Forgotten Superstars-Tony Oliva

The hardball portion of Forgotten Superstars honors another player that is being considered by the Veterans Committee in December for the Hall of Fame former Minnesota Twin Tony Oliva. 

Oliva won the batting crown three times and led the league in hits on five occasions. Oliva also hit 220 homers in his career, hitting 20 or more homers five times, despite not being known for huge power numbers. Oliva's career high for the longball was his 32-homer year in 1964, a season in which Oliva was named the Rookie of the Year, but finished an excellent fourth in the balloting for league MVP.

Oliva was not a liability in the outfield either as he won a Gold Glove in 1966. 

When you look at the numbers for Oliva, the line appears to be 1971. Tony O. was having a typical year .337,22 hrs and 81 RBI when in August, he damaged his knee so badly that not only did it end the 1971 season for him, the injury kept him to a paltry 10 games in 1972. Knee surgery in 1971 was far from the advanced art that it has become today and Oliva became a hobbled player and likely would have ended his career even sooner except for one thing-the DH being voted to start in 1973.

Oliva could still swing the wood and in his 1973 return, he hit .293 with 16 HR and 92 RBI, but that was truly the last hurrah.

Oliva compiled good but not great numbers in part-time DH action over the next two years before struggling through under 70 games in 1976 with below-par stats and called it quits.

Oliva's brilliance for the first eight years of his career makes him an interesting candidate for the HOF, but the baseball hall has always shied away from the players that do not always pass the longevity test.

I am sure that Oliva falling short of the 2000 hit mark (1917) has hurt him with some voters as well.

Tony Oliva will be remembered as an all-time great by many and especially Twins fans where the team retired his 6 uniform number.

Hope you enjoyed reading about Tony Oliva -today's forgotten superstar... 

The Seattle Seahawks travel to New York today for a game against the Giants. Seattle will need Julius Jones to have a 

big day and be able to throw the ball just enough to keep them honest.

The Hawks will benefit from the Plaxico Burress suspension but will need to keep the heat on Eli Manning throughout.

Prediction-

Record 4-3 Giants 24-14