Neighbor forced to cut down 2 huge trees to give John Olerud a better view of Seattle.

A chain saw growled as, limb by limb, the foliage fell from Bruce and Linda Baker’s cherished Chinese pine.

Soon the crew went after the denuded trunk until it, too, was gone.

The rare pine was removed Tuesday by order of the Clyde Hill Board of Adjustment, which said it unreasonably obstructed the view from the nearby home of retired baseball star John Olerud and his wife, Kelly.

The Bakers decided last month not to appeal the ruling. The pine and a Colorado spruce will be replaced with smaller plants at the Oleruds’ expense.

Recent stories of John Olerud’s building a house in 2006, staying at his neighbor’s house for 8 months while his home is being built, and then waiting a few years before having the Clyde Hill Board of Adjustment vote 3-2 to condemn his neighbor’s decades-old trees as obstructing Olerud’s view have highlighted the different set of rules the wealthy live by.

Picture in your mind what an “obstructed view” looks like. Now take a look at what Olerud’s obstructed view of the Seattle skyline looks like. Hey Mr Golden Glove, if a single tree 100 ft away can “obstruct the skyline” it’s not a panoramic skyline view you’re looking at but only a “feature” on the horizon. You should have built your home on the West half of the lot, where your massive back yard is, if you intended to get a better angle on Seattle… and don’t give your neighbors to the East any ideas with those privacy hedges growing taller over the years.

CLYDE HILL, Wash. -- Dozens of people packed Clyde Hill City Hall on Wednesday to fight for two trees, and the man they were fighting happens to be a former Seattle Mariner great.

John Olerud, the former Mariners first baseman, wants his neighbor to chop down a spruce and a Chinese pine to improve his own view and up the value of his $4 million home.

The neighbor trimmed one tree, but doesn't want to part with either of them.

...."They are not exempt from the view ordinance," Olerud said of the trees. "We have also established that these trees unreasonably obstruct our view, and we respectfully submit our complaint."