Tony Oliva Has My Hall of Fame Vote Just Because He Was So Nice to Me One Day

I saw yet another one of those exhausting Internet lists today ranking the top – I can't remember the number – players who are not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Every time that debate is reared, I can't help but think of the time I talked on the phone with Tony Oliva.

I hate to admit, I don't remember much of the conversation. I just remember he was a super nice guy, who took time out of his busy schedule – he was still working with the Twins organization back then – to chat on the phone with a goofball college kid writing a series of newspaper stories about small-town minor league baseball.

(That's a lot more than I can say about Nolan Ryan, whose secretary told me Mr. Ryan would call me back if he wanted to talk, but not to count on it.)

At that time, I was writing about minor league and semi-pro baseball in rural Wytheville, Va. I contacted Oliva because he played there for the Appalachian League Class D Twins in 1961 – he hit .410 in 64 games – and many folks in the town remember Oliva and recall a monstrous home run he slammed off a building a long way away from home plate.

There's even a plaque describing the homer there now, in a public park, where home plate once resided. (I have photos of it… somewhere.)

I asked Oliva about the home run. He just laughed and gave me a few vague details. I'm sure he hit a lot of those and perhaps that particular one was lost in long line of moonshot memories.

His brief recollection wasn't what I wanted for the story, of course. I wanted great detail.

What was the pitch? Fastball? Hanging curve? What did it feel like when your bat struck the ball and you saw the ball smack the building? Did the crowd go wild? Did grown men cry? Did women throw panties your way?

I got none of that, but I got a lot of other good stories… and a lot of laughs out of Oliva, who seemed to genuinely enjoy our conversation.

I'm not much of a stats guy and I'm no Hall of Fame master debater, so I don't really know if Oliva belongs in the Hall of Fame or not.

But I know he would like to be included in Cooperstown. And just because Oliva was so nice to me for 10 minutes one last summer day in 1996 – I'm really good at making this about me, aren't I? – I hope he gets his wish someday soon.

-- 108 Stitches --