Originally posted by wu-tang clan
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I grew up in the upper midwest, when the Twins had Oliva, Killebrew, Allison, and later Carew. While remaining a Giants fan, I saw the Twins play on TV a lot and a few times in person. Oliva was the heart and soul of those teams. A total natural.
Oliva also was severely injured in 1972, and his lifetime stats don't reflect the player that he was before his injury. Prior to his injury his line was .313/.361/.506 OPS+ 140, after 4 more years of playing on one leg, his lifetime stats fell to .304/.353/.476 OPS+ 131. Quite a drop in his lifetime slugging. Had he just retired, he would probalby be looked on more favorably.
Just in case posters here don't know about him, he burst on the scene when one of the best rookie seasons ever, in 1964, and was named ROY. He led the league in hits, runs, doubles, batting, and total bases. He was 4th in MVP voting. He followed that up with another batting title in 1965 and was MVP runnerup. He led the league in hits 5 times, doubles 4 times, batting 3 times, and slugging once. He was again MVP runnerup in 1970. He was an all star every one of the 8 years prior to his injury. And he played in a pitcher's era, the late 60's.
I'm not sure that he's a HOFer (I'd vote for him), so I posted on this section. I just don't want history to forget him. Tony O could flat out hit
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