Minor League Memories: the Wande Olabisi interview (June 2011)
For background and context into what this is, read the previous entry https://medium.com/@steelydanrather/what-was-steely-dan-rather-a-journey-through-minor-league-baseball-memories-ba13bea45fd5
Originally published June 29, 2011
Lake Elsinore Storm outfielder Wande Olabisi has taken a unique path to the California League. The journey that began in his early life reads like a travelogue: he was born in Nigeria, raised in Saudi Arabia and Texas, and educated in Northern California.
His days in Saudi Arabia and Palo Alto, California have shaped Olabisi as a ballplayer and as a lifelong student. His family moved to Saudi Arabia when Olabisi was a child and he joined a Little League team in his new country. There he was teammates with the children of other expatriates working in the oil industry.
He rated his time in the Middle East as the best time he’s had playing baseball. “That’s where I started playing [baseball] and if not for the experiences there, I wouldn’t have continued playing,” he said.
The next stage in his life came as a reserve outfielder for the Stanford Cardinal. Olabisi made it to professional baseball with little playing time on the squad.
Instead, Olabisi garnered attention while playing in the unofficial fall season. The San Diego Padres saw what they liked and picked him with their 30th round selection in the 2009 Draft.
It’s been full speed ahead with baseball ever since. While Olabisi is working toward a master’s degree in management science and engineering at Stanford, he’s also committed to playing professional baseball.
This season he is working on having consistent contact at the plate and identifying the right pitches to hit. Olabisi hasn’t yet matched the six home runs he had with the AZL Padres in his first year in 2009, but he’s not concerned about the lack of power.
Olabisi has a structured approach to each game day, something he first learned at Stanford. These days with the Storm, Olabisi has nearly every minute planned in a busy day engineered for a student/professional athlete.
The schedule includes making important phone calls to his mother and girlfriend, working in the batting cage, and reading. The topics for the reading change by the day. “[I’m reading] case studies on big consulting firms and how they analyze a company,” he said.
It looks strict from the outside, but Olabisi doesn’t buckle under the pressure. “[It’s] lots of late nights and early mornings,” he said. “It’s about budgeting your time, almost like you have to be two people at one time.”
Olabisi says the competitive edge he developed in the classroom applies to what he does on the diamond. He enjoys both of his endeavors but he says baseball is more fun than academia. “Most important of all, you have to enjoy it,” he said. “If you’re not having fun playing or in the classroom you’re not going to make it.”
Where are they now?
Olabisi played three seasons in the Padres minor league system from 2009 to 2011, including the season where he played for Lake Elsinore where we crossed paths for this interview. By the end of 2011 he was out of MiLB and moving on the next path of his career.
Since retiring from professional baseball, Olabisi earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and began a career in business management and investing, with roles at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company and most recently, VP at Altamont Capital Partners.
He’s likely the most successful former minor leaguer I’ve interviewed. I spoke to big names like Buster Posey and Mike Trout in my minor league writing days, but Olabisi’s success transcends what he did on the field. It takes a lot of different skills to reinvent yourself over time. I’m not at all surprised to see Olabisi succeeding in the venture capital and business management fields. This interview proves that my approach to sports storytelling will always win — telling the stories underneath the story.
