Tony Oliva
Tony Oliva
Tony Pedro Olivais a former Major League Baseballright fielder and designated hitter. A star of the first magnitude during baseball's "second deadball era", he spent his entire 15-year baseball career playing for the Minnesota Twins from 1962 through 1976...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth20 July 1938
CityPinar del Rio, Cuba
CountryUnited States of America
brain brains dead latin spanish
Brain dead? You can't be brain dead to play baseball, because you always have to adjust. Latin players, they're smart. I have friends all over the world, Spanish friends and English-speaking friends. They don't care. If you're good, you're good.
hard
It's very hard because he was like my son.
almost fame hall impossible played ridiculous stick system time
It's almost impossible to go into the Hall of Fame the way the system is now. It's ridiculous ... If I played in New York, I'd be there a long time ago. You play in Minnesota, they stick it to you.
bad hard hope
It's a shame; I hope to be able to go before it's too late. It's a bad law; this is hard to believe.
everybody fun laughter
It will be fun, but more fun if we had Earl, ... If Earl was here, he would make everybody laugh.
american-athlete opportunity
They gave me a second opportunity and 45 years later I'm still here.
guy hit home runs
We're going to have a guy hit 30 home runs this year.
guy spanish
That's not crazy, it's stupid. I think the guy made a very big mistake, and he should apologize. If you take away the Spanish players, you don't have baseball.
call meant
Kirby meant to me a lot. For me, it's like my own son. He used to call me 'Papa', too.
class couple great kids league players ready rookie time until
I think it's great with all the opportunities that those players have now. By the time those kids here come here, they are ready for Rookie league or Class A league or whatever, because we can keep them (at the academies) for a couple years until we think they are ready to come here, and that makes a big difference.
almost broke hard heard hold news tough tried
I almost broke down, too, when I heard the news yesterday, but I tried to hold it in. It's a really tough situation. It's a really hard day, really hard day for all of us.
heavier kept
He kept getting heavier and heavier and heavier.
career ending good
He never got over his career ending the way it did. He had four-five more good years left.
He would want us to feel like it's a celebration.