Tony "O" Oliva   

By Vinni Puentes 6/12/03

            At the beginning of Spring training, the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Veterans Committee neglected to vote into the hall, the player who might have been the best Cuban player of the 60’s and early 70’s, Tony Oliva. To this day the only player in Major League history to win the batting title his first 2 years in the league. He was the unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year in 1964, in what was up to that time one of the best rookie seasons in baseball history.

           Among his many accomplishments his first season established three feats that no other American League rookie had done up to that time. They were, #1 First rookie in the junior circuit to win the batting title with an average of .323, #2 Tied major league in hits for a rookie with 217 and #3 Set the major league record for total bases by a rookie with 374 while leading the league in runs (109), at bats (672), and doubles (43) and hitting 32 home runs with 94 rbi’s. Undoubtedly, one of the best rookie seasons of all time. For the next 8 seasons he averaged  181 hits, 34 doubles, 22 homeruns, and 90 rbi’s while winning the batting title his second season in 1965 with a .321 average. Later on in 1969 he won the batting title a 3^rd time in that pitcher dominated era, with one of the lowest winning batting averages .309.

           In 1972 Oliva suffered a devastating knee injury that impeded his play in the outfield for the rest of his career. Luckily for Oliva, the creation of the DH position in the American League in 1973 allowed him to put up some pretty decent numbers for the rest of his playing days as a part-time outfielder and Designated Hitter.

          In his career he played 1,676 games in 15 seasons with a .304 career batting average, 1,917 total hits, 329 doubles, 220 HR’s, 947 RBI’s, and an on base percentage of .353. In addition, he only struck out 645 times in 6,301 career at bats. In truth, he only played 11 seasons. In 1962 and 1963 he was up in the Majors  for a “cup of coffee” playing 9 and 7 games respectively as a September call-up. In 1976, his last season, he only played 67 games before the pain in his knee finally forced him to retire. All this was accomplished in a pitcher dominated era in the American League, which was the very reason for the creation of the designated hitter position.

          Although he never won an MVP award, which in this writer’s opinion would have only made the case for his being in “The Hall” even stronger. He won 3 Batting titles, led the league in total hits 5 times and appeared in 8 straight All-Star games. No doubt, he was one of the most dominating hitters of his era.

          So far, there are 2 former Cuban players in the Hall of Fame. Minnie Minoso, having been voted in by the Old Veterans Committee and Tony Perez who was voted in by the writers a few years ago. Let's hope that the new Veterans Committee will vote Tony Oliva into the Hall of Fame next Spring.

           webmaster@cubanology.com