626), but the Red Sox fell in the opening round of the playoffs to the eventual league champions, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, two games to one. In 2018, Oliver returned for the third consecutive season,[4] then was promoted to manager of Double-A Portland of the Eastern League for 2019.[5]

Oliver's five-season (2014–18) record is 297–270 (.524).

Oliver now resides in Orlando, Florida and until 2014 coached the varsity baseball team at Bishop Moore Catholic High School. He and his wife, Kim, have four children: Dejai, Karrah, Gavin, and Lauryl.

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
• Joe Oliver: Behind the Dugout
• Venezuelan Professional Baseball League