25 Facts About Tony Oliva

Tony Oliva was the 1964 American League Rookie of the Year, an AL batting champion three seasons, an AL hit leader five seasons, and a Gold Glove winner one season.

Tony Oliva was inducted into the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame in 2000.

Tony Oliva was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022.

Oliva's father, who worked in a tobacco factory and was famous for rolling the best cigars, was a former semi-professional player who instructed Tony and helped him become "the best hitter in Pinar del Rio".

Tony Oliva was reluctant to leave his parents and nine siblings, but his father encouraged him to become "rich and famous" in America.

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Tony Oliva was called up to the major leagues with nine games left and debuted for the Twins on September 9,1962, hitting a searing.

Tony Oliva was voted to his first All-Star game in his rookie year, but went 0-for-4 at the plate.

Tony Oliva paced the AL in hits, doubles, extra base hits, total bases, runs, and runs created.

Tony Oliva's performances were all the more noteworthy for falling right at the onset of baseball's "second deadball era", with only two other AL hitters reaching the.

One of the season's highlights came on June 9,1966, in the seventh inning of a game against the Kansas City Athletics, where Tony Oliva joined Harmon Killebrew, Don Mincher, Rich Rollins and Versalles to hit five home runs in a single inning.

Tony Oliva finished third in batting average in the American League in 1970 at.

Tony Oliva led the AL in hits for the fifth time, in doubles for the fourth time, and finished second in MVP voting for the second time, this time to Baltimore's Boog Powell.

Tony Oliva played just 10 games in 1972 before having season-ending surgery.

Tony Oliva would hit the first home run by a DH in league play on April 6,1973.

Tony Oliva was a coach for the Twins after he retired as a player.

Tony Oliva was considered for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame via voting of the Baseball Writers' Association of America from 1982 to 1996.

Writer Bill James, utilizing the Keltner list, determined that Tony Oliva was a "viable Hall of Fame candidate", but ultimately did not endorse him as a Hall of Famer.

In 2000,2001,2003,2005, and 2007, Tony Oliva was considered for the National Baseball Hall of Fame by its Veterans Committee's election, but was unsuccessful.

Tony Oliva was considered again by the Hall of Fame's Golden Era Committee which voted in 2011, but was short by four of the required 12 votes needed for induction in 2012.

Tony Oliva was voted into the Hall of Fame at their meeting on December 5,2021, and was formally enshrined on July 24,2022.

Tony Oliva was popular with the fans and the media of the Twin Cities during his career, and was given the nickname "Tony-O".

Tony Oliva had strong offensive numbers during an era heavily dominated by pitching.

Tony Oliva was selected to the All-Star team his first eight seasons, surpassing Joe DiMaggio's previous record of six selections.

Tony Oliva was the right fielder on Stein's Latin team - an impossible snub of Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, but a clear measure of how highly regarded Tony Oliva was in his day.

In 2021, three-time All-Star Luis Tiant wrote that Tony Oliva was the toughest hitter he had to face in his career.

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