Cuban baseball added another chapter to its greatness and rich history, with the election of Tony Oliva and Orestes Miñoso to the United States Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Oliva and Miñoso will join their compatriots Tony Pérez in the Pavilion of the Immortals, who did so by traditional vote; Martín Dihigo, Cristóbal Torriente, José de la Caridad Méndez and businessman Alex Pompez who were agreed by the Special Committee of the Negro Leagues.
Former right fielder Oliva had a brilliant career in the Big Top in 1962 and 1976, always wearing the Minnesota Twins jersey and hitting .304 for life, achieving an OBP of 353 and a slugging of 476, with 1,917 connected hits. , 220 home runs, 947 RBIs and 86 stolen bases.
He won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1964, when he won the first of his three batting titles (the others in 1965 and 1971), played eight All-Star Games, led the young circuit five times in hits and four in doubles, earned a Gold Glove and twice (1965 and 1970) finished second in the MVP voting.
For his part, Miñoso was the first black Latin American player to play in the Major Baseball League (MLB for its acronym in English), with the Chicago White Sox.
Summoned to seven All-Star Games, Minoso finished his career with 186 home runs, 83 triples, 205 stolen bases and an 848 OPS. In addition, he led the AL stolen bases table three times and won three Golden Gloves in the left Garden.
Minoso retired for the first time in 1964, but returned with the White Sox in 1976, aged 50, and had a hit in eight at-bats. He also had a couple of visits to the plate in 1980, allowing him to perform in five different decades of the Big Top.
In addition to the two Cubans, Buck O’Neil, defender of black players on and off the diamonds, as well as Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat and Bud Fowler, will also enter the Hall of Fame.
Oliva and Kaat, both 83 and former teammates on the Minnesota Twins, are the only two new members still alive.
The six new members will be enthroned in Upstate New York Cooperstown on July 24, 2022, along with new members elected by the Baseball Writers Association of North America.
The two selection committees awarded Miñoso 14 votes, O’Neil received 13, while Hodges, Oliva, Kaat and Fowler each got 12.
