Golden Days Era Committee selection – Tony Oliva

This week, we will look at the career of Tony Oliva, who was just elected to the Hall of Fame by the Golden Days Era Committee. Oliva moved to the United States in 1961 from Pindar del Rio, Cuba. He played in three spring training games for the Minnesota Twins in 1961 and, despite getting seven hits in ten at-bats, was released due to his poor outfield play. Oliva spent most of the next two years playing in the Twins minor league system getting only nineteen plate appearances at the major league level.

Oliva’s defense was partly to blame, but the Twins had power-hitting Bob Allison playing right field, and Allison would remain in right field blocking Oliva until 1964 when Oliva’s bat moved Allison to first base. He would eventually win a Gold Glove in 1966.

“I took pride in myself when I played the game. But in order to work hard, you need to work smart. I was the worst fielder you’ve ever seen, but four years later, I won the Gold Glove because I watched Al Kaline play, and I had coaches working me hard.” —Tony Oliva

In 1964, Oliva, then twenty-five years old, would win the rookie of the year award, the batting title, get selected to his first of eight all-star games in a row, and lead the American League in hits, runs, and doubles. Oliva would also finish fourth in MVP voting that year. From 1964 to 1971, Tony Oliva would win three batting titles, lead the American League in hits and doubles five times each and finish in the top ten in the MVP vote five times. Then injuries set in. After 1971 his career quickly declined due to knee, leg, and shoulder injuries. In 1972 Oliva only played in ten games. Without the league adopting the designated hitter rule in 1973, Oliva’s career might have been over. He served as the Twins DH through his last season in 1976.

The highest percentage of vote he received from the Baseball Writers Association was 47.3% in 1988. Oliva doesn’t have the statistics the writers traditionally looked for when evaluating players. Due to his shortened career, he was over a thousand hits short of 3,000.

The average career WAR for a Hall of Fame right fielder is 71.1 and Oliva only has a 43.0 WAR. The argument for him to be induced has always been based on performance during his peak years from 1964 to 1971.

“If league dominance means anything, there’s no question he should be in.” — Jim Kaat (Minneapolis Star-Tribune, July 14, 1991)

Tony Oliva on finding out that Jim Kaat was also elected said, “That was so special for me. When I started, [Kaat] was already a big-league ballplayer. He babysitted me. I only spoke a little bit of English, so he would take me out. I was so proud that he finally made it and that we get to go in together.”

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for forty-five years. It’s great. It’s something special. I never dreamed that something like that would happen to me.” — Tony Oliva