Many have said it’s not about the destination, but about the journey.
I believe favorite son Darren Oliver would have something to dispute about that. Oliver has had a circuitous career once he left Rio Linda high school, pitching for eight different teams over the past eighteen years. He’s finally landed back home with the Texas Rangers who drafted him in 1988 and has helped them win the American League pennant. He will almost certainly see action in the World Series over the coming week.
Darren is the son of baseball great Bob Oliver, and grew up in Rio Linda and pitched for our own Rio Linda Knights.
A few things about Darren that few people know;
- He was Michael Jordan’s first official opposing pitcher. Stealing from Sports Illustrated here, “his first official opposing pitch to Michael Jordan was a fastball low, ball one. His second pitch was a fastball that Jordan swung at and tipped. Another fastball, another swing . . . nothing but air. Jordan swung at the fourth fastball, and, befitting a great basketball player, he hit a dribbler down the first base line. One small dribbler for a man, one giant dribbler for mankind. Whatever, Oliver picked it up and swiped Jordan’s back as he went by. Just to make sure, Oliver also threw to first base.”
- Darren is the first pitcher ever to pitch in interleague play. He was the starting pitcher in the Texas Rangers’ 4–3 loss to the San Francisco Giants on June 12, 1997 at The Ballpark in Arlington.
- As a Cardinal, he was also the starting and winning pitcher in the game where Mark McGwire hit his record-tying 61st home run on September 7, 1998.
