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Tony Oliva had a rookie year to remember. The Minnesota right fielder led the league in batting average, hits, runs, doubles, and total bases. He received all but one of the first-place votes in Rookie of the Year balloting.

The season was no fluke. He followed it up in ’65 by winning his second straight batting crown and finishing second in MVP voting. An All Star in his first 8 full seasons, Oliva wore out American League pitchers for nearly a decade.

In the collection is this Topps rookie card of Oliva signed by the three-time batting champ.

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If not for bad knees, Tony Oliva is a sure-fire Hall of Famer. The Rookie of the Year in 1964, Oliva was the AL batting champ. The rookie season was outstanding. Oliva also paced AL hitters in runs, hits, and total bases.

From 1964-1971 Oliva won three batting crowns, topping the .320 mark four times. He was an All Star all 8 seasons. During that period he averaged 22 homers and 90 RBI per season while slugging .507. The Gold Glove outfielder was on his way to Cooperstown.

Then he injured his knee. Oliva was never the same.

He played in just 10 games in 1972. For the remaining four years of his career he never hit .300 again. For decades Oliva was the subject of a fierce Hall of Fame debate. In 2022, the Veterans Committee agreed with Oliva’s supporters and elected him to Cooperstown.

According to baseball-reference.com, Oliva made as much as $100,000 in a season only once. Players sometimes had off-season jobs and also relied on money from endorsement deals.

In the collection is one such endorsement. Signed just nine games into his big league career, this contract calls for Oliva’s signature to appear on souvenir baseballs with stamped signatures of the team’s players.

Not exactly a money maker for Oliva, the deal calls for him to make one cent per ball sold.

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The 1964 Rookie of the Year, Tony Oliva was purely dominant for his first eight seasons before injuries slowed him. Shown here is a 1966 batting leaders card featuring and signed by Frank Robinson, Oliva, and Al Kaline.

Robinson hit .316 to win his only batting crown and the AL Triple Crown. Three-time batting champ Oliva finished second.

In the eight-year period from 1964-1971, Oliva won three batting crowns. He finished in the top-10 each of those seasons and had seven top-3 finishes.

Oliva is widely regarded as one of the best players not inducted into the Hall of Fame.

 

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The Major League Baseball Players Association sent out questionnaires like this one to its players to determine what endorsements each man had. Today’s players compliment their baseball salary with off field endorsement but that wasn’t always the case.

This document filled out by Tony Oliva on July 18, 1970 shows him to have only one endorsement — from Mac Greagor sporting goods. It was a fine year for Oliva who finished second in MVP voting. The left-handed batter hit .325 with 23 homers and 107 RBI while leading the league in hits and doubles.

Oliva signed his name at the bottom. Directly under his signature, Oliva penned “Minnesota Twins”, the team he player for not only in 1970, but for the entirety of his 15-year career.

The Cuban-born Oliva won three batting crowns and played in eight straight all star games from 1964-1971. He was inducted into Cooperstown in 2022.