Top Twins Players Not in the Hall of Fame: Tony Oliva

This has always annoyed me.  If Oliva had been a Yankee or a Red Sox he'd be "legendary."  He should have been in the Hall years ago.  And he should have been A.L. MVP instead of Zoilo.  

Great article Cody, one that is dear to my heart. There is no doubt he should be there. He had the stats to be MVP 2x but was snubbed. His knee injury slowed him down to get the HR, hits & defense totals that he could`ve had. Also they should consider his loyalty,  being      only      w/ the Twins & years of coaching which shows his love for the sport

Although I`ve never met him, he seems like a very nice man. He deserves to join the other Twins in the HoF for some time now. Hope     he doesn`t get snubbed again

Tony Oliva is the kind of guy that if you've been hanging around with him and he's not there, you miss him. A great ballplayer. Slashing hitter that would take pitches off his shoes and drill them to all parts of the ballpark, especially in RBI situations. Impactful defense in RF with range and throwing arm.

ROY in '64. Batting titles his first 2 years. Gold Glove in '66. Garnered MVP votes every season up to his big knee injury. Batted .278 with an 103 OPS on basically one leg after the injury. Tony-O. He's in my HOF.

Tony Oliva was really my only real hero in life. Thus, zero chance at rational thought about the man. He and Rod Carew came to my school in 1967 and talked with everyone as if we were family; an hour of milling around, pictures, cards handed out, and a two five minute talks. I still remember their genuine kindness and joy of visiting with us kids.

Tony is one of those people who anyone can approach and visit. His passion for baseball and more specifically life is a lesson for all. I'm not sure I have ever met or talked with anyone as sweet or kind to the random public who stopped to say hello to him in the days where he sat just below the concourse in the top rows behind home plate at the Metrodome. I sold beer and saw countless people stop and say hello to Tony O.

On a number of occasions through the years I asked pitchers who faced Tony Oliva on many occasions in competitive action for their assessment of him as a peer. Without hesitation, each stated that Oliva was easily among the top ten hitters of their era. 

When I remember the state of medicine in the 1960s and early 1970s, I recall how knee operations differed from the current years. Knees surgery meant being filleted and spending six weeks in bed and a year before reasonable mobility in those times. My trio of knee surgeries in the twenty-first century allowed me to limp home and start rehab in a few days.

The accomplishments of Tony Oliva are legendary and the fact of his omission from the Hall of Fame is unfortunate for baseball. Ask Sandy Koufax or any American League pitcher from 1964-1974.

I will never forget watching him hit a wicked line drive off of the center field fence at Metropolitan Stadium in his last year and seeing him land on first base, stop, and look to the dugout for the expected pinch runner, and then limp off of the field. Nobody in Twins history has ever hit line drives like Tony O. Nobody.

My guess is that if you polled baseball fans that are over 65 years old ( myself included) a vast majority would say Tony O deserves to be in the Hall. Also,if you ask all the pitchers who faced him in the 1960's they too would overwhelmingly agree.I pray that the golden era committee comes thru and does the right thing.I agree with Ace Wrigley....Tony O will forever be in my Hall of Fame,.but now it's time to make it official.

Since I am 75 I make it in your age requirements and there is not doubt that during the sixties there was not a team in the league that would not have drooled over the prospect of having Tony on their team.