Legendary Griffins coach Olsen passes

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: August 12, 2024

2024 IN THE COMMUNITY / GROSSMONT COLLEGE BASEBALL

By Nick Pellegrino
ECS Senior writer

Ed Olsen

EL CAJON — Following a life-long, love affair with baseball, former Grossmont College and El Capitan High baseball coach Ed Olsen passed away over the weekend. He was 89.

Edwin Carl Olsen was born in Salem, Mass., in 1935, but spent the vast majority of his life in San Diego County. “Eddie” was filled with baseball knowledge and stories, including his playing career as an outfielder in minor league baseball.

However, Olsen’s best story is one he rarely talked about.

After singing as an 18-year-old with the New York Yankees, Olsen spent seven seasons (over 20 years; he spent three years with the U.S. Marines Corp) in the minors, ultimately reaching the Binghamton Triplets of the Eastern League, the Bombers’ highest development farm team.

In those final seasons, Olsen (after he turned 21) was well-known as the spring training roommate of Hall of Fame slugger Mickey Mantle, when he was “responsible” for making sure “The Mick” reached his hotel room safely following a night of late-night drinking binges in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

After serving those six weeks as spring training “babysitter,” Olsen never received an opportunity to play in The Bronx — not even a late September call-up as the end of the regular season since the Yankees were regular pennant winners and participants in the World Series.

Ironically, Mantle tore up his ankle and would go onto more than half of the 1963 season — less than a year following Olsen’s retirement.

Olsen went into teaching and coaching, eventually landing at El Capitan High School in Lakeside. When Noel Mickelsen retired as the first head coach at Grossmont College, Olsen was hired by the Griffins.

Olsen would be elected to the California Community College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Along with the Yankees, Olsen spent brief stints with the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City A’s organizations.

About Olsen

A memorabilia collector, Olsen coached El Capitan for eight seasons starting in 1973 before leaving for Grossmont College, where he coached baseball and was a professor of exercise and sports science.

In 22 seasons at Grossmont, he posted a 516-373-7 record. He was voted into the California Community College Baseball Association Hall of Fame in 2008, four years after retiring.

As a youngster, Olsen worked as a bat boy and in the clubhouse for the Pacific Coast League’s San Diego Padres. He played at La Jolla High School from 1951-53 and was later inducted into the school’s hall of fame.

Quotes

Jason Allen, Grossmont’s Dir. of Athletics

I never had the honor or pleasure of working with coach Olsen. He has a huge reputation and was a stalwart to the East County community.

Some of the stories that came across my desk all said he did a great job.

Randy Abshire, current Griffins head baseball coach, who took over from Olsen in 2005:

“Ed was one of a kind, a great coach, a great person, a great friend. He came to every one of our games, sat in the same seat. He’d come to the office and critique what he saw. But it was all good-natured and constructive. With his background in the game, we all listened.”