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Today we welcome a guest post from Steve Falco, the first of what we hope will be many more. Steve sends us an outstanding essay celebrating Tony Oliva’s long overdue and well-deserved election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He also shares with us some of his own personal remembrances of Tony. I think you’ll enjoy reading what Steve has to say about this great Cuban-born ballplayer who’s now on his way to enshrinement in Cooperstown. –GL
The Long Wait is Finally Over:
Congratulations Tony O!
Tony Oliva, the star right fielder for the Minnesota Twins in the 1960’s and 1970’s, has finally made it into the Hall of Fame. On Sunday the professional baseball’s Golden Days Era Committee voted to induct Tony Oliva into the Hall of Fame 45 years after his retirement in 1976.
There will always be debates about who deserves such an honor. Baseball’s Hall of Fame has always been a respected and cherished institution with super high standards based on drawn-out analyses of complex data. Every baseball fan may have a different opinion, but it is hard not to be a fan of the dynamic Cuban
phenom who burst onto the scene with a sensational season in 1964. There is no longer a need to debate whether Tony O should be in the Hall. After all, there is only one player ever (Bill Madlock) to be denied entry with three or more batting titles. So let’s just take a moment to appreciate the accomplishments of the slender slugger from Pinar del Rio Cuba.
Tony O’s Outstanding Career
After two cups of coffee in ’62 and ’63 playing in 16 games for the Twins and batting .438, Oliva had his breakout season as a rookie in 1964. That year he led the league in batting at .323, and also led in hits, doubles, runs, and total bases. He was named to the All-Star team, an honor he would receive seven additional times. And he was named Rookie of the Year, the first time a ROY would also claim the batting title. He was also the first black player to win a batting title in the American League. The junior circuit had been slow in signing black players. So much so, that by 1964 the National League already had six different black players winning the title.
Oliva was so good that he came right back and won the batting title in 1965 at .321, again topping the league in hits while leading the Minnesota franchise to their first World Series ever and the first since 1933 for their heritage team, the Washington Senators. He continued his torrid hitting in 1966, leading the league in hits but coming in second in batting average to the great Frank Robinson. Oliva remained a consistent hitting star finishing third in batting in 1968, 1969 and then had a tremendous 1971 campaign leading the league batting an impressive .337 while also leading in slugging percentage. Tony O twice finished second in MVP balloting, losing to teammate Zoilo Versalles in 1965 and to Baltimore’s Boog Powell in 1970.
For most of his career, the lanky lefty batted third in front of Hall-of-Famer
Harmon Killebrew as the Twins battled each year for the pennant. Although the Twins never won a championship, they clashed with the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers led by Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale in the 1965 World Series, ultimately losing in seven games. Minnesota made it to the ALCS twice in 1969 and 1970 but both times losing to the Orioles despite Oliva’s hot hitting. He batted .385 and .500 in those two ALCS.
Tony’s Love For the Game: An All-Around Solid Player
Those of us who got to watch Tony Oliva could not help but be impressed by his tremendous abilities and love for the game. Oliva could not only hit he was a solid fielder, twice leading the league’s right fielders in assists and four times in put-outs. But it was his approach at the plate the endeared me. When we were kids, I loved to imitate his batting style. He had a spread-out slightly closed stance and was known to be a free swinger who occasionally lost hold of his bat while swinging, causing his first base coach to run for cover. And for such a slugger— he had 220 career home runs—he was very difficult to strikeout. And for that matter, he was also difficult to walk. As they like to say today, he “put the ball in play” cutting and slashing and many times swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. He hit to all fields and there would never be any over-shifting on Oliva.
Welcome to the Hall Tony O!
Congratulations to the great Tony Oliva. Your time has come. You are a Hall of Famer. And thanks for the memories.
Steve Falco
Check out Steve’s books: Mickey Mantle’s Last Home and Grandpa Gordy’s Greatest World Series Games
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Information: Facts compiled from Baseball Almanac and Baseball-Reference.com
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Thank you for this persuasive tribute. Hodges, Minoso, Kaat and Oliva, all finally elected by the Golden Days (Era) Committee in a single meeting. So many of us fans are now crowing simultaneously that “It’s about time!”
Like so many elderly observers who can vividly recall these guys’ stellar careers I have to confess that the old peepers opened a bit wider at Steve’s recollection that Boog Powell won the A.L. MVP Award in 1971. I can’t remember today’s breakfast of course, but I’m almost certain that Vida Blue walked away with that particular trophy 50 years ago.
I am so pleased for the long-suffering families of Gil and Minnie, and relieved that Oliva and Kaat have lived to see themselves elected. Hallelujah!
Best regards,
Michael
You are correct, Michael. Blue did win MVP in 1971. Powell won it the previous year.
Oliva was on path to HOF, but his knee injury that impeded the last years of his career clouded his election by the BBWAA during his eligibility.
All these players getting their due makes you wonder how much politics is involved getting due recognition.
We’re the rules too strict or wrongly interpreted by the writers over the years? Have standards been part of revisionist history?
I can justly say that the Golden Days committee will always leave Eddie Gaedel a little short.
That’s for the catch you guys. I corrected it (I think!).
In Oliva’s second season he suffered a hand injury — may have been a bone chip. It caused him to grip the bat very lightly, resulting in many unintentionally flung bats. Though it halved his extra-base power, he still led the league in batting average.
He and Cepeda were among the first designated hitters, and each’s stance had knees almost touching while their feet were positioned normally. Their physical condition was sad, but it was great for fans still to be able to see them hit.