Two of the greatest Minnesota Twins, three-time American League batting champion Tony Oliva and 283-game winner Jim Kaat, one of baseball’s most durable pitchers ever, were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame Sunday by the Golden Day Veterans committee.
Oliva, a Cuban, broke through for the 1964 Twins, winning the AL batting title with a .323 average, leading the major leagues with 217 hits. He was American League Rookie of the Year and fourth in the AL MVP voting.
Oliva repeated as AL batting champion during the Twins’ pennant-winning season in 1965, hitting .321 and finishing as the runner-up in the MVP voting.
In 1971, Oliva took his third batting title, hitting a career-best .337.
He spent 13 full seasons with the Twins, preceded by brief appearances in 1962 and 1963. His career was cut short by knee injuries.
“I was looking for that phone call a long time,” Oliva said on MLB Network. “I had so many people work so hard for me to be elected. They said I should have been elected 40 years ago. To be alive to tell the people means a lot me.”
Kaat pitched 25 seasons in the majors, coming up with the Senators in 1959, and remaining with the Senators/Twins franchise until 1973. He was a three-time 20-game winner, winning 25 games for the 1966 Twins. Kaat is regarded as arguably the best fielding major league pitcher ever, winning 16 Gold Glove awards.
“I never thought I was the No. 1 pitcher,” Kaat said. “I wasn’t dominant. I was durable and dependable. I am grateful they chose to reward dependability.”
Also elected were Buck O’Neil, a champion of Black ballplayers during a monumental, eight-decade career on and off the field, Gil Hodges, an eight-time All-Star with 370 home runs and three-time Gold Glover at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the manager of the 1969 world champion New York Mets, and Minnie Minoso, a two-time All-Star in the Negro Leagues before becoming the first Black player for the Chicago White Sox in 1951. Born in Havana, “The Cuban Comet” was a seven-time All-Star while with the White Sox and Indians.
-the Associated Press contributed to this story-
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