What Is Orel Hershiser's Net Worth and Salary?
Orel Hershiser is a former professional baseball pitcher who has a net worth of $14 million. Orel Hershiser played 18 seasons in the MLB from 1983 to 2000, mostly with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His most successful season was 1988, when he helped lead the Dodgers to a World Series championship and claimed both Cy Young and Gold Glove Awards. After retiring from playing, Hershiser became a pitching coach for the Texas Rangers and later became a broadcast color analyst for the Dodgers.
Career Earnings
During his career, Orel Hershiser earned a total of $37,582,001 in salary.
Key Contract Highlights:
- 1989: Became the first $3 million player in MLB history with a three-year, $7.9 million extension with the Dodgers.
- 1987: Took a pay cut of 20% from his previous season's salary due to arbitration, showing his confidence in his own abilities.
- 1998: Signed a one-year, $3.45 million contract with the San Francisco Giants.
Early Life and Education
Orel Hershiser IV was born on September 16, 1958, in Buffalo, New York. He is the son of Mildred and Orel Hershiser III. When he was six, he moved with his family to Detroit, Michigan, and at 12, he moved with them to Toronto, Canada. Meanwhile, Hershiser played in Little League Baseball, and also played ice hockey while in Canada. Following another move, he attended Cherry Hill High School East in New Jersey. There, Hershiser proved his baseball prowess by setting a new single-game strikeout record for the school, with 15 in a game against Deptford. He went on to attend Bowling Green State University, where he played one full season of baseball.
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Minor League Career
In the 1979 MLB draft, the Los Angeles Dodgers selected Hershiser in the 17th round. He was subsequently sent to the Class A farm team, the Clinton Dodgers, with which he played 15 games during the season. Hershiser played the next two seasons with the Class AA San Antonio Dodgers. In 1982, he was promoted to the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes and posted a 3.71 ERA in 47 games that season. He remained with the Dukes in 1983, recording a 4.09 ERA in 49 games.
Los Angeles Dodgers, 1983-1994
Hershiser was called up to the majors in September 1983. In his eight appearances that month, he posted a 3.38 ERA. Orel became a full-fledged starter in the Dodgers' rotation the next season and pitched four complete game shutouts in one month. He finished the season with a 2.66 ERA in 45 games. In the 1985 season, Hershiser led the NL in winning percentage, posting a 19-3 record and a 2.03 ERA. The Dodgers made it to the NLCS, where they fell to the St. Louis Cardinals. Orel had a less impressive season in 1986, going 14-14 with a 3.85 ERA. The season after that, he went 16-16 with a 3.06 ERA and was chosen for his first All-Star Game. Hershiser had the greatest season of his career in 1988. In addition to leading the league in wins, innings, shutouts, and complete games, he set a new MLB record with 59 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. Hershiser won both the NL Cy Young and Gold Glove Awards for the season. He continued his success in the postseason as the Dodgers went on to win the World Series against the Oakland Athletics, and Hershiser was named the MVP of both the NLCS and the World Series.
Following his phenomenal 1988 season, Hershiser performed solidly but not exceptionally in 1989, going 15-15 with a 2.31 ERA. The next season, he made just four starts before he was sidelined due to a torn labrum and underwent reconstruction surgery. Orel didn't return to the Dodgers until the end of May in 1991. Shortly after that, he recorded his 100th career win. Hershiser finished the season with a 7-2 record and a 3.46 ERA and was named the UPI Comeback Player of the Year. In the 1992 season, Orel went 10-15 with a 3.67 ERA in 33 games. He pitched 33 games again in 1993, this time going 12-14 with a 3.59 ERA. The same season, Hershiser batted .356 in 83 plate appearances, earning him a Silver Slugger Award. He remained with the Dodgers for the 1994 season but left the team amid the 1994-95 MLB strike that ended the season on August 11th.
(Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Cleveland Indians
In the spring of 1995, Hershiser signed a three-year contract with the Cleveland Indians. That season, he went 16-6 with a 3.87 ERA to help lead the team to its first postseason in over 40 years. The Indians ended up winning the ALCS, with Hershiser being named the MVP. In the World Series, the team lost to the Atlanta Braves in six games. Hershiser pitched two more seasons for the Indians, and in his final season in 1997, he led the team back to the World Series. Ultimately, they were defeated by the Florida Marlins in seven games.
Final Playing Years
In late 1997, Hershiser signed a one-year contract with the San Francisco Giants. He pitched one season for the team in 1998, going 11-10 with a 4.41 ERA. In early 1999, Orel signed a minor league contract with the Indians but was released during spring training. Hershiser subsequently signed with the New York Mets and went 13-12 with a 4.58 ERA in the 1999 season. He helped the Mets make it to the NLCS, where they fell to the Braves. Hershiser finished his professional playing career with his original team, the Dodgers, in 2000. However, he posted a terrible 13.14 ERA and was released in June.
Post-Retirement
Following his retirement from playing, Hershiser became a broadcast color analyst for the Little League World Series on ABC and ESPN. He also appeared on ESPN's "Wednesday Night Baseball" in 2001. Later that year, Orel joined the Texas Rangers as a special assistant, and in mid-2002, he became the team's pitching coach. He left his position after the 2005 season to become an executive director for the Rangers but quit that role in early 2006. Subsequently, Hershiser returned to ESPN as a baseball analyst. In 2014, he left ESPN and became a television analyst for the Dodgers on SportsNet LA.
Beyond baseball, Hershiser is a competitive poker player, having started in 2006. After moving to Summerlin, Nevada, that year, he befriended a poker instructor and became a regular in Red Rock Resort's poker room. He went on to sign with Poker Royalty. In 2008, Orel was invited to play in the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, where he shocked the poker world by reaching the quarterfinals. He played competitive poker in such other events as the 2008 World Series of Poker, the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker, and the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
Personal Life & Real Estate
From his first wife, Jamie Byars, Hershiser has two sons named Quinton and Jordan. With his second wife, Dana Deaver, he has two stepchildren. The couple lives in Las Vegas.
For much of his years playing in LA, Orel lived in a 12,000-square-foot mansion in Pasadena. He sold this home in 1995 for an undisclosed amount. Those buyers sold the home in 2021 for $13 million.
In 2009, Orel paid $985,000 for a home in the Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin. He sold this home in 2019 for a little over $1 million.
