Joe Oliver

Joe Oliver earned his place in Cincinnati Reds lore with a memorable game-winning RBI in the 1990 World Series, but the catcher’s 13-year major-league career (1989–2001) was better defined by his defense and durability behind the plate. He spent the majority of his career in Cincinnati, where he sported the so-called tools of ignorance in 738 games—as of 2026, the fourth most in team history behind Johnny Bench, Ernie Lombardi, and Ivey Wingo.

Oliver quickly gained a reputation for his strong right arm and reliable game-calling—as well as some timely hitting. “He caught a good game—had nice, soft hands … he could throw out runners, and with men on base, he didn’t shy away from the opportunity to drive in a big run,” said Lou Piniella, Oliver’s manager with both the Reds and Seattle Mariners.1

Joseph Melton Oliver was born on July 24, 1965, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was the youngest of Stan and Eve (Nicholson) Oliver’s three children. Stan sold insurance to churches, managing an agency located across the street from Graceland. A talented singer, he lent his voice to Sunday services at the family’s church and at places of worship that he sought as clients. Eve was a homemaker and later became Stan’s office manager at Oliver Insurance after the family moved to Orlando, Florida, in 1973.2

That was around the time that young Joe first suited up as catcher, after cutting his teeth at second base.3 His boyhood heroes were Bench and Thurman Munson. “We would always see the Reds and we’d see the Yankees—Monday Night Baseball and Game of the Week. You kind of became fans of those teams because you got to see them [on TV],” he recalled.4

A three-sport athlete growing up, Oliver’s first love was basketball. He also played football as a quarterback and running back but lacked speed. “Baseball was what really came easy for me,” he said, “and it was something that I had a passion for as I got older and got into high school.”5

Oliver and future Chicago White Sox catcher Ron Karkovice were teammates at Orlando’s William R. Boone High School in 1982, Oliver’s junior year. On days that he wasn’t catching, Oliver played the outfield or DH’d. He batted .458 with 12 home runs in 1983 as an all-state catcher and good-hitting pitcher.

He signed a letter of intent to play at the University of Georgia, but on June 7, 1983, the Reds signed Oliver as a second-round draft pick (41st overall). Scout George Zuraw described the deal as “part of a search for our replacement for [the retiring] Johnny Bench.”6 Among Zuraw’s Reds signings were Tom Hume, Ray Knight, and Mario Soto, but the scout doted on Oliver with a certain paternal pride. “Of all the kids I’ve seen, I’d say Joe Oliver showed me the most criteria for what any father would want in a son,” Zuraw once said.7

Oliver spent six and a half years in the minors. For two consecutive seasons—first at Cedar Rapids in 1984 and then at Tampa—managers ranked Oliver’s arm the best of any catcher’s in the league.8 He made strides in handling pitchers at Cedar Rapids and surged as a right-handed hitter in 1985 at Tampa, batting .269 with 62 RBIs for the Single-A Tarpons. There, his 17-game hitting streak broke a 1978 club record set by Eddie Milner.9

Oliver married his high school sweetheart, Kimberly Layne Daniel, on November 2, 1985. The couple had met in junior high at a football game and began dating toward the end of their senior year.

Following his breakout year at Tampa, Oliver batted .277 and .305 in successive seasons at Double-A Vermont. He missed the start of the 1988 season with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds as he recovered from right knee surgery. Oliver returned sooner than expected but struggled at the plate, hitting .205 in 73 games before being sent to Double-A Chattanooga to retool his swing.

He was called up to Cincinnati halfway through the 1989 season, when the Reds’ catching staff was being led by the aging Bo Díaz, the majors’ first Venezuelan-born backstop. Díaz’s caught-stealing percentage and batting average had plummeted amid knee injuries and concern over his ailing preschool-age son. His backup, 26-year-old former Twin and Expo Jeff Reed, was outshining Díaz with both his glove and bat and shouldering the bulk of catching duties.

“I played maybe a year or two, kind of splitting time with Bo Díaz, and then Joe came up. He was a little bit younger than me and had a lot of talent … could block well, throw the ball well, and control the running game,” Reed said.10 “Big, strong guy—had some pop in his bat.”

On July 15 in Cincinnati, Oliver’s first big-league at-bat resulted in a single to shallow right-center field off Expos lefty Mark Langston. He drove in his first run later in the game with a sacrifice fly to right that scored first baseman Todd Benzinger.

After batting .305 in his first 23 games, Oliver took a step toward becoming an everyday catcher with his performance on August 23 in Chicago. With manager Pete Rose on paternity leave for the birth of his daughter, acting skipper Tommy Helms wanted to see how Oliver would fare against the Cubs’ Greg Maddux in a righty-righty matchup. Helms phoned Rose in Cincinnati for approval to bat Oliver sixth.11 Oliver responded with a 4-for-5 afternoon that included a two-run homer off Maddux.

The Reds beat Chicago 8–5, and sometime that day, Rose formally agreed to his exile for betting on baseball. “I was the last pitcher to win a game with Pete as manager,” noted Scott Scudder, Oliver’s former roommate and the Reds’ starter that afternoon.12 Playing Oliver against Maddux might have been Rose’s last official managerial act. “The next day, Pete was resigning,” Scudder remembered.

Oliver had passed Helms’ test as a hitter, but Reds dugout coach Jackie Moore, a part-time backstop for the Detroit Tigers in the ’60s, instilled in his catchers that pitch-calling would win more games than offense. “Not only was Joe good calling the game when you had your best stuff, Joe was really good at calling the game when you didn’t have your best stuff,” said former Reds left-handed setup man Norm Charlton.13 “Honesty was a real big thing for us.” Such candor, Charlton said, might be seen in Oliver coming to the mound after having his signs shaken off and saying, “I know you want to get this guy out with your fastball, but your fastball is not what it was yesterday.”14

On September 12 in Los Angeles, Oliver had a scare just 40 games into his rookie season when he collided with Dodgers catcher Rick Dempsey in a play at the plate. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Oliver crashed into Dempsey while trying to score from second, but Dempsey, on the eve of turning 40, held on for the out. X-rays taken of Oliver in San Francisco indicated a spine fracture, but the catcher was relieved when a more conclusive bone scan in Cincinnati revealed a sprained lower back.

Oliver returned on September 19, finishing the season with a .272 batting average. As a defender, the rookie allowed only one passed ball in 346 2/3 innings. “You could throw whatever you wanted up there with Joe and have the confidence that, ‘Look, if the right pitch is a split in the dirt right here with a man on third, then we’re throwing a split in the dirt,’” said Charlton, whose splitter was his strikeout pitch.15

Former Yankees manager Piniella was introduced as the Reds’ new skipper on November 3. To Oliver, it seemed like starting over. “It was kind of intimidating, trying to impress a new manager and trying to make a ballclub that you felt like you already made,” he said.16 But during lockout-shortened spring training, Piniella informed Oliver that he would be his Opening Day catcher. “I really needed him behind home plate because usually, as a manager, I let the catchers call the game,” Piniella remembered.17 “Joe did a great job with our pitching staff, and he had some leadership qualities in the clubhouse.”

No one motivated Oliver quite like Piniella. When looking for a manager, Reds owner Marge Schott had wanted Rose’s successor to “make the players squirm,” the Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Erardi wrote.18 Having played under the irascible Billy Martin in New York, Piniella brought Martin’s hard-nosed managing style to Cincinnati. “I wasn’t the easiest guy to play for, but I stressed winning and I stressed hard play,” Piniella said.19 “Billy pushed you to be the best player you can be, and I learned that from him.”

Oliver remembered that at age 24, “I needed that style of manager to make me have that little bit of an uncomfortable feeling in playing with the fear of failure.”20

Piniella looked back on Oliver as a catcher who won the respect of the pitchers he handled.21 Oliver’s advice in Triple A helped to mold Reds starter Jack Armstrong into an All-Star in 1990.22 He put Scudder at ease on the mound by deliberately setting up behind the plate with the stillness of Gary Carter.23 “I rarely shook him off,” Scudder said. “He had such a grasp, I felt like, of what was happening that day—and that included what I had as far as stuff.”24

Oliver’s 16 passed balls tied the Cubs’ Joe Girardi for second most in the majors in 1990, but his 40.2% caught-stealing rate, a career high, was the best among all National League starting catchers. He threw out the St. Louis Cardinals’ speedy Vince Coleman twice in three attempts that year. In what Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog viewed as respect for Oliver’s arm, Coleman—whose 77 steals led the majors in 1990—stayed put at first with two outs in a game on May 18, after Oliver had nabbed him two weeks earlier.25

Oliver’s pop time—how long it takes a catcher to transfer from his mitt and throw the ball to the middle infielder—was above average at 1.8 seconds. “It takes about a second from catch to release, and about another second for the throw to get to second [base]. A guy like Joe Oliver can make up for some time because his arm’s so strong,” Moore explained to the Enquirer.26 Pitch location, especially one that arrives up and away, is advantageous if the steal is on. “As a catcher you can kind of cheat on that one and come out of the chute a little bit quicker,” said Reed.27

As the Reds looked ahead to the ’90 World Series with the Oakland A’s, Oliver faced new running threats in leadoff man Rickey Henderson, the American League’s steals leader that year with 65, and Willie McGee, who had swiped 274 bases in nine seasons with St. Louis before joining the A’s in August. “Any pitcher over 1.35 [seconds] to the plate was going to have a difficult time stopping them,” former A’s first base coach Dave McKay recalled.28 The very sight of Henderson on the basepaths created the kind of angst among catchers to inspire a Rolaids commercial, but Oliver downplayed it. “They’ve got five or six guys who can steal,” he reminded reporters in the lead-up to the Series.29

In the regular season, Expos speedster Otis Nixon had fared well against Oliver by running on slower pitchers.30 Nixon went 6-for-7 in steals that year with Oliver behind the plate; he stole three bases in one game off the tandem of Oliver and Danny Jackson, a pitcher whose high knee lift prolonged his windup. For the World Series, the A’s used a similar approach. “You realized that Joe had a plus arm, plus accuracy, with a very quick pop time,” McKay remembered.31 “We knew we had to do our homework on Cincy’s pitching staff, because any stolen bases are going to be off them, and not Joe.”

Oakland ran all over Oliver and the Reds, though, going 7-for-7 in steal attempts. Henderson had three stolen bases. Oliver, who had tweaked his shoulder on September 4 in Atlanta, committed three throwing errors, the most by a catcher in a four-game World Series since the Cardinals’ Jimmie Wilson was charged with two in the same inning of the 1928 Series.

Still, the Reds beat the odds to sweep the A’s and become World Series champions. Oliver’s career moment came just after midnight in Game Two at Riverfront Stadium. With one out and two men on in the bottom of the 10th, Oliver pulled a bouncer down the third-base line off Oakland closer Dennis Eckersley, whose regular-season ERA was a minuscule 0.61.

At first, Eckersley thought he might wriggle out of the jam on a double play.32 However, A’s third baseman Carney Lansford was shifted too far off the line and the ball went beyond his reach, skipping over the bag. Third-base umpire Randy Marsh, who grew up a couple of miles away in Covington, Kentucky, emphatically signaled fair. The hit scored Billy Bates33 from second, and the Reds won 5–4.34

Piniella platooned Oliver and Reed more often in 1991 to ward off arm fatigue.35 Even so, right shoulder problems nagged Oliver throughout the season. Defensively, he cost the Reds 14 more runs than he had saved in 1990. His batting struggles inspired one-on-one coaching sessions with Piniella, a .291 lifetime hitter. In October, Oliver had surgery to repair torn shoulder cartilage.

He recovered, and over the next two seasons took on a remarkable workload for a catcher, starting 265 of the Reds’ 324 games. In 1992, his 141 games caught tied the Phillies’ Darren Daulton for most in the majors. They were also the most in a single season by a Reds catcher since 1971, when Bench equaled the mark. Oliver’s 925 putouts led all major-league catchers.

It was also a breakthrough year for Oliver offensively. Using the whole field, he batted .302 in the second half. He was named NL Player of the Week on August 16 after hitting .391 (9-for-23) with 11 RBIs across six home games. “He gave you good at-bats with men on base,” Piniella said of Oliver, whose career on-base percentage was 20 points higher with runners aboard.36 He was a lifetime .368 batter with the bases loaded, and his three grand slams as a Red tied fellow Cincinnati catchers Ed Bailey, Lombardi, and Andy Seminick.

After reaching career highs in home runs (14), RBIs (75), and assists (68) in 1993, Oliver was chosen by local sportswriters as the Reds’ MVP. That made him the first catcher to win the award since 1972, Bench’s 40-homer season. In a way, the game had come full circle for the boy who once had the thrill of taking home a ball that Bench belted into the left-field seats at Atlanta Stadium.

Doubling his previous year’s earnings to $2.5 million for 1994, Oliver won his arbitration case against the Reds on February 4. Just seven games into the season, he developed painful swelling in his left ankle and had to crawl to the bathroom of his Montreal hotel room.37 Early conjecture was that he might have sprained the ankle the night before when tagging out Expos infielder Mike Lansing.38 But when the swelling spread to his right foot and knee, Oliver was diagnosed with Reiter’s syndrome, also known as reactive arthritis—an uncommon autoimmune condition that is triggered by a virus. He didn’t play again that season.

A Cincinnati-area rheumatologist and Schott loyalist treated Oliver, and the catcher recovered that fall. However, the Reds—who claimed they had lost as much as $15 million from baseball’s labor strike that ended the season in August39—released Oliver on November 3 to shed payroll. Reds GM Jim Bowden said the move had nothing to do with Oliver’s health.40 In contrast, the catcher recalled, “At that point in time I don’t think he felt that I was ever going to come back. He was listening to some of the doctors in Cincinnati that gave him some bad information.”41 Oliver said that the source of his infection was never determined.42

He proved he was healthy by playing for six weeks in the Venezuelan winter league for Caribes de Oriente, based in Puerto La Cruz. (This club had strong ties to the White Sox.) There, he impressed Duffy Dyer, Milwaukee’s third base coach and manager of Petroleros de Cabimas. Dyer passed along a good report to the front office, and in March the Brewers signed Oliver to a minor-league contract.43

He made the big-league roster in April. Milwaukee had retrenched its budget after the strike, allocating an average of $342,000 for each unsigned player—which meant a sizable pay cut for Oliver.44 But Milwaukee offered a key advantage for the catcher: the foremost expert on Reiter’s syndrome was located there. “We were able to have comfort knowing that the doctor who understood it the best was just right down the street from where I was playing,” said Oliver.45 Daily anti-inflammatory pills kept the condition at bay.

Off to a torrid start with the Brewers, Oliver was batting .333 at the beginning of June. Then, on a sweltering July night in Milwaukee, a pitch from the White Sox’s José DeLeón derailed his season. He was leaning out in anticipation of a first-pitch slider—DeLeón (whom Oliver had often faced in the NL) typically started him off with one on the outer part of the plate. Instead, a surprise up-and-in fastball fractured his left (non-throwing) wrist. He missed 30 games and hit just .234 after returning.

Oliver still had a fondness for the Reds, the team he broke in with. On February 26, 1996, he signed a one-year contract to return. “We’ve got 1990 back,” Schott beamed at the press conference (the Reds had also welcomed back third baseman Chris Sabo and outfielder Eric Davis).46 Oliver split playing time with lefty-batting Eddie Taubensee; the catchers were neck-and-neck in home runs and RBIs, combining for 23 and 94, respectively. Taubensee was the better hitter; Oliver called a better game and threw out more runners.47

Oliver vowed not to return in 1997 as a part-time catcher and tested free agency. However, his asking price was too high and he held out too long, and as spring training neared he settled for a minor-league deal with the Reds.48 In an exhibition game on March 22, he tore a ligament in his left thumb during a tag play and required surgery. He was back behind the plate on May 2; that month the Reds’ team ERA dropped to 3.22 from its April level of 6.40. The improvement won Oliver the everyday catching job.

When negotiations with the Reds hit a snag in September, Oliver put his Cincinnati-area house up for sale. “I’m not a blemished item in the discount bin anymore,” he told the Cincinnati Post.49 Oliver had made a career out of short-term deals—he was never signed to a contract longer than one year, even with the Reds—but over the next four years he epitomized the baseball journeyman, playing for six organizations: Detroit (1998); Seattle (1998, 2000); Tampa Bay (minors, 1999); Pittsburgh (1999); the New York Yankees (2001); and Boston (2001).

A personal career highlight came during Oliver’s second stint with the Mariners. That spring, he had entered camp as a non-roster invitee and was a long shot to make the team. But after hitting .447 in exhibition play and backup catcher Tom Lampkin’s slower-than-expected recovery from knee surgery, Oliver was added to the new-look Mariners, who were without Ken Griffey Jr. after a February trade to the Reds.

On April 7, 2000, in Seattle, the M’s and Yankees were tied 3–3 in the fifth. Oliver smashed Andy Pettitte’s first-pitch fastball to right-center and off the hands of a fan in the first row to put the Mariners up 5–3. “That’s about my third-favorite hit ever,” Oliver said at the time of the blow, ranking it behind his World Series game-winner and his first big-league single.50 Seattle eventually won 7–5. Former Mariners coach Larry Bowa subsequently described Oliver as a batter that “hits mistakes … a good bad-ball hitter.”51

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, had a profound impact on Oliver and ultimately motivated his retirement. By then he was a third-string catcher for the Red Sox, following a brief first-half role with the Yankees as Jorge Posada’s backup and right elbow surgery in late July to remove bone fragments.

The Sox reached their downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, hotel at 3:00 A.M. on September 11 (their series finale in New York had been rained out the night before). Oliver’s wife and children, who had made the 100-mile drive from Orlando and checked in ahead of the catcher, let him sleep until later that morning, when images of the smoldering World Trade Center towers dominated every channel. Boston’s game that night with the Devil Rays was postponed, as was the entire MLB schedule, for one week.

After Oliver’s final major-league game on October 6, feelers from other teams—especially those on the West Coast, farthest from his family—were less beckoning. “That whole situation [9/11] just kind of took the passion that I had away and put my priorities in front,” he said.52

What’s more, his body was battered. “Your knees always ache,” Oliver said in 1992. “Any time a foul tip hits, that’s a reminder for a week. Sometimes, I get five of those a game.”53 His toughness, a prerequisite for the position, was on display in 1998 with the Tigers, when Seattle’s Alex Rodriguez lost his grip on his bat in midswing and it struck Oliver beneath his throat guard. Oliver struggled to breathe for several moments but played on, later saying that it would have taken an injury to a bone or artery to make him exit the game.54

He retired in February 2002 and proceeded to coach high school baseball while following wife Kim into real estate. In 1,076 major-league games, Oliver hit .247 with 102 home runs and 476 RBIs. As a catcher he had 451 assists and threw out 31.1 percent of base-stealers. Though he self-deprecatingly joked about his own slowness as a runner, Oliver notched 13 career steals. Based on Bill James’ similarity scores, the most comparable player to Oliver is Bo Díaz. Their comps are measured at 960.1, making the two catchers “unusually similar,” according to James’ scoring system.55

In 2006 Oliver was considered for play-by-play work on Reds radio broadcasts, but the job went to retired reliever Jeff Brantley. Oliver had a yearning for the game, and returned to pro ball several years later as a manager. “I have baseball in my DNA,” he said in 2014 of his reemergence in the dugout.56

Oliver compiled a 359-347 record over six seasons in the Red Sox farm system for the Lowell Spinners (2014–15), Salem Red Sox (2016–18), and Portland Sea Dogs (2019). In 2016 he guided Salem to a league-best 87-52 record with a roster that included prospects Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi. Oliver later managed the Bluefield Ridge Runners and Frederick Keys, two collegiate summer league teams.

As of 2026, Oliver and Kim are realtors in Orlando. They have four children. Their oldest, Dejai (pronounced “D.J.”), played three seasons (2011–13) as a right-handed pitcher in the Marlins’ farm system, followed by two in indie ball.

For many who have approached Joe Oliver in retirement, his World Series hit is a moment in baseball that can be recalled with extraordinary clarity. “I felt like I had a good, solid career,” he said, “but to be remembered for that, and people telling me where they were during the World Series … I will wear that for the rest of my life, and I’m proud of it.”57

Last revised: October 20, 2026

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Joe Oliver for sharing details about his life and career, as well as Norm Charlton, Dave McKay, Lou Piniella, Jeff Reed, and Scott Scudder for their remarks. Thanks also to Duffy Dyer and Shane Philipps for their assistance.

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Mike Eisenbath and fact-checked by members of the SABR BioProject fact-checking team.

Photo credit: Joe Oliver, Trading Card Database.

Sources

The author relied on Baseball-Reference.com, FanGraphs.com, and Retrosheet.org for statistics, and obtained Oliver’s player file from the library and archives at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. All other sources are shown in the Notes.

Notes

1 Lou Piniella, interview with author, June 8, 2026.

2 Family history from Joe Oliver, interview with author, May 19, 2026.

3 Tim Sullivan, “It’s Unfair to Utter ‘B’ Word About Oliver,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 30, 1990: C1.

4 Oliver interview.

5 Oliver interview.

6 “Boone Catcher Signs with Reds,” Orlando Sentinel, June 8, 1983: C5.

7 Russ White, “Scouting the Boys Is a Joy of Summer,” Orlando Sentinel, May 17, 1990: D5.

8 1991 Cincinnati Reds Media Guide, 59.

9 Chris Harry, “He’s Simply Smashing! Oliver Swinging a Hot Bat for Tarpons,” Tampa Tribune, July 13, 1985: 6C.

10 Jeff Reed, interview with author, May 26, 2026.

11 Michael Paolercio, “Oliver Wields Broom in Reds’ Sweep,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 24, 1989: B1.

12 Scott Scudder, interview with author, June 11, 2026. Scudder was a Texas high school standout and Reds first-round draft pick who made it to the majors via his changeup.

13 Norm Charlton, interview with author, May 21, 2026.

14 Charlton interview.

15 Charlton interview.

16 Oliver interview.

17 Piniella interview.

18 John Erardi, “Wire-To-Wire Champs Stood Alone,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 4, 2010: D6.

19 Piniella interview. “I thought the vim and vinegar approach was the way to get the job done … [now] I’m pretty convinced that’s not the way,” he allowed in 1992 (Rob Parker, “Piniella Takes Mellow Approach,” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 6, 1992: C7).

20 Oliver interview.

21 Piniella interview.

22 Michael Paolercio, “Reds Battery Zaps Mets, 5–0,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 4, 1990: B1.

23 Scudder interview.

24 Scudder interview.

25 Rick Hummel, “Dayley’s Streak Ends with a Thud,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 19, 1990: 4C. “I think they get afraid any time they get against a catcher like that,” Herzog was quoted as saying. Coleman had previously said, after Oliver threw him out on May 4, “I’ve never seen him make a bad throw” (Hummel and Dan O’Neill, “Cards Had Success Against Smith When He Was a Cub,” Post-Dispatch, May 6, 1990: 4H).

26 John Erardi, “Speed Kills,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 6, 1992, B21.

27 Reed interview.

28 Dave McKay, email interview with author, July 7, 2026.

29 Joe Henderson, “Reds’ Oliver Armed for A’s Running Game,” Tampa Tribune, October 15, 1990: 4C.

30 Peterson, “League on the Run.” In 25 lifetime attempts, Nixon successfully stole on Oliver 17 times.

31 McKay interview.

32 Mike Bass, “Reds Add Eckersley to Growing List of Fallen A’s,” Cincinnati Post, October 18, 1990: 6B.

33 Bates, who legged out a chopper that Lansford couldn’t short-hop to spark the Reds’ 10th-inning rally, was an unlikely pinch-hitter in this World Series. The 5-foot-7 rookie had come to Cincinnati in a June trade with Milwaukee and wouldn’t have made the postseason roster had Reds second baseman Bill Doran not needed season-ending back surgery. In fact, Bates had packed his bags for home on the last day of the season (Alan Truex, “Bates Helps Win Game with Bat,” Houston Chronicle, October 18, 1990: 2C).

34 Oliver’s hit became synonymous with the birth of Reds starting pitcher Tom Browning’s third child. Browning left the ballpark in the seventh inning when his wife went into labor, and was summoned for in the 10th after a short outing from starter Danny Jackson had depleted the Reds’ bullpen. Fortunately for Browning, Oliver singled home the game-winning run five minutes later.

35 Oliver made 78 starts behind the plate in 1991, one more than Reed.

36 Piniella interview.

37 Arnie Stapleton, “Oliver’s a Happy Man, Despite Injuries,” (Wausau, WI) Daily Herald, April 12, 1995: 1D.

38 John Erardi, “Davey Throws Oliver Challenge,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 13, 1994: E7.

39 John Erardi, “Reds Finish Deep In the Red,” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 15, 1995: B1.

40 Janet Graham, “Reds Like Platoon, So Oliver Released,” Cincinnati Post, November 4, 1994: 1C.

41 Oliver interview.

42 Oliver interview.

43 Tom Haudricourt, “Brewers Sign Former Reds Catcher Oliver,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 23, 1995, Sports, 3.

44 Tom Haudricourt, “Money’s Not There Anymore: Bando Issues Warning to Unsigned Players,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 2, 1995, Sports, 9.

45 Oliver interview.

46 Chris Haft, “Oliver Brings Back More Memories of ’90,” Cincinnati Enquirer, February 27, 1996: D4.

47 Taubensee hit .291 in 108 games in 1996; Oliver batted .242 in 38 fewer at-bats. Bowden said that Oliver was the Reds’ top defensive catcher and best at pitch-calling in “Bowden: Money Drives Reds’ ’97 Plans,” by Mike Bass, Cincinnati Post, October 3, 1996: 5B. The Reds got Bench to work with Taubensee on his throws after the catcher threw out just nine percent of basestealers in his first 31 games of 1996.

48 Mike Bass, “Oliver Return Angers Reds’ Taubensee,” Cincinnati Post, February 10, 1997: 5C.

49 Jeff Horrigan, “Oliver Expects to Leave Reds,” Cincinnati Post, September 1, 1997: 3B.

50 John Hickey, “Anderson Wins Oliver’s Praise,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 16, 2000: C8.

51 George King, “Bombers Ink Oliver, Send Turner Packing,” New York Post, November 22, 2000: 74.

52 Oliver interview.

53 Paul Daugherty, “Oliver Bashers Should Direct Venom Elsewhere,” Cincinnati Post, July 11, 1992: 1B.

54 John Lowe, “Oliver Survives Catching Hazards,” Detroit Free Press, May 5, 1998: 5C.

55 Bill James, The Politics of Glory: How Baseball’s Hall of Fame Really Works (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1994), 93. Díaz hit .255 with 87 home runs and 452 RBIs and had a 34.2 caught-stealing percentage over a 13-year career.

56 Matt Langone, “New Skipper Has Championship Pedigree,” Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, June 13, 2014: A3.

57 Oliver interview.