Friday, January 24, 2025

1970 Topps Booklets: The Tony Oliva Story

Researcher Roy Carlson identified this picture as the same on the back of his '71 Topps card, and on his '71 Topps Tattoo.

The passport story is an interesting one, and clearly already well-known at this point. The Twins signed the Cuban youngster in 1959, as diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba were deteriorating. Had he waited to have his own passport created, he probably would have been too late to leave Cuba.
Back when the called-up player took a train, not a plane, to get to the big club.
Oliva put up some amazing numbers in his career, at least when he was healthy enough to avoid trips to that doctor.

 

1 comment:

  1. I hadn't heard the passport story before. Glad he was able to make it to the states. He was one heckuva hitter. Must have been fun for Twins fans back in the late 60's getting to watch Carew, Killebrew, and Oliva all in the same lineup.

    ReplyDelete