Immortal Tony Oliva on his selection to the Hall of Fame: “I was happy”

In a waste of modesty, The legendary Tony Oliva considered that fortune helped him be elected this Sunday to the Cooperstown Hall of Fame, a right that the Cuban outfielder more than earned on the fields with the Minnesota Twins jersey.

Exclusively for CyberCuba, the native of Pinar del Río confessed that the approval of the Veterans Committee for his exaltation to the temple of the immortals “It's something you never imagined would happen.. I never played organized ball in my country. I watched the games of that professional league and only dreamed of being in one of those clubs, especially Cienfuegos because it had Camilo Pascual and Pedro Ramos”.

Rookie of the Year in 1964 and eight-time All-Star, Oliva -who recently offered a interview for The Sniper from this website - added that “I came here and after playing for so many years, I put up numbers that people began to value for the Hall of Fame and I told myself that maybe one day I would get that opportunity. And today I was happy.”

Questioned about this adjective - "happily no, you hit a lot in the Major Leagues," I told him on the other end of the phone line - the three-time batting champion accepted that "that's true, but still I was lucky that they chose me and that they didn't choose, for example, Dick Allen. I think he should be elected next time, like my compatriot Luis Tiant, who achieved tremendous statistics.”

After referring that at the time of revealing his name in the program MLB Network received countless congratulatory calls and was harassed by the press, the 83-year-old star He acknowledged feeling “very happy” that another Cuban, the now deceased Orestes Miñoso, was also the winner in the ballots. of the Golden Days Era Committee.

“It had been a while since Minnie Miñoso He should have been there, and it makes me happy to know that he finally entered the Hall. As I tell you about pitcher Jim Kaat, who was my teammate for more than a decade and waited a few years to join.”

Tony Oliva closed his time in the best baseball in the world with a slash line of .304/.353/.476 in 15 seasons.

Along with him and Miñoso, the Golden Days Era Committee also selected Kaat and Gil Hodges, while Bud Fowler and Buck O'Neil were awarded tickets to immortality by the Early Days Era Committee.

Until now, Cuba had four players in the Hall of Fame. Namely, Tany Pérez – selected by the Baseball Writers Association of America – and Martín Dihigo, José de la Caridad Méndez and Cristóbal Torriente, exalted by the Special Committee of the Negro Leagues.

Also part of the select Cooperstown venue are businessman Alex Pompez and baseball narrator and commentator Rafael "Felo" Ramírez.