For the Minnesota Twins, Tony Oliva is a franchise legend. He spent his entire MLB career with the organization, appearing in the big leagues for them from 1962 to 1976 as a right fielder (and a designated hitter later in his career), earning eight all-star nods and three AL batting titles, batting .304 for his career, winning a Gold Glove and having his number #6 retired. However, when Oliva first came to the U.S. from Cuba in the spring of 1961 and tried out for the Twins, he was a late cut and one without a spot in their minor league organization. This weekend, when he was honored at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum‘s annual “Hall of Game” event with famed other stars Andre Dawson, Orlando Cepeda and Tim Raines, Oliva shared that his decision to hang around the U.S. and train with a friend in North Carolina who played for the Twins’ A-ball team (which eventually earned him another shot with the organization) rather than return to Cuba was was partly thanks to historical timing. CBS’ Jonah Keri has more on Oliva’s story:
Bob Kendrick, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum’s president, reflected on the biases faced by dark-skinned, Latin-born players during the same era, and even in the years following Jackie Robinson’s major-league debut in 1947. For Oliva, those biases showed up from day one.
Though he identified with his home country of Cuba and not his skin color per se, Oliva’s big-league debut in 1962 still came with plenty of prejudice. “Black is black,” he said of his treatment in that era. When Cuban-born Luis Tiant was honored at the Hall of Game gala last year, he spoke of being called the N-word upon his own big-league debut in 1964 … and not knowing what it even meant.
As for Cuban beginnings, Oliva shared an amazing story of his journey to the big leagues. A promising hitter, Oliva earned a tryout from the Minnesota Twins in April 1961. He failed to impress the club’s talent evaluators, setting up what would normally be a ticket home.
The problem was, he couldn’t go home at that time. A few days later, the Twins gave him a second chance, one which this time was enough to impress the team, earn Oliva a contract and launch a dazzling 15-year career in the majors. So what exactly happened that led to that second chance?
“The Bay of Pigs saved me!” Oliva said, bringing down the house.
It sounds like that’s correct. The ill-fated CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba took place from April 17 to 19, 1961, which would have been exactly around the time Oliva was cut by the Twins the first time. The invasion convinced Fidel Castro’s government to seek closer ties to the Soviets, and U.S. – Cuba relations became incredibly strained after that, especially in the lead-up to October 1962’s Cuban Missile Crisis. It would have been very tough for Oliva to go home in the spring of 1961, so that probably added extra impetus for him to stay, and that worked out very well for him, the Twins and baseball as a whole. Without that quirk of historical timing, MLB might have lost an incredible player.
[Jonah Keri at CBS Sports]
