Tony Oliva Marquee Hall of Fame 2022

He spent all fifteen of his seasons with Minnesota and batted .304 with 1,917 hits and 220 home runs. He won the Rookie of the Year award in 1964 with 217 hits, 43 doubles and 109 runs, all league highs. He led the league in hits five times and in doubles four times, and was an All-Star for eight straight years.

He hit .337 in 126 games in 1971 and was named The Sporting News Player of the Year. Then his right knee gave out on a diving catch and he played ten games in 1972. When the American League introduced the designated hitter in 1973 he took the job: 142 of his 146 games. He never played the outfield again.

He was born in Pinar del Río, left Cuba in 1961, and could not go home. Minnesota won the pennant in 1965 and division titles in 1969 and 1970 with him in right field. The Hall of Fame elected him in 2022, forty-six years after his last game, when he was in his eighties.