Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Tony Oliva

My buddy, Drake, hooked me up big time when he was able to get a baseball signed first me at Spring Training by Hall of Famer, Tony Oliva.

Drake was pretty sure he would see Oliva, so he took an OMLB ball from me to try to add Oliva to the collection.

Oliva ended up swapping out my ball for a Spring Training logo ball; Drake was upset thinking I'd be mad about the switch.  I'm actually really happy about it, because I didn't have a Spring Training ball in the collection.  Crisis averted.

Oliva (b. 1938) played in the majors from 1962 to 1976 for the Twins.  He had 1,917 hits, 220 home runs and a .304 batting average.  He was the AL batting champ in 1964, 1965 and 1971.  He hit over .300 in 7 seasons.  He was an All Star 8 times (1964 to 1971).  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2022 when he was selected by the Veterans Committee.  Oliva is my 169th Hall of Famer on a baseball.

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