Rookie Cup: 1965 Topps #340 Tony Oliva

Today our Rookie Cup Series takes a look at 1964 AL Rookie of the Year Tony Oliva who is one of only six Cuban born players in the Hall of Fame.

1965 Topps #340 Tony Oliva

Check out this Off-Center HOF beauty! 

1965T is one of my favorite card designs. I am a sucker for pennants.  Between the Pennant, Oliva's Twins Cap and the Cup trophy we have a fine combination of complimentary colors here.

Oliva earned Rookie of the Year honors by leading not just rookies but all of MLB in hitting with a .323 average. It was the first of 3 batting titles for Tony. 

The Numbers

1964 MLB Rookie WAR Leaders

Tony Oliva is listed 2nd here because his NL Rookie of the Year peer, Dick Allen had a Higher WAR, but you can still see all of his black ink. In addition to leading the league in Batting Average the young Cuban also ranked #1 in Runs, Hits (first of 5 times), Doubles (1st of 4), and Total Bases. Oliva's 374 Total Bases tied the Rookie record set by Hal Trotsky Sr in 1939. 60+ years later Tony Oliva still holds the record for Total Bases by a rookie, Nomar Garciaparra's 365 in 1997 has been the closest challenger. 

And how often do two rookies lead their respective leagues in Total Bases. Amazing Rookie class. 

Those numbers were good enough to place Oliva fourth in AL MVP vote which was won by Baltimore 3rd baseman Brooks Robinson (8.1 WAR, .317/28/118 LL)

ROY

Robinson's Orioles teammate Wally Bunker kept Oliva from a unanimous Rookie of the Year victory. Hard to compare Hitting & Pitching numbers. In 1964 the BBWAA members were not familiar with WAR, we simply note that Oliva's 6.8 is superlative while Bunker's is average. Looking at Bunker's triple crown numbers he ranked 3rd in Wins (FIRST in PCT) and 6th in ERA. During his 9 year career Bunker never finished top 10 in Ks. Oliva's 32 HR was 6th in the AL with the 94 RBI ranking 9th. That gives Tony Oliva finishes of 1,6,9 vs 3,6,11+ for Wally Bunker. I can see the one voter giving it to Bunker on the W-L Pct, but I offer Oliva's record setting LL Total Bases as a push, minimum. 

flip

1965 Topps #340 Tony Oliva (b-side)

All the superlatives that we just went over and what is in the comic on Tony Oliva's first solo card?  For some reason Topps goes with the numbers Oliva put up in Short Seson D-League 3 years prior. I don't get it. Topps text does cover Oliva's Batting Championship, Hits Crown and ROY win in the text. Check out that batting average at Whytheville, it is not one of the crowns alluded to in the comic, but .410 in 249 ABs - that is solid at any professional level. 

GridLock

I have been playing Immaculate Grid with majority All-Star Rookie Cup Players. Today we are introducing a sub-feature dubbed GridLock where we will take a look at the Grid Possibilities of the players we cover. 

For Tony Oliva some good Grid Luck categories are: 

-Only 1 Team

-Born outside the US

-Rookie of the Year / ASG / GG

-Played all 3 OF positions. 

-Single Season 3xCrown Categories: .300 AVG, 30 HR, 100 RBI and 100 Runs

-6+ WAR season

-Career .300 hitter

Tony Oliva HOF Index

1965 Topps #340 (ROY - this posting) 

1970 Topps #510

Sources and Links
1965 All-Star Rookie Cup

phungo HOF Index

baseball-ref

SABR Bio - Peter C Bjarkman

Reading the Competition - 1970 Topps #510 Tony Oliva

This week the Phillies are in the Twin Cities and tonight we are taking a look at the career of Hall of Very Good contender Tony Oliva. 

1970 Topps #510 Tony Oliva

I liked Tony Oliva when I was a kid.  No idea why - cool sounding name, older guy had a .300 average are among my guesses. Probably read a gushing article in Baseball Digest somewhere along the line.

One has to wonder how close Oliva's career was to never happening.  I don't know a lot about the Cuban revolution, but I would have to think that Tony Oliva had to be among the last players to come out of Cuba in the era - According to Baseball-ref he has minor league experience dating back to 1961.  Following a  couple of cups of coffee in 62 and 63 Tony Oliva began playing regularly in 1964 when he earned Rookie of the Year honors.  In his debut he led the league in Batting Avg (.323) , Runs 109 , Hits 217  Doubles (43) and Total Bases (374). Those numbers were also good enough for 4th in the MVP voting, an award which he would finish runner up for in both 1965 (teammate Zoilo Versailes) and 1970 (Boog Powell).

Oliva played his entire 15 year career with the Twins. He represented the team in 8 consecutive All-Star games, starting with his rookie campaign. He led the league in Batting 3 times and hits 5.  In 1971 He led the AL in both AVG and slugging. For his career Oliva batted .304 good enough for 154th all time - much of his career was played during a pitching heavy era.  He finished just short of some milestone numbers, 1917 Hits and 947 RBIs with 220 Home Runs.

Oliva helped the Minnesota reach the playoffs in 3 different seasons, 1965, 69 and 70 But the Twins lost all 3 series. The 1965 World Series the Twins and Dodgers battled 7 games with the Dodgers taking the finale behind a Sandy Koufax 3 Hitter.  Oliva did have a Home Run off of Don Drysdale in game 4 of the series.  

Post playing career Tony Oliva has been involved with the Minnesota Twins in varying roles and still maintains ties to the community. 

For The Collector 
1970 Topps commons can sometimes be had for a dime, but for a semi-star like Oliva one would likely have to look for the card in a quarter or 3/buck bin.

His rookie card is 1963 Topps #228 and Identifies Tony as "Pedro Oliva".  The card is shared with Ed Kranepool and two other players.  Low eBay for an off condition of this card was $4.04.  $8.50 will get you the card in a bit nicer condition.

For those of you with a little extra cash laying around a PSA 9 MINT version of this card finished at $1699.00.  Yes a buck shy of  Seventeen Hundred Dollars!!! PSA 7 NM cards went far cheaper with five auctions ending between $60 and $85 and one being under $50. 

Topps had Tony Oliva on a slow progression.  His 2nd yr card is also a shared card #116.  Finally on 1965 #340 Topps granted Oliva a solo card - which is also a rookie cup card. Although Oliva is present in the Topps Super set at card #44.  His last Topps Card is 1976 Topps #35  

Sources & Links

Tony Oliva HOF Index
Baseball-ref
wikipedia
SABR Bio
Baseball Card Database