Tony Oliva
From BR Bullpen
Tony Pedro Oliva born Antonio Oliva Lopez Hernandes Javique
- Bats Left, Throws Right
- Height 6' 2", Weight 190 lb.
- Debut September 9, 1962
- Final Game September 29, 1976
- Born July 20, 1938 in Pinar del Río, Cuba
[edit] Biographical Information
Tony Oliva was a three-time batting champion and eight-time All Star in his 15 year career. In the 2007 voting by the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee, he finished with 57% of the vote out of the 75% necessary.
His #6 is retired by the Minnesota Twins.
During his career, Oliva was generally thought of as a Hall of Fame level player. He had early prominence, finishing # 4 in the MVP voting as a rookie and winning the Rookie of the Year award. In his next two seasons, he was # 2 and then # 6 in the MVP voting. He had won two batting titles in his first two big-league seasons.
However, it hurt Oliva that he had a rather short career - even though he played 15 seasons through age 37, he had fewer than 2,000 hits in his career. Of the ten most similar players according to the similarity scores method, only # 10 is a Hall of Famer, and that is George Kelly, often criticized as a below-par selection to the Hall. The most similar player is Carl Furillo, although Furillo played in a hitter's park before the second dead-ball era, while Oliva played in the heart of that era. Another of the most similar players, Pedro Guerrero, is an interesting and good comparison, since Bill James once called Guerrero the best hitter of the 1980's.
Oliva was a player/coach in his final year with the Twins and remained on their staff through 1978. After spending the next six years as a minor league coach, he was back on the Twins staff from 1985 to 1991. Since then, he has been a minor league hitting instructor.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 1964 AL Rookie of the Year Award
- 1964 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
- 8-time AL All-Star (1964-1971)
- AL Gold Glove Winner (1966)
- 3-time AL Batting Average Leader (1964, 1965 & 1971)
- AL Slugging Percentage Leader (1971)
- AL Runs Scored Leader (1964)
- 5-time AL Hits Leader (1964-1966, 1969 & 1970)
- AL Total Bases Leader (1964)
- 4-time AL Doubles Leader (1964, 1967, 1969 & 1970)
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 5 (1964, 1966 & 1969-1971)
- 30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1964)
- 100 RBI Seasons: 2 (1969 & 1970)
- 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 2 (1964 & 1965)
- 200 Hits Seasons: 2 (1964 & 1970)
| AL Rookie of the Year | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1963 | 1964 | 1965 |
| Gary Peters | Tony Oliva | Curt Blefary |
